Dervla Murphy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dervla Murphy
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Murphy in India in 1965
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| Born | 28 November 1931 Lismore, County Waterford, Irish Free State |
| Died | 22 May 2022 (aged 90) Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland |
| Occupation | Cyclist, travel writer |
| Period | 1965–2015 |
| Genre | Travel (non-fiction) |
| Notable works | Full Tilt A Place Apart |
| Notable awards | Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize (1979) |
| Children | 1 |
Dervla Murphy (born 28 November 1931 – died 22 May 2022) was an amazing Irish adventurer and writer. She was famous for her long bicycle trips and exciting travel books. She wrote for over 50 years!
Dervla is best known for her 1965 book, Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle. This book tells the story of her incredible bike journey from Ireland all the way to India. After that, she volunteered to help Tibetan refugees and even trekked with a mule in Ethiopia.
Later, Dervla took a break from writing when her daughter, Rachel, was born. But soon, they started traveling together! They explored places like India, Pakistan, South America, Madagascar, and Cameroon. Dervla also took many solo trips to countries like Romania, Laos, and Siberia. In 2005, she even visited Cuba with Rachel and her three granddaughters.
Dervla usually traveled alone and without many fancy things. She often relied on the kindness of local people. She faced some dangerous situations, like being attacked by wolves or threatened by soldiers. But she always said her worst accident was tripping over cats at home!
Contents
Early Life and Big Dreams
Dervla Murphy grew up in Lismore, a town in County Waterford, Ireland. Her parents moved there when her dad became the local librarian. When Dervla was just one year old, her mother became very ill with a condition that made her joints hurt and made it hard for her to move. Dervla was an only child.
From a young age, Dervla dreamed of traveling the world. She once wrote:
For my tenth birthday my parents gave me a second-hand bicycle and Pappa [her grandfather] sent me a second-hand atlas. Already I was an enthusiastic cyclist, though I had never before owned a bicycle, and soon after my birthday I resolved to cycle to India one day. I have never forgotten the exact spot, on a steep hill near Lismore, where this decision was made. Half-way up I rather proudly looked at my legs, slowly pushing the pedals around, and the thought came "If I went on doing this for long enough I could get to India."
Dervla went to school in Waterford but left at age 14. She needed to help care for her mother. As a young adult, she took several short trips to places like Wales, England, Belgium, Germany, France, and Spain. She even wrote some travel articles for newspapers.
After her parents passed away, Dervla was finally free to go on the big adventure she had always planned. She felt that her simple upbringing had prepared her well for travel. In 1979, she wrote a book about her early life called Wheels within Wheels.
Amazing Journeys and Books
First Big Adventures
In 1963, Dervla began her first huge bike trip: from Ireland to India! She rode an Armstrong Cadet men's bicycle, which she named Rozinante. She even carried a pistol for safety. She cycled through Europe during a very cold winter.
In Yugoslavia, Dervla started writing a journal. This journal later became her first book! In Iran, she used her gun to scare away thieves. In Afghanistan, she broke three ribs when a rifle hit her on a bus. But this didn't stop her for long! She loved Afghanistan and its people. She called herself "Afghanatical."
Her journey continued through Pakistan and then into India, reaching Delhi. Her amazing journal was published as her first book, Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle.
After arriving in Delhi, Dervla helped Tibetan refugees. She spent five months volunteering in a refugee camp. Her experiences there became her second book, Tibetan Foothold. She also helped refugees in Nepal, which she wrote about in The Waiting Land.
In 1966, Dervla went to Ethiopia. She walked with a pack mule from Asmara to Addis Ababa. Along the way, she met soldiers carrying AK-47 rifles. This journey was described in her fourth book, In Ethiopia with a Mule.
Traveling with Rachel
Dervla's daughter, Rachel, joined her on many adventures. Their first trip together was to India when Rachel was five. They explored Goa and Coorg, which Dervla wrote about in On a Shoestring to Coorg.
They also traveled to Baltistan (Where the Indus is Young), Peru (Eight Feet in the Andes), and Madagascar (Muddling through in Madagascar). Their last trip together was riding a horse through Cameroon. Dervla wrote that traveling with a child helped her connect with local people. Children often break down shyness barriers.
Writing About Important Issues
In 1978, Dervla wrote A Place Apart. This book was about her travels in Northern Ireland. She met people from both Protestant and Catholic communities. The book won an award in 1979.
Dervla also wrote about political issues. For example, she wrote about nuclear power in Race to the Finish? The Nuclear Stakes. She lived in Bradford and Birmingham in England. There, she talked to people from different backgrounds and saw a riot. She wrote about this in Tales From Two Cities.
She cycled from Kenya to Zimbabwe. There, she saw the effects of AIDS. In her book The Ukimwi Road, she talked about how NGOs (charities) were helping. She also wrote about the end of apartheid in South Africa (South from the Limpopo) and the Rwandan genocide (Visiting Rwanda). She discussed how tribal people were displaced (One Foot in Laos) and the rebuilding of the Balkans after war (Through the Embers of Chaos).
Dervla was against globalization. She was critical of big organizations like NATO and the World Bank. She also spoke out against nuclear power and climate change. She believed it was important to include these topics in her travel books.
Later Journeys
In 2002, when Dervla was 71, she planned to cycle in eastern Russia. But she broke her knee on a train! Then she tore a calf muscle while getting better. So, her plans changed. She traveled around Siberia by train, boat, and bus. She wrote about this in Through Siberia by Accident. She went back to Siberia later and wrote another book, Silverland.
In 2005, she visited Cuba with her daughter and three granddaughters. They went back two more times. She wrote about these trips in The Island that Dared.
In 2011, Dervla spent a month in the Gaza Strip in Palestine. She met many different people there. She wrote about her stay in A Month by the Sea (2013). She also wrote about her meetings with Israelis and Palestinians in her 2015 book, Between River and Sea.
Personal Life and Interests
Dervla Murphy never married. In 1968, she had her only child, Rachel. She decided to raise Rachel on her own. This was a brave choice in the 1960s in Ireland. Dervla felt safe from criticism because she was older and had a steady job. After Rachel was born, Dervla reviewed books for five years before going back to travel writing.
Dervla lived in Lismore with her five dogs and three cats. She supported Sustrans, a charity for sustainable travel. She also supported the Lismore Immrama Festival of Travel Writing, which celebrates travel writing.
In 2009, Dervla appeared on a BBC Radio 4 show called Great Lives. She chose Freya Stark, another famous travel writer, as a "Great Life."
In 2022, Dervla told an interviewer that she had no time to think about the past. She was too busy worrying about current events! She listened to news on the radio and her computer. She never even owned a television. She said, "There are so many books to be read. The problem is, at 90, there isn’t enough time to read them all."
Death
Dervla Murphy passed away at her home in Lismore on 22 May 2022. She was 90 years old. She is remembered by her daughter Rachel and her three granddaughters. The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, said that Dervla's writing had a "unique commitment to the value of human experience."
Awards and Recognition
In 2019, Dervla received the first Inspiring Cyclist of the Year award. This was from a group in Dublin called I BIKE Dublin. In the same year, she also received the Royal Geographical Society's Ness Award. This award was for making geography popular through her travel books.
Some of Dervla Murphy's Books
Dervla Murphy wrote many books about her travels. Here are some of her most famous ones:
- Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle (1965)
- Tibetan Foothold (1966)
- The Waiting Land: A Spell in Nepal (1967)
- In Ethiopia with a Mule (1968)
- On a Shoestring to Coorg: An Experience of South India (1976)
- Where the Indus Is Young: A Winter in Baltistan (1977)
- A Place Apart: Northern Ireland in the 1970s (1978)
- Wheels Within Wheels: Autobiography (1979)
- Eight Feet in the Andes (1983)
- Muddling through in Madagascar (1985)
- Cameroon with Egbert (1990)
- Through Siberia by Accident: A Small Slice of Autobiography (2005)
- The Island that Dared: Journeys in Cuba (2008)
- A Month by the Sea: Encounters in Gaza (2013)
- Between River and Sea: Encounters in Israel and Palestine (2015)
Many of Dervla's early books have been re-released as travel classics.
Images for kids
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Murphy in India in 1965
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Dervla Murphy in Barcelona in the 1950s
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Dervla Murphy and Michael Palin in 2012
See also
