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Eccentric London and new editions of top travel guides

Posted by bradttravel on 22 May 2012

Release: 22nd May 2012
Ben le Vay’s Eccentric London  
Eccentric LondonBen le Vay’s second edition of Eccentric London is the perfect quirky guide to this amazing city just in time for the 2012 Olympics. Meet a man who listens to tube trains from the road above with a large hearing-trumpet, another who rides down the river in an Edwardian bath chair, and be introduced to the secrets of this curious capital. This is an insider’s guide to the city by someone who has lived, loved, eaten, drank and worked in London for five decades, and between bizarre bookshops, weird museums and a pile of petrified hot cross buns, Ben le Vay manages to take the reader far beneath its barmy surface and into the even barmier world beneath.

The guide includes an updated calendar of wacky happenings and free events, as well as up-to-the-minute practical tips for newcomers on how to get the best deals and avoid the rip-offs.
 
Title:  Eccentric London
Author: Benedict le Vay
Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides     Publication:  20th April 2012
Price: £14.99    ISBN:  978184162423948

Announcing new editions of Bradt guides to…

Montenegro – 4th edition 
Montenegro 4th editionAuthor: Annalisa Rellie 
A hidden corner of eastern Europe, Montenegro lies across the Adriatic Sea from Italy, its stark mountains rising up from the coast. Medieval architectural gems vie for attention with more recent Venetian fortresses and churches, reflecting the diversity of Montenegrin culture. Updated throughout, this edition has all the practical information the independent traveller needs, including new hotels and restaurants on the coast and in the mountains. Outdoor and cultural enthusiasts will be spoilt with the extended coverage on national parks, fishing opportunities and archaeological finds.  
Published: March 2012    ISBN: 9781841623818  Price: £14.99

USA by Rail – 8th edition 
USA by Rail 8th editionAuthor: John Pitt
Now in its eighth edition, this book covers all the major routes across the United States and Canada. Ever-changing landscapes pass by on the other side of the glass, from the primeval-looking Joshua trees of the Mojave Desert and the saw-toothed peaks of the Rocky Mountains to the pounding surf of the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Whatever the route, sit back, relax and watch a breathtaking continent unfold. 
Published: January 2012  ISBN: 9781841622552 Price: £15.99
 

North Cyprus – 7th edition
North Cyprus 7th editionAuthor: Diana Darke
Hike up to Buffavento, stroll through the cloisters of bellapais Abbey or go barefoot on the golden sands of the karpas Penninsula. Rugged North Cyprus offers charming unspoilt villages, deserted beaches and hidden monasteries – things of the past in the more developed south of the island. Revised and expanded, the seventh edition of North cyprus reveals churches, castles, classical ruins and newly accessible sites, as well as an in-depth overview of the ancient and modern histories of this complex and divided island.
Published: March 2012  ISBN: 9781841622446 Price: £13.99

 Budapest – 3rd edition
Budapest 3rd editionAuthors: Adrian Phillips, Jo Scotchmer & Monica Phillips
Budapest has it all: spectacular architecture, award-winning cultural festivals, Michelin-starred restaurants, historic thermal baths and business-friendly hotels. The authors are winners of the British Guild of Travel Writers Best Guidebook Award and share their enthusiasm for the city in an engaging and witty style. Thoroughly updated, the third edition of Budapest is packed with up-to-date information and provides travellers with all they need on where to stay, eat and drink, and what to see and do.
 Published: March 2012  ISBN: 9781841621852  Price: £9.99
 
Wildlife and Conservation Volunteering – 2nd edition
Wildlife & Conservation volunteering 2nd editionAuthor: Peter Lynch
A unique guide with a dedicated focus on wildlife and environmental conservation volunteering. It is aimed at all three sectors of the age and career spectrum: gap year students and backpackers, vacation conservation volunteers, and the early retired. The extensive range of expedition opportunities include working with antelope, big cats, birds, coral reefs, dolphins, elephants, fish, hippos, monkeys, turtles, whales, zebras, injured wildlife and people – in every habitat – all over the globe.
Published: March 2012   ISBN: 9781841622750 Price: £13.99

 Albania – 4th edition
Albania 4th editionAuthor: Gillian Gloyer
Albania’s unspoilt mountain scenery, cultural sites and beaches mean it is becoming increasingly popular with a growing number of UK travellers. This affectionate guide to Albania covers the length and breadth of the country, discovering remote villages and out-of-the-way towns such as Peshkopia and Erseka. Visitors will find detailed information on wildlife, national parks, hiking routes, and beaches, and with 2012 marking the centenary of Albania’s independence from the Ottoman Empire there will be many celebratory events across the country.
 Published: March 2012   ISBN: 9781841623870  Price: £16.99
 
Luxembourg – 2nd edition
Luxembourg 2nd editionAuthor: Tim Skelton
This is the only English-language guidebook to focus exclusively on the world’s only Grand Duchy, home to the rolling forests of the Ardennes, hill-top medieval castles and one of Europe’s smallest wine-growing regions. From first-class accommodation and Michelin-starred restaurants, to hiking and youth hostelling, this thoroughly updated edition gives tips to suit every taste and budget. 
Published: March 2012  ISBN: 9781841624242 Price: £14.99

 

Borneo – 2nd edition
Borneo 2nd editionAuthor: Tamara Thiessen
Updated throughout, this revised guide caters for all with information on how to trek through one of the region’s national parks, catch a glimpse of an orang-utan, spend the night in a longhouse, or shop in the bustling markets. From the highlands and islands of Sabah and Sarawak, to the mosques and mysticism of the Sultanate of Brunei, Borneo is a mesmerizing mix of cultures, endangered animals, tropical rainforest and carnivorous plants. 
Published: May 2012  ISBN: 9781841623900  Price: £17.99
 
Macedonia – 4th edition
Macedonia 4th editionAuthor: Thammy Evans
A treasure trove of adventures, Macedonia is emerging as a top new tourist destination. With unspoilt mountains, lakes and spas, traces of old communism, and friendly hospitality at rural boutique hotels, it’s not hard to see why. The wines are rich, the history steeped, and the culture varied. This remains the only standalone English-language guide to the country and the author shares her love of the country with expanded coverage of eastern Macedonia and its hot springs, rock art and megalithic observatory. 
Published: May 2012 ISBN: 9781841623955 Price: £16.99  


To request a review copy of any of the above titles or for more details contact Debbie Hunter press@bradtguides.com  Tel +44 (0)1753 893444

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Eccentric Cambridge – A Practical Guide

Posted by Nick Redmayne on 19 October 2011

Eccentric CambridgeBen le Vay’s new Eccentric Cambridge commences with a caveat from the author, ‘ “Eccentric” carries no judgement or moral value, it just means not in the real centre… Bonkers, doolally, off-the-wall, barking, amusing, odd or crackers… those are judgements. Eccentricity is just a fact.’

That Cambridge is already a popular city for tourists keen to take a look at an old English university town is without doubt. Similarly, the recent Windsor, Middleton nuptials giving us the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have done no harm either.  However, Bradt’s new guide unearths many of the town’s less obvious, bizarre and scandalous aspects, whilst also providing important insights on how to pole a punt without looking like a complete prat!  From dotty Dons and what the colleges don’t want you to know, to hardy naked cyclists, bin-bound buskers, quirky pubs, wacky museums and weird walking tours, le Vay leads readers on merry and macabre jaunts around Cambridge’s curiosities.  As well as eating, shopping and staying eccentric, along with getting there in the first place, the guidebook offers a calendar of oddities to be explored throughout the year.  Though confessing only to A-levels at Cambridge Tech College, ‘I was far too thick/rebellious etc…’, Ben le Vay’s writing almost buzzes his new guide off the table with eccentric vibrations.

Benedict le Vay is a features editor on a leading British newspaper. He spends his spare time researching zany facts about the British and their way of life. He is also the author of Bradt’s Eccentric London and Eccentric Britain

Title:        Eccentric Cambridge
Author:       Benedict le Vay
Publisher:    Bradt Travel Guides
Publication:  10th November 2011
Price:        £9.99
ISBN:         978 1 84162 427 3

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Eccentric Oxford – A Practical Guide

Posted by Nick Redmayne on 19 October 2011

Eccentric OxfordOxford is more than an academic hot house – though as author Ben le Vay admits, its shady college cloisters certainly hide more than a few eccentrics.  Eschewing trite clichés of ‘dreaming spires’ and ‘honeyed stone’ Bradt’s new Eccentric Oxford gives the lowdown on making out in a punt, ‘be careful where you put your pole…’,designates the sites where Bill ‘Slick Willy’ Clinton didn’t inhale, Jeffrey Archer was, or wasn’t, ‘at Oxford’, the four minute mile barrier was broken, and a melancholic Morse enjoyed a quiet pint.

Eccentric Oxford romps through the city’s oddities, which like the town, its population, and architecture, are both ancient and modern.  Oxford’s literary connections are impossible to obscure, from Hardy and his Wessex novels, via CS Lewis’s conversion to Christianity – on a motorcycle ride from the city, to the last piece of middle England’s earth occupied by JRR Tolkein – in a cemetery in north Oxford.  Great writers aside, from an initial calendar events that is odd in anybody’s book, to its analysis of converging ley lines of cosmic forces, seemingly lined up along Magdalen Road, Eccentric Oxford is an amusing and informative companion for any visitor.  Including walks, shops and practical travel tips to circumvent an eccentric traffic system, Eccentric Oxford blows away preconceptions of a city that’s much more than one half of the boat race.

Benedict le Vay is a features editor on a leading British newspaper. He spends his spare time researching zany facts about the British and their way of life. He is also the author of Bradt’s Eccentric London and Eccentric Britain.

Title:        Eccentric Oxford
Author:       Benedict le Vay
Publisher:    Bradt Travel Guides
Publication:  10th November 2011
Price:        £9.99
ISBN:         978 1 84162 426 6

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Eccentric Britain

Posted by Nick Redmayne on 23 May 2011

A Practical Guide to a Curious Country

Evidence suggests that the sun may have set on the British Empire, and brighter spells in Slough are now the best we can now hope for.  That said, Bradt’s Eccentric Britain provides a timely reminder for us all to be proud and celebrate those peculiar aspects of Britishness immune to financial crises, government cuts and failing international influence.

Eccentric BritainIn a contemporary off-centre exploration, author Ben le Vay has recorded people, places and events all sharing a common factor – uniquely British eccentricity.  From Longleat’s Marquess of Bath and his ‘set’ of 62 ‘wifelets’ to Biddeford’s four acre Gnome Reserve, home to over a thousand of the little red-capped critters, and Chipping Campden’s World Shin-kicking Championships, le Vay’s book is an engaging and amusing read as well as being a practical travel guide.  Lost for ideas?  A calendar to the Eccentric Year is at hand – it’s May so it must be the Randwick Wap religious cheese rolling festival.  If you can wait a while August sees Tatton Park host the English Open Chainsaw Competition.  Elsewhere, the guide details the Falkirk Wheel’s triumph of eccentric engineering, which raises up to six boats at a time 155 feet from a canal to an aqueduct.  However, if all this weirdness leaves you feeling a little jaded a trip to Salcombe, Devon and an encounter with Overbeck’s Rejuvenator, just one of the items on display at the Electric Shock Museum, may ginger things up a bit…  In an increasingly homogenised world where the march of the ‘Global High Street’ can seem all conquering, Eccentric Britain proves that sparkling reserves of individuality are alive and kicking – for the British eccentric the war is not over.

Ben le Vay is a national newspaper sub-editor who claims he’s hard-pressed to think of anything eccentric about himself. ‘At a push, I’d say, yes, I’m Honorary Secretary of the Friends of A272, and I’ve asked for my ashes to be blasted from the chimney of my favourite steam locomotive at my funeral. Hasn’t everybody?’

Title:        Eccentric Britain
Author:    Ben le Vay
Publisher:    Bradt Travel Guides
Publication:     May 2011
Price:        £16.99
ISBN:        978 1 84162 375 7

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