Product Description

A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe recounts the travels of John MacGregor in a "decked" canoe, known now as a kayak, on the lakes and rivers of Europe in 1865.

The book outlines the joys and difficulties of this pioneering paddler from his first "shakedown" cruise down the Thames and on the edge of the English Channel to his final triumphal paddle up the Seine into Paris.

As MacGregor was making the trip in 1865, his voyages became an international event that was cataloged in newspapers as far away as the United States. "Canoe spotting" became a popular pastime in Europe as MacGregor made his way as whimsy dictated down some of the most well known waterways in the world.

His observations recall a fascination with the glorious days of life that many find missing in the rush of our modern world. His prose is easy to read, much more modern in pace than his Victorian contemporaries. Altogether, this book is a wonderful read for the armchair traveler.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #307293 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 228 pages

Review
Lovers of the water sports--canoeing and kayaking--will enjoy having this book. A great read for vacation. -- Patricia J. Bell, Midwest Book Review, March 2000

From the Back Cover
"I am so very well acquainted with the Rob Roy canoe and have taken passage in her with so much pleasure . . ."
--Charles Dickens

"If we dare to think of kayaking as having a literature the way fishing does, then MacGregor is our Izaak Walton."
--Brian Kologe, Sea Kayaker magazine, 1999

"When John MacGregor, of the Inner Temple, published his entertaining account of the Rob Roy's thousand mile voyage on the lakes and rivers of Europe, he established canoeing as a summer pastime."
--Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 1880

About the Author
Originally a patent lawyer, MacGregor generally ignored the practice after 1853 and devoted his life to travel and philanthropy. In addition to A Thousand Miles, he also wrote three other popular voyaging books: A Voyage alone in the Yawl Rob Roy (1867); The Rob Ray on the Baltic (1867); and The Rob Roy on the Jordan, Red Sea, and Gennesareth (1869). For each trip, MacGregor had a new decked canoe built which retained its predecessor's title.

A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe is generally considered to have been one of the most popular books of 1866--in modern parlance: the year's top nonfiction bestseller. The novelty of MacGregor's mode of travel in 1865 generated newspaper coverage not only across Europe but also as far away as the United States, Canada, and South America. In many ways, this trip was one of the first "media events" ever recorded across continents.

MacGregor is generally recognized as the prime inspiration for the growth of canoeing, canoe camping, and canoeing clubs in Europe and America (he was also the founder of the Royal Canoe Club which was "commodored" by the Prince of Wales), and by extension, the father of modern sea kayaking. In fact, the several versions of the Rob Roy were "decked" canoes, or in modern terms, a hard-shell sea kayak.

Customer Reviews

Not only a significant part of history, but a great read.
This is the book that single-handedly launched not only modern canoeing and kayaking, but most modern small boating. It is absolutely marvelous to read-- fun in it's own right, and also a time capsule that allows you to travel back in time 150 years and see how many things have changed and how many things have not.

One of the earliest kayaks
Scottish sportsman John Macgregor was an outdoor writer and distant relative of Scottish folk hero and outlaw Rob Roy. Macgregor designed and built a hybrid canoe / kayak with a sail and kayaking paddle which he named the "Rob Roy". He then paddled through the rivers, lakes and canals of Germany, France and Switzerland, portaging between waterways on a cart or on trains. This was a completely novel idea for the time, traveling alone, by water, in a boat so light it can be carried, and it fired popular imaginations across Europe. His account of the journey became a best seller read by royalty and laymen alike, attracting newspaper attention and crowds along the route.

"A Thousand Miles" was written as both an account of the journey and a sort of travel guide for those wishing to follow in MacGregors wake. Indeed, fellow Scotsman Robert Louis Stevenson was so enthralled by MacGregors trip, he soon made his own Rob Roy, which he wrote about in An Inland Voyage, Stevenson's first published book. One can profitably find comparison between MacGregor and Stevenson's accounts, Stevenson being the genre imitator, but superior in writing quality.

MacGregor's account has a degree of Victorian optimism that is refreshing, not unlike Jules Verne's "Around the World in Eighty Days", the world is an Englishman's oyster with new and exciting modes of transportation making outdoor expeditions available to everyman. At times his account becomes journal-like and banal, commenting on every town, supper and rapid he comes across, and there is no central narrative other than the curious mode of travel and incidental encounters - but for learning about the details of European life in the 1860s and the zeitgeist of the time it is an authentic and pleasurable journey that was influential.

Originally published in 1866, there were many later editions while Macgregor was still alive, I think up to nine, that had additions including a map, discussions of the Prussian War in the 1870s etc.. the success of "A Thousand Miles" would spur Macgregor to take many more voyages and other travel accounts of his trips in the Rob Roy, but this was the first.

Great Book
This is a delightful book by a Victorian gentleman who obviously had some dash and a sense of the theatrical, but also a wonderful dry humor and spirit of daring. It is a wonderful book to read as you get ready for an extended canoe or kayaking trip, or just to read by the fire on a cold winter evening. It is interesting to see that MacGregor faced many of the same challenges of traveling by kayak through Europe that you still find today.