In 1965 Dervla Murphy went from Ireland to India on bicycle, a trip documented in her book "Full Tilt". In her eighties now, the travel legend speaks about her trips across the world in a new show on BBC.
Murphy is among three well-known travel authors interviewed by presenter Rajan Dattar who concentrates on the writers' literary life stories in a series of interviews.
Dattar's show "Talking Books: Travel Writers Special" on BBC World News is set to begin on May 9 and showcases apart from Murphy two others - actor Michael Palin and novelist Colin Thubron.
The host, himself a travel buff who has covered over 50 countries across five continents talks to Murphy, who still continues to write today and has penned over 20 books documenting travels around the world, including Cuba, Romania, Laos and Siberia.
Normally travelling alone with only a few luxuries, Murphy says she has for some trips taken along her family including one where she took her then five-year-old daughter Rachel to India and the journeys she took with her grandchildren.
"My first big journey was to India. It probably goes back to a pen friendship. I had for a few years been communicating with a friend and had become interested in India," says Murphy.
The author, who prefers a minimalistic travel style says along with "the obvious things" she took along an automatic rifle for her first India trip, which passed through Afghanistan.
Murphy talks about her journeys to Ethiopia and to the lush jungles of Coorg in South India with her daughter. The latter is documented in the memoir "On a shoestring to Coorg.
