This veteran reader has come across many books in his time - books that deal with important subjects; books about important people; books that have increased his knowledge and understanding of the world, a few that have been plain dreadful and a penance to plough through, but every so often books that are unadulterated entertainment and an absolute pleasure.

The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow sits firmly in the final category. I did not want to put it down, and I was sorry when I turned the last page and realised there would be no more. End of story.

But what a story. A.J. (Sandy) Mackinnon, born in Australia, but with strong links to Britain, is teaching at a school in Shropshire, close to the Welsh border, when he decides that it is time to move on "not by the Inter-City 10.15 to Birmingham with a suitcase in each hand, not by a lift to the airport checking the whereabouts of my passport every three minutes....but like dear Doctor Doolittle, by sailing away in a jolly little galleon and seeing what I bumped into on the way."

The "jolly little galleon" was in fact a Mirror dinghy called Jack de Crow after a pet jackdaw, long since departed, which had in turn taken its name from the school's headmaster. Initially planning to take Jack down various canals and minor rivers to Gloucester near the mouth of the River Severn, Mackinnon just decides to keep going, cutting back across Britain to the Thames, then across the English Channel to France, Germany and through the heart of Europe and eventually to the Black Sea - 4900 kilometres in a tiny vessel more suited to a sunny afternoon on Lake Burley Griffin.

And what an adventure it was. Hardly ever out of sight of land he nevertheless encounters a succession of obstacles including obstructive lock keepers, stifling bureaucracy, drunken revellers, a burgeoning Balkan war and Danube River pirates. Forced to strip off and swim out to a wayward Jack swept downstream by floodwater on the River Vyrnwy in Shropshire he inevitably encounters a party of female canoeists as he is rowing back to his camp site with nothing but a trusty pith helmet (an essential part of his equipment until it is stolen somewhere in Germany) to cover his modesty.

Mackinnon is without doubt an eccentric and while the British are known for their love of them, the Europeans also embrace him. He is fortified by a throng of friends and acquaintances along the way, but several times damage which could easily have ended his voyage is repaired, usually without cost, by kindly strangers bemused and intrigued by this intrepid adventurer. Many times, wet, miserable, and in Serbia penniless and starving, he admits he is on the point of quitting, yet the new day somehow recharges his enthusiasm often simply by finding a warm, dry Laundromat where he can wash his clothes and write letters.

"An astonishing question kept insisting: why wasn't everyone doing exactly as I was? For there was no doubt about it: this was the most perfect occupation known to humankind."

The story is aided by its author being not just an adventurer, but an artist, philosopher and keen observer of the world around him. Details of birds in flight, the plants and animals of the riverbank work their way into his narrative, often with appropriate extracts from the great nature poets, Masefield, Keats, Wordsworth and so on. Anyone with an education that predates the computer age will delight in the classical references and there are moments in the journey painted so vividly one is almost inside the writer's head, sharing his experience completely.

One of my favourite passages among many comes as he is struggling to take Jack through London on the Thames at night and (illegally) without lights. Desperately dodging party boats and giant barges which had no hope of seeing him in the darkness he still has time to observe the Houses of Parliament, towering above him.

"As I passed, one youngish-looking man came to the window and stood staring out beyond the glass into the darkness over the Thames. He rested his forehead for a moment against the cool glass. He looked tired and a little glum, I thought, as though he longed to be away from that lit room, its secretes and its linenfold panelling. Perhaps he longed to be in a small sailing dinghy off to foreign parts on an outgoing tide under the stars."

Finally, I will commend this book for its illustrations, drawn by the author, which add greatly to the gentle humour of the narrative. Sandy Mackinnon is now on the staff of Geelong Grammar at its Timbertop campus in Australia. His students are fortunate to have such a teacher.

A. J. Mackinnon writes like an eccentric Englishman, just perfect for this type of travel. Just imagine going out one afternoon with almost no preparation and embarking on an epic journey, really this is the stuff most of us would like to do, but can't for all the obvious reasons and now here A. J. Mackinnon has gone and done it and written it all up for us. Heck, maybe it might motivate you enough to have a go at it one day. Certainly A. J. Mackinnon can write in a way that is easy to relate to, though you can't help but be in awe of his intellect when it comes to a command of the english language, not to mention history, culture and all things worldly wise that we all should know....

I think a lot of us who sail in small boats have occasionally thought about getting in our boats and seeing just how far we could manage to sail. Sandy MacKinnon set out in a Mirror dinghy, thinking he just might be able to reach the channel.. and ended up in Eastern Europe!

Beside being a great adventurer, MacKinnon is a first-rate storyteller. He paints a vivid image of his adventures large and small, whether he's crossing the English Channel in his tiny open craft, or simply trying to navigate the shallow rivers that mad up a good part of his early journey. He has a knack for putting the reader into the boat with him, sharing his trials and triumphs alike.

If you own a small boat, have ever thought of owning a small boat, or if you're a fan of Swallows and Amazons, or even The Wind in the Willows, you'll love Sandy MacKinnon's real life adventure. As Toad of Toad Hall says, there is nothing quite as nice as simply messing about in boats- and few authors describe it better.

Sandy Mackinnon says it himself - 'I exaggerate, for effect'. I loved the description of the journey from small streams in the north to the tidal rivers of the south and the crossing over to France. It all rings true to my own much more limited experience of rivers and canals in small rowing boats and canoes. But this man is much more capable than you might think from a superficial reading of the book - I know this because I'm on my third reading and have no intention of leaving it there.

The only other book I've loved this much is Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers, in some ways the complete opposite of this book where the main character convincingly describes the skill and expertise of Davies, the owner of the small yacht Dulcibella. A J Mackinnon as a single-hander must write of his own journey himself, so to preserve modesty and to entertain the reader he presents himself as a bumbling amateur with little idea of how to row, sail or maintain his eleven foot boat, but he still gets to the Black Sea by way of rivers and canals that would challenge any experienced sailor. His self-deprecation mightn't fool me but I'm left feeling even more impressed by the journey he describes so well.

I'm not a sailor nor intend to be after reading this wonderful adventure book but, I love adventure stories especially true ones where someone goes off on their own and let's nature do what she will.

This book had me laughing out loud as I think our boy here bit off more then he could chew at the start . seemed like a good idea at the time I suppose : ) altho he did manage to become learned about the nautical jargon thru trial and error . buy it, borrow it ...have a laugh .

Sandy Mackinnon sets out from Shropshire in a tiny sailboat and sails and rows himself and his small boat across England, across the Channel, and across the canals and rivers of Europe to the Black Sea.

This is a fascinating journey and Mackinnon is a brilliant and charming storyteller. Although his voyage involves many privations and even humiliations, he is always optimistic, happy, and carefree--well, almost always. Mackinnon's joy and love of adventure, people, and the outdoors is highly infectious. No one will come away from reading this book with anything less than a lighter heart and a brighter outlook on life and its tribulations. Jack de Crow is witty, entertaining, and edifying. It is one of the best sailing adventure books that I have ever read and I have read very many. I highly recommend this book to every reader whether or not you are a sailor or boater. You don't need to know anything about boats or sailing to fully enjoy this wonderful book.

I have one important and heavy dissatisfaction with the book that I must air. I almost broke ranks and would have been the first reviewer to give it fewer than five stars. Mackinnon from start to finish depends on the kindness of strangers to get him through tough spots. His journey, and even his life, is saved several times by other boaters or people along the shore who give him shelter, a tow, make repairs for him, etc. etc. He simply would not have gotten more than a few miles on his own. Of course, this is part, and a central part, of the whole story and journey--trusting to your luck and to the unanticipated and unpaid assistance of strangers. Mackinnon is basically a good natured and kind hearted screw-up. He really doesn't know what he is doing or how to do it, but goes on anyway. Well this makes for a good story as Mackinnon recognizes--no screw-ups, no stories.

But I favor a tradition that values self-reliance at least in things nautical. A watery voyage requires proper craft, charts, equipment in good order, and the ability to navigate and conduct the voyage on one's own. The only excuse for seeking or accepting help from others is dire and unavoidable life-threatening emergency. Mackinnon violates these basic principles of boating, often to his peril, sometimes to the peril of others. I cannot respect this. I believe that Mackinnon should not have made this voyage, that he was morally irresponsible, and that despite the wonderful book that resulted, the overall effect may be detrimental.

One other minor problem with the book is that readers should be aware that there are many many references to English children's literature and other works that are obscure and will not be familiar, and there are no notes or explanations. This comes off as a bit pretentious and puzzling and somewhat diminished my enjoyment of Jack de Crow.

Sometimes Mackinnon can be insensitive. He glows over the beauty and wealth of Vienna--Europe's greatest city (his description). Mackinnon describes with excessive enthusiasm Vienna's glorious history, but never mentions the most important event in Vienna's history--the anything but glorious Kristallnacht. I quote from Wikipedia: "Events in Austria were no less horrendous. Of the entire Kristallnacht only the pogrom in Vienna was completely successful. Most of Vienna's 94 synagogues and prayer-houses were partially or totally destroyed. People were subjected to all manner of humiliations, including being forced to scrub the pavements whilst being tormented by their fellow Austrians, some of whom had been their friends and neighbours." I find it hard to share his insensitive enthusiasm for Vienna.

But in the end I suppose that Mackinnon is some sort of genius, a genuine free spirit, and true eccentric and cannot be held to the same standards as the rest of us.

A friend shared this book with me, hoping I'd enjoy it as much as he did. And I did. Being familiar with the country and the people - but not the rivers, I loved every mile of Jack De Crow's journey, laughing at almost every page at the impossible conditions that Mackinnon found himself in. As I knew they would, Mackinnon and Jack De Crow rose above it all.

I grew to love that little boat. In turn I shared with friends and family.

If you like sailing small craft and mini-crusiers and camping out, you will love this book. Most entertaining, humorous and well written.....good work Jim McKinnon !

This is my favorite sailing book. The combination of humor, insight, warmth, fascinating places, interesting people expertly sketched, odd experiences, wrecks, near death experiences, coupled with the pure joy of traveling by water, make for a very memorable book. Not only is it hard to put down once begun, it is hard not to immediately restart once finished.

"Sandy" Mackinnon tells a tale of nautical adventure with a style that reads like a delightful mix of Jerome K. Jerome, Jean Shephard, and Monty Python. This books is so very English, though Mackinnon is Australian- it is told with love, warmth, wisdom, humanity, and with prose as crisp as Beaujolais and warm as old port. This is a very FUNNY book, but also life affirming without being pretentious. Once you start this book you will want to keep rowing through the pages as the author travels along the great rivers of Europe from Wales to Romania. This book is definitely a new classic, and ranks up there with The Saga of Cimba and Alone in the Caribbean as one of the three most evocative nautical travelogues ever written. A genuine treasure- and pleasure.

Mackinnon is a wonderfully good writer but, to hear him tell it, he ain't much boathandler. That's a delightful combination for a story of a long, long trip in a tiny boat. If you don't allow yourself to get too exasperated at his predicaments, you'll really enjoy reading this book.

A beautifully written book - but then you would expect that from an English teacher! Full of hilarious escapades, frightening experiences and gloriously colourful accounts of this unbelieveably exciting yet delightful journey! Should be on the bookshelf of every Mirror Dinghy owner, and the reading list of every school! With its broad appeal this book makes an excellent gift. I look forward to the author's next publication - which I have no doubt will be forthcoming in due course as a result of world demand!

Like the Author, once you start this journey it is difficult to stop. This book is very difficult to put down.

As you breeze along the waterways and across seas with Sandy you find yourself saying "No! You can't? You won't? You shouldn't..." then you turn the page and he can, he will and he has; your eyes open wide and you read fervently onwards.

After one crisis is over you are calmed back into the beautiful journey, bumbling along serenely and naively into the arms of the next demon waiting beyond the horizon.

Whilst many of the literary quotes went over my head I found this a fantastically written story of eccentric daring-do with laugh-out-loud moments of extreme hilarity.

A real, live "Lord Of The Rings" journey full of near-death experiences told as if they weren't and real life experiences told like it was.

You have to read this book.

Incidentally whilst not putting down this book at 1 am, high up in the Taipei Hilton the other week I found my hotel bed shaking with laughter, when I stopped, the bed didn't and the contents of the min-bar spilled out onto the floor. It was then that I realised the Earth was moving! That's never happened with any other book I've read.

Well done Mr. Mackinnon!