Mike Newton

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Mike Newton was born in 1949 in Manchester, England, and attended the prestigious Manchester Grammar School. He became interested in cycling when he was 40 years old in 1990. His first major ride was one of 100 miles with three friends starting in Great Ayton, North Yorkshire, and looping around Whitby and Scarborough. This ride led to the formation of GASBAGS, the Great Ayton & Stokesley Biking and Guzzling Society.
In 2004 he cycled 900 miles across France with three friends, starting in Biarritz and finishing in Caen. In 2015 he cycled 1450 miles from Hungary back to England with two of the three friends who cycled across France. In 2016 he cycled 550 miles from Ijmuiden to Copenhagen with his friend Jeff King. This ride was shortly after the Brexit vote, and Mike took along on the ride a shirt with 'We love the EU' on the front and 'We hate Boris' on the back.
In 1999 Mike divorced leading to meeting his now Japanese wife, Naoko, in 2002. He visited Japan four times for a month in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008. After the first two visits he wrote a book 'In Love with Japan" jointly with his wife.The places visited included Kyoto, Nara, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Beppu, Yufuin, Mount Aso and Okinawa.
On three visits to Spain from 2014 to 2016 Mike's wife Naoko walked 800km along the Camino de Santiago whilst Mike accompanied her on a bike.
Mike's son Stuart & his Peruvian wife Evelyn acted as guides as they toured various parts of Peru over 18 days from December 2016. Mike was with a whole group of Stuart & Evelyn's friends for a good part of the trip and felt 30 years younger till he looked in the mirror.
Mike has produced over 100 Youtube videos under the name GASBAGSMike since 2004. They include videos on cycling, table tennis (another passion), running events including the Great North Run, city visits and North Yorkshire countryside.

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Books By Mike Newton

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Two Grandads & an Alien cycle from Hungary to Home: Three over-sixty year old men cycle 1450 miles from Budapest to England, through Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands 27-May-2019

by Mike Newton , Paul Greenhalgh

( 10 )

£1.99

Three over-sixty year old men cycle over 1400 miles from Budapest to England, through Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands, and past Lake Balaton, Lake Worthersee and Lake Constance

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

Cycling Escape from Brexit Land & Boris: Two pensioners cycle over 550 miles from the port of Amsterdam, Ijmuiden, to Copenhagen, passing through the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark 17-Feb-2017

by Mike Newton

( 2 )

£1.99

I initially proposed a ride that started in Vilnius in Lithuania, that then went north through Riga, Latvia, then Tallinn, Estonia then by ferry to Helsinki, Finland. From here my planned route turned west to go through Stockholm, Sweden, then Copenhagen, Denmark, and onto to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The ride was about 1500 miles and I expected that it would take about 4 weeks. Unfortunately neither Paul nor John, the cyclists on the tour from Hungary, was interested in a ride in 2016, and my wife, Naoko, was not happy for me to cycle alone.
I looked at different options of which one was to cycle back from Copenhagen to Amsterdam, a distance of 500 miles. Jeff King became interested in early February and suggested that we should cycle the reverse way so from Amsterdam to Copenhagen.
On April 4th Jeff and I met up and committed to the cycle ride. We discussed the two options (1) cycle from Iijmuiden to Copenhagen and fly back, (2) fly to Copenhagen and cycle back.
• Option 1 had the advantage of going in the direction of the prevailing wind but the disadvantage of packing the bikes in Copenhagen.
• Option 2 had the advantage of packing the bikes in the boxes at home but then a difficulty arose. We could not take packed cycle boxes on the train from Northallerton to Manchester airport.
We decided to adopt Option 1.

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

In Love with Japan: A Gaijin visits Japan and tours around with his Japanese partner, seeing many parts of Japan rarely seen by other Westerners. 14-Aug-2014

by Mike Newton , Naoko Motohiro

( 10 )

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Mike and Naoko found romance through the Internet with Naoko first visiting Mike in England. This book concentrates on two months when Mike visited Naoko in Japan. The readers will enjoy reading about all the fascinating places that Mike and Naoko visited. The book is written as a diary with Mike writing first with Naoko writing her views based upon his entries and adding her Japanese slant.

The places visited included the ancient capitals Kyoto and Nara, the nuclear-bombed cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the hot spring towns of Beppu and Yufuin, and Mount Aso, the world's largest caldera. There were some fascinating experiences including an earthquake of force 7, coach tours with all the passengers being Japanese, attending Naoko’s daughter’s degree award (a remarkable experience seeing the women students all dressed in kimonos), sleeping in a freezing temple, indulging in numerous hot spring baths, visits to endless temples and shrines, driving on empty motorways, almost causing an international incident in the swimming baths, and becoming five year-old Momoko’s toy monster.

A travelogue with a difference – quite fascinating to read a Japanese view of an Englishman’s diary.

A Gaijin visits Japan and tours around with his Japanese partner, seeing many parts of Japan rarely seen by other Westerners.

Other Formats: Paperback

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

Autobiography of an English Baby Boomer 30-Mar-2015

by Mike Newton

£1.99

When I investigated my family tree and went back to about 1805, I realised that all you could learn about my ascendants was how they were related, where they were born and their occupation every 10 years. It would have been much more interesting if some of them had written about their life.
I was prompted to write my autobiography and have completed it until the age of 65 - hopefully there will be more to add. The aim of it is to pass down information about myself to my future descendants and is aimed at my grandchildren, great grandchildren etc, and I kept in my mind it being read in 100 years time. I asked my two sons if they would be interested in reading my autobiography and they answered in the affirmative. However after sending them my version up to the age of 63 two years ago, my sons informed me that they were still interested but had not yet opened the cover, but one remarked that it would be easier to read if I uploaded my autobiography as a book to Amazon Kindle. Thus I decided to upload it and the wonderful aspect of Kindle is that I can include the colour photographs that I had included in my Word version.
Hopefully there are a few amusing parts in amongst the general information about my life.

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

Four Fifty-plus Fools Flit Fru France: Four over-fifty year old men tour France, cycle over 900 miles from Biarritz to Caen, and pass through 16 towns twinned with British towns. 14-Aug-2014

by Mike Newton , Jeff King , Pam King , Alexandra Vamplew , Christina Vamplew

( 1 )

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Four over-fifty year old cyclists fly into Biarritz, have a days rest to acclimatize then set off back to Teesside passing through sixteen towns twinned with British towns and arrive in Caen after eighteen days. The route included the Pyrenees, the Dordogne, the Loire Valley and Normandy. Money was raised for five charities. The reader of Four Fifty-Plus Fools Flit Fru France will find the book wonderfully entertaining and full of amusing and interesting digressions. The route was certainly challenging for old legs and their "biffons" were severely tested, with one cyclist suffering from "white penis syndrome". Letters and emails were sent out to all the twinned towns mayors in hopes that crowds would line the streets as they arrived. The reception from all the French people that they met on the way was outstanding. They were greeted by dancing in the main square in Biarritz and bunting on display in many towns that they passed through. The latter part of the ride passed through towns historically rich in Second World War stories.

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

Cycling & Walking the Camino de Santiago: Naoko Motohiro walked and her husband, Mike Newton, cycled the Camino de Santiago over five weeks from 2014 to 2016, split between 3 trips 10-Feb-2017

by Mike Newton

( 6 )

£1.99

In early 2014 we visited our friends Jessica and Nigel, and the Camino de Santiago came up in conversation. They had just completed it but we had no idea that it even existed until they told us about it. We learnt that it was a famous walk that started in St Jean Pied-de-Port and finished at Santiago, a total of 800km equating to 500 miles. This distance seemed to be an awful long distance to me. The most I had walked in a day was the Yorkshire Three Peaks, which was about 25 miles. I had lost a few toenails on that walk and did not want to repeat the experience. However Naoko, who was a much keener walker than me, wanted to learn more about it. She was told that she should:
• Read the book by John Brierley, entitled ‘Pilgrim's Guide To The Camino De Santiago’.
• Watch the film starring Martin Sheen called ‘The Way’.

We went on to walk & cycle the Camino over 3 years, with me cycling due to a foot problem. The book includes many photographs and our tale of of our trips, including the wonderful camaraderie that we found along the way.

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

In Love with Peru: A wonderful short trip to Peru: Cusco: Machu Picchu; Chan Chan; Huaca & 2 Pyramids; Peruvian wedding; New Year celebrations; Spectacled bears; Hellish taxi rides 10-Feb-2017

by Mike Newton

( 2 )

£1.99

I flew out to Peru on December 28th 2016 with my son Stuart and daughter-in-law Evelyn, who is from Peru. I returned after almost three weeks on January 15th. My trip included seeing many interesting places and meeting many new people, and included going to a fantastic Peruvian-style wedding. We toured to Cusco; Machu Picchu; Trujillo seeing Chan Chan, Huaca & 2 Pyramids, I blogged each day so this book has been created from the blog and contains many photographs.

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

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