birth_place nationality notableworks birth_date period genre image article_title name occupation
lismore , county waterford , ireland irish '' bradt march 2011 full tilt '' jane wilson-howarth march 2011 hilary 28 november 1931 1965 -- present travel -lrb- non-fiction -rrb- dervla murphy.jpg dervla murphy
 dervla murphy cyclist , travel writer
dervla murphy

dervla murphy -lrb- born 28 november 1931 , in lismore , county waterford , ireland -rrb- is an irish touring cyclist and author of adventure travel books for over 40 years .
murphy is best known for her 1965 book `` full tilt : ireland to india with a bicycle '' , about an overland cycling trip through europe , iran , afghanistan , pakistan and india .
she followed this with volunteer work helping tibetan refugees in india and nepal and trekking with a mule through ethiopia .
murphy took a break from travel writing following the birth of her daughter , and then wrote about her travels with rachel in india , pakistan , south america , madagascar and cameroon .
she later wrote about her solo trips through romania , africa , laos , the states of the former yugoslavia and siberia .
in 2005 she visited cuba with her daughter and three granddaughters .
murphy has normally travelled alone and unaided , without luxuries and depending on the hospitality of local people .
she has been in dangerous situations ; for example , she was attacked by wolves in the former yugoslavia , threatened by soldiers in ethiopia , and robbed in siberia .
however , she described her worst incident as tripping over cats at home and shattering her left arm .
