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Washington Irving is
best remembered today as being the author of “Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip van
Winkle.” He was also a resolute equestrian traveller. Born in New York, the
young man’s sense of adventure was fuelled by reading “Robinson Crusoe.”
When ill-health prompted his wealthy family to offer him a chance to make
the “grand tour” of Europe’s capitals in the mid 19th century, he departed without regrets. Irving
spent the next seventeen years travelling, riding and writing in Europe. His
elder brother criticized the author for his penchant “to gallop through
Italy,” all the while ignoring the popular tourist spots. The roaming writer
visited France, the Netherlands, Spain, Scotland, Wales, and England.
Irving’s book, “Tales of the Alhambra,” later inspired English Long Rider
George Cayley to make his own ride through Spain in the 1850s.
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