Round Ireland With a Fridge by Tony Hawks

As far as pub bets go, this may well be one of the stupidest ever made, based on a vague memory, that happened to lead to one of the better travelogues written in the last few years. Hawks, a British comedian, was visiting Ireland once many years ago when he happened to see a man by the side of the road with a full-sized refrigerator. At the time, he wondered who the man was, why he was hitching with a major appliance, and who in their right mind would pick him up. Fast forward many years, when the memory, long forgotten, surfaces in a night of drinking. Hawks wakes up in the morning to find a note, a contract of sorts. He's bet his friend 100 pounds that he can hitchhike around the entire country of Ireland with a fridge (didn't see that coming, did you?). Never mind that a fridge costs more than 100 pounds. Never mind that such a venture might take a month or more. It could be done, when thought about properly, and that's enough for Hawks.

What follows is an amazing tale of luck, slight courage, and adventure. Hawks manages to get a bit of sponsorship from a popular morning show, keeping the loyal listeners abreast of his whereabouts and planned path. Ireland embraces Tony, affectionately dubbing him the "fecking eedjit with the fridge". They embrace the fridge even more, and it briefly becomes a symbol, uniting the small towns of coastal Ireland with the quest of a slightly mad comedian. Fans of Bill Bryson who've ever wondered what it would be like to travel with a younger, drunker, hornier, crazier Bill Bryson would do well to follow the adventures of Tony Hawks.