Algerian memories; a bicycle tour over the Atlas to the Sahara

I've been thinking a lot about happiness lately, perhaps because I picked up "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin over the Christmas holidays. Now, with Valentine's Day approaching, I'm rereading "Lucky in Love: Secrets of Happy Couples and How Their Marriages Survive" by Catherine Johnson.

The main take-away of Johnson's research is this: The happiest couples are often those who share a dream and work together to achieve it. The nature of a shared dream can be idiosyncratic, not to mention downright eccentric, as long as both partners buy in and wholeheartedly support it.

Fanny Bullock Workman and her husband William Hunter Workman were clearly such a couple.
I'm delighted to release their first book as Celebration Edition #360:

"Algerian memories; a bicycle tour over the Atlas to the Sahara"
by Fanny Bullock Workman (1859-1925) and William Hunter Workman (1847-1937).
London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1895.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/workman/algerian/algerian.html

Fanny Bullock Workman (January 8, 1859 - January 22, 1925) was an American geographer, cartographer, explorer, and mountaineer. She and her husband, Dr. William Hunter Workman, travelled extensively in the late 1800s and early 1900s. One of Fanny's favorite ways to travel was by bicycle, though she soon became passionate about climbing mountains as well. The two adventurers certainly did not have an easy time of it! Here Fanny discusses the conditions of Algerian roads:

"A large number of roads built of limestone are hard and excellent when dry, but soften and become slippery when wet. The roads from Oran towards Tlemcen are of this character. Others, having a superficial covering of ordinary clay soil, are fair when dry, but when wet become utterly unridable with the bicycle, on account of the tenacious, glue-like quality of the mud, which adheres to and clogs the wheels. In the desert the roads degenerate into camel and mule tracks, in places quite ridable, and in places rough. After rains the large feet of the camels, sinking into the soil a foot or more, leave the surface in an impassable condition."

The Workmans clearly shared their work, often switching tasks from year to year, including general trip organization, photography, and taking of scientific observations. Most of their publications were co-authored, and Fanny was often first author. A strong proponent of woman suffrage and women's rights, Fanny frequently discusses the conditions under which women lived in the areas in which she travelled. In her "Algerian Memoirs" Fanny devotes an entire chapter to the situation of Kabyle women.

"Writers, guide-books and the French tell us that the women of the Kabylie occupy a high position, and one much more favoured than that of Arab women; but those who have seen them in their homes do not all agree with this opinion. ... One must look deeper than this and see how man regards woman, and how woman regards herself in Kabylie land."

Despite the drawbacks of Algeria roads and sexual politics, the Workmans recommended travelling there. "When one has become blasé with years of European travel, let him turn to Algeria and he will find there what will give him new emotions, fresh impressions, enlarge the horizon of his conceptions, and supplement the experiences that have been elsewhere acquired."

The Workmans' dream was to travel together, sharing new emotions and fresh impressions, meeting challenges, and overcoming obstacles. Throughout their lives together, they continued to look for and explore new horizons.