A View From The Saddle

A View From The Saddle - The Story Of Operation Watertight 2

When Olives Et Al founders Giles and Annie Henschel set off in 2024 on a round-Mediterranean journey, they weren’t chasing postcards - they were chasing questions. On 32 year old bikes, the same they used in the trip that inspired the creation of Olives Et Al way back in 1993. They met the growers and farmers facing the frontline of climate change. From Spain’s parched reservoirs to Italy’s absent harvests, the olive tree’s future had never looked more urgent.

The Blackmore Vale said this:

    “This book isn’t just a travel log. It’s real lives, hard land and a centuries-old tradition under threat. It isn’t polished. It isn’t curated. It isn’t even gentle. It is, exactly as Giles says, ‘our tale of daily life, seen from the saddles… fruity real-time language and completely unedited writing.’ But it is affectionate, curious, rude, sharp-eyed, occasionally sweary and often very, very funny.

     Warm, wry and occasionally ridiculous, it reads just like Giles and Annie sound when they sit side by side – a couple who’ve lived, worked and travelled together for decades.”

Ride beside them over 10,000 miles, across international borders, meeting families whose livelihoods depend on groves stretching back generations. You’ll hear about droughts, floods, and adaptation. And you’ll explore how every jar and bottle from Olives Et Al connects back to this living story. Oh, and there's some swearing, too.

A View From The Saddle

Giles & Annie Henschel

Hardcover

Print length: 170 pages

Language: English

Publication Date: 14 November 2025

ISBN: 978-1-9193572-0-1