A brief overview of the kit we used on our Tube running challenge, as well as the food and drink we took: What we wore Running shoes - mine were old New Balance, Laura's were new Asics. Socks - we each always used the same pair of running socks, both from Decathlon. They retained less moisture than other socks and rubbed less.  Laura's were double layered which is supposed to help avoid blisters. Legs - Lyc ...

One of the added joys of writing my book last year was that I had an excuse to contact many legendary names, people whose books I'd read and names I'd heard countless times but never met. Here are the mountaineers that kindly contributed a piece of advice for the How To Climb An Unclimbed Mountain chapter: Contributors of Top Tips Sir Chris Bonington - Veteran of many Himalayan expeditions and significant f ...

Below are Laura's and my own diary entries, respectively, after our first day of walking in Patagonia: We wake around 7am and pack up the tent with few words. We walk, enjoying the morning peace and our rested legs. Before an hour is up, I feel a flash of irritation - at the incessant flies, at Tim, at my pack or at the trip itself. The irritation grows until I'm nearly in tears. I look at Tim and realise h ...

My new book - How to Get to the North Pole: and Other Iconic Adventures - is now on sale. You can buy it from me, on Amazon or in your local book shop. If you are so desperate to get your hands on a copy that you can't read any more then just click here to buy it now. But for those who recognise that good things come to those who wait, below is a little more information about the book, what's in it and wher ...

Just a quick note to let you know that, due to "health reasons", I won't be planning any more projects for a while. That includes finishing our cycle from the Scilly to Shetland Isles and swimming the Thames. Hopefully I'll be back soon. The blog will continue as normal. In other more exciting news: The Book Sales of the book seem to be coming along alright. Thanks to everyone who's bought a copy so far. It ...

Below are six of the adventure and philosophical blogging highlights from April 2012.  Featured this month is advice on protecting yourself from sharks when swimming across oceans (useful stuff), running with a broken heart (in the more literal rather than romantic sense) and a strangely compelling motivational video (#3). I make a similar list each month. Browse the old and best in the Six of the Best arch ...

Below is a list of the equipment I took to Patagonia. We bought quite a lot of new kit so I've mentioned any particular bargains and expensive items. I think we took too much stuff though so I've also included what we could have done without. Notes from Laura are in italics. Clothes 1 pair old walking boots (with new insoles) 1 pair sandals 2 pairs thick socks, 1 pair thin - Laura also took 1 medium pair 2 ...

Expeditions to the North and South Poles have a lot in common and it can be easy to assume that they are both pretty much the same - cold and white. However, they are very different in a number of ways. Below are some of them. [divide] [box type="note" bg="#ebebeb" color="#111" font="arial" fontsize="13" border="#a6a6a6" head="How To Get To The South Pole" headbg="#21417b" headcolor="#fff"]This is an edited ...

Three days stuck in the same Argentinian town. But which town? See if Laura's diary entry will help you work it out: In the style of those 'Guess the location' features that appear in several papers, see if you can guess our location from the clues: Only a couple of places have landlines (and mobile reception is non-existent), and connection to the outside world using them is crackly and frequently down. Ra ...

Whenever I told people that a recent client of mine, Sarah Outen, had rowed a boat from Australia to Mauritius, the most common source of beffudlement was where you sleep on an ocean rowing boat. This was usually followed by some curiosity about how such a tiny boat would survive out at sea. Below are some answers to those questions. [divide] [box type="note" bg="#ebebeb" color="#111" font="arial" fontsize= ...

[video width="615" height="410" id="41005987" type="vimeo"] Laura and I were given a GoPro Hero video camera for Christmas (thanks Rob!) and, after a few test runs, we took it to Patagonia to film. For those not familiar, it is a tiny box of a camera about the size of a large stack of credit cards. It comes in a waterproof and shock-resistant case with lots of different attachments so you can stick it on yo ...

Some reflections about the trusty rucksack I lugged half away across South America: My rucksack has a particularly large pocket in its lid. Big enough for an A4 folder or a pair of shoes. It always contains those items which I will need most often. For the first week this was money for buying food and credit cards to pay for transport, my passport for border crossings and registrations, mobile phone for mes ...