I like to think that there are three options for hauling large volumes of supplies across a deserts: cars, camels and carts. The former two methods are utilised frequently but examples of the latter, carts, are fewer and further between. Below are a few notable carts that have been used to cross deserts and there's a series of videos at the bottom too. [divide] [box type="note" bg="#ebebeb" color="#111"  fo ...

A key motivation for expeditions over the ages, and into the present day, has been scientific research. I never write about it on this website though because I've never really got into it. I think it's a great reason to go travelling on an adventure - probably more worthy than just for fun and self-fulfilment - it just doesn't do it for me. But I know that many people pursue it with a passion which is why I ...

I honestly think this might be the best video I've ever seen... THE MAN WHO LIVED ON HIS BIKE from Guillaume Blanchet on Vimeo. ...

Walking and climbing on high mountains brings additional risks from the lack of oxygen in the air. Below I have given a very brief description of Altitude Mountain Sickness (AMS) and some basic advice for acclimatisation. [divide] [box type="note" bg="#ebebeb" color="#111" font="arial" fontsize="13" border="#a6a6a6" head="How To Climb An Unclimbed Mountain" headbg="#21417b" headcolor="#fff"]This is an edite ...

Here's your monthly half dozen dose of articles that I’ve read and enjoyed. It includes a history of female mountaineering, a debate about the foods people eat whilst running, and a bad review of a good book amongst other things. I make a similar list each month. Browse the old and best in the Six of the Best archive. [divide] Six of the Best – March 2012 Female mountaineering pioneers - Susanna Jones, The ...

It's London Explorers tonight and the talk sounds like a real winner. Huw Miles recently made a swim/float descent of the Sun-Kosi river in Nepal. His team used riverboards to navigate grade 5 and 6 rapids, and took video footage as they went. Details about tonight are below. Belinda's running this one as I'm still away. It's the usual story although, apparently, the first 30 people get a free Buff courtesy ...

Here's a not-too-philosophical piece that Laura wrote and which entertained us both no end in Patagonia: One December, I was leaving Coire Cas car park ready to climb Ben Macdui when I saw a group of Japanese tourists wearing city clothes and carrying Sainsburys' bags setting off up Cairngorm. They made a sharp contrast to my axes and crampons. Today we had a similar encounter when we (laden with tent, stov ...

I have been running The Next Challenge for three years now and learned a little along the way about working for myself, working from home and building a website with followers, all without spending money. Here is a little about the set up that I use: At Home Working at home I use a tiny 9-inch netbook - a Dell Mini 9. It cost £180 new off eBay three years ago. At home I connect it to a large monitor, full s ...

Tomorrow evening I will be hopping on a train to Cornwall with my wife and two bicycles. Laura and I will then take a ferry to the Isles of Scilly where we'll start cycling vaguely north east via Land's End all the way up to the Shetland Islands via John O'Groats and the Orkneys. During the ride we will be adhering to Next Challenge "house style", which roughly means: Carrying tent and stove but welcoming f ...

Laura writes about our first few, hard days' walking along the Carretera Austral: The last two days were tough. While they were happening, we were in a zone, a single-minded, zombie state focused only on walking nearly 100km in two days to make our ferry. Now finished, the lowest points stand out in stark relief. Throbbing, burning feet, sweltering heat, aching shoulders and utter exhaustion - combined with ...

The first record of someone pedalling around the world is Englishman Thomas Stevens' 13,000 mile journey by Penny Farthing in 1884 carrying little more than a spare shirt, a change of socks and a pistol. Much has changed since then – in particular there is less need for firearm – but the essence remains much the same: you can go a long way with a bicycle and a sense of adventure. Skipping forward a hundred ...

Shortly before heading out to South America at the end of last year, Laura made contact with Swoop Patagonia, a travel company based in Bristol. We met with Luke Errington, who runs Swoop with Charlotte Brown, and they were incredibly helpful in hooking us up with some contacts down south. And now they've kindly written a list of highlight tourist attractions for anyone considering a trip to Patagonia... To ...