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 ...

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 ...

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= ...

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 ...

Recent years have seen a spate of young sailors taking to the waves in an attempt to become the youngest person to complete a solo and unsupported circumnavigation. There are debates about which journeys were made entirely unsupported and those which were non-stop but below are some of the sailors included in the lists: [divide] [box type="note" bg="#ebebeb" color="#111" font="arial" fontsize="13" border="# ...

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. ...

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 ...

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 ...