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 ...

Back after a brief hiatus whilst in Patagonia, here are half a dozen articles that I’ve read in the last month or so and thought that you might enjoy. I do a similar post each month and have created a new archive page for the Six of the Best series. I was pleased to notice that only one of the websites below has featured on a previous list which suggests that I am still being exposed to some new stuff. Six ...

I have recently started a new diet. Last year, Laura and I began swimming the Thames as part of our Greater London Triathlon. We would drive out west, put our wetsuits on then swim until I got tired or cold. And it was always me shivering or aching, not Laura. I've done one big swim before but hadn't done any training for this swim. In fact, I'd deliberately avoided pools due to a dodgy shoulder. Laura, how ...

A couple of months ago I got a call from somebody at the BBC's The One Show asking about riding a rickshaw long distance. I have to admit that I didn't know what The One Show was but, after being as helpful as I could, I've since been brought up to speed and seen presenter Matt Baker has started his journey from Edinburgh to London. It made me think about a few celebrity challees that are similar to some th ...

Well, the summer months are drawing to a close and I'll be out of the country for about six weeks supporting Sarah Outen so this seems like a good point to round up how Laura and I have got on swimming the Thames so far. We have covered about 19 miles of swimming. I still haven't worked out how far it is from Cricklade - where it gets deep enough to swim - to Richmond - roughly where we'll stop before tides ...

Laura and I are swimming the length of the River ThamesAnd we'd like to take you on a short journey. Come on in!We started at the source of the river. The first 14 miles were too shallow to swim so we ran.Once the water started flowing properly though, we jumped right in.We wear wetsuits most of the time because I get cold being in the river for so long at a time.My friends Nick and Vicky from Your Web Medi ...

Here's a little video that my friend Nick from Your Web Media put together of us swimming down the Thames the other weekend. Originally I hadn't written anything else here but my website went funny when it tried to include the video below in the summary text so I've added this pointless sentence. Cheers! Tim.   ...

It was a sunny summer Sunday when we loaded our car with a picnic and headed off to the Cotswolds.We paid a princely pound to the parking attendant and took our space in a field with an ice cream van.Friends and families feasted and frolicked on the banks of the Thames and we made our way amongst them.Like them we had come out to enjoy nature. Like them we sat in the grass to enjoy some lunch. And unlike th ...

We looked down from the bridge and were surprised at just how shallow it was. With a shrug, we started running in the opposite direction. Our Thames swim started ankle deep in Cricklade a month or so back but the source of the Thames is actually some way further west. It's too shallow to realistically swim the first few miles of the river so we had returned to Cricklade where we started our swim to run thos ...

Swimming downstream with the flow of a river is about as close as I've ever felt to flying. When your arms glide effortlessly through the cold, clear water, and each time you glance to the side, the bank is moving like the view from a train window. I would recommend it to anybody. Our swims are starting to take on a bit of a routine. Get into the river and wade for as long as possible before committing to i ...

I feel a little bad writing this. No matter how amazing an expedition, a daily account is rarely the most riveting way for it to be documented. And with a project like swimming the Thames, you'd be forgiven for thinking that one stretch is much the same as the next. That, however, is one of the main reasons I'm doing this. Even with the Tube, which is helpfully colour coded, there is a still a tendency for ...

Starting in ankle deep water was never going to be ceremonious. We waved up to my parents who stood above us on the bridge at Cricklade which bore the sign 'River Thames' and marked our starting point, then began splashing down stream.Wading through a small river in rural England whilst clad in a wetsuit felt more than a little farcical. My sense of pride urged me to swim though my body was less keen given ...