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 ...

I enjoy physically challenging projects and that is reflected in many of my expeditions and undertakings. The truth, however, is that I rarely train specifically for any given challenge. Instead, I just keep a general level of fitness which means I'm usually ready for whatever plans I make. However, since the purpose of this website is to first encourage and second enable people to take on their own challen ...

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 most popular article on my website is about the health benefits of swimming in cold water. Outdoor swimming is a joy in itself and can bring about a lot of positive health outcomes too. However, I was contacted last week by Jill Peck Vona who found a downside to the natural high: I was addicted to cold water. My body was so hot I couldn’t eat. I believed I couldn’t survive without submerging myself in e ...

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 ...

'My friend does that', shouted down the lady from the side of her boat as my now wife and I swam past in the river below. 'It's that "Wild Swimming" thing, isn't it?'. I smiled and said Yes but something about what she said irked me. She was friendly enough and she was right about the name - "wild swimming" is indeed the most common term for it - but there was something in the way she said it and what was i ...

  I am no expert outdoor swimmer - I'm not sure such a thing exists - but I've jumped in my fair share of cold puddles and ditches in recent years. Presented below is my personal view of the necessary equipment for a swim in open water. You may agree or disagree with parts of it and I welcome feedback. Items which are not essential I have marked as such. Here goes...  Wild Swimming Kit List: Swim costume (o ...

Here are a few articles that I've read in the last month and thought that you might like. I do a similar post each month. The links tend to come in part from adventure and expedition blogs but also the odd bit of philosophical stuff and a couple that make me laugh.Six of the Best - November 2011 In the wake of Leander: swimming the Hellespont - Charles Foster ‘Youngest’ expedition to South Pole abandoned af ...

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 ...

It wakes you up and leaves you feeling invigorated It saves power All the best people do. It gets your blood pumping which carries all sorts of health benefits Warm ones will then feel like a real treat. It'll toughen you up so you can do more outdoor swimming It saves time (it might feel great but you ain't gonna be in there for quarter of an hour!) When you come out of a hot shower the air always feel col ...

Stupid. I should have known that late October was not a good time to go cycling in sandals but I'd come back from holiday the night before and hadn't adjusted my thermostat. It is cold. To make matters worse, the first three miles are all downhill, littered with traffic lights and choked with commuters so I can't even heat myself by pedalling harder. I straddle my bike at a red light and shove my hands into ...

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 ...