Author: Tim Moss
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Crossing a Desert this Weekend
What are you up to this weekend? I will be crossing a desert. Since arriving in Oman I’ve been a little transfixed by the idea of desert travel. It’s not something with which I have any experience but it’s easily romanticised: a rolling sea of deep orange dunes beneath a brilliant blue sky and luminous…
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Freedom (or: Why cycling to work is the answer to all of your worries)
There is no feeling quite like the freedom of standing atop an isolated mountain, nothing between you and the horizon but snow, rock and more mountains. Or perhaps pedalling purposefully along a straight stretch of tarmac, running flat across an empty plane with the sun lowering slowly ahead. And peering from the porch of your…
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Wadi Bih Relay
This weekend I am off to the Musandam Peninsula of Oman. Separated from the rest of the country, it’s a small stretch of land with steep mountains dropping straight to the coast. I’ll also be entering the Wadi Bih Relay Run, a 75km race through the Hajar Mountains around the UAE-Oman border. The race is entered…
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11 Essential Features for the Professional Adventurer’s Household
If I were a professional adventurer looking for the perfect property in the twenty-first century, these are the features for which I’d ask from the estate agent: A staircase that allows me to perform chin-ups Walk-in wardrobe for Gore-tex, fleece and down products Easy access for bicycles (because all adventurers cycle; and those that don’t…
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What if they say it’s not possible?
“Your tyres are too worn” – “The brakes won’t work” – “It’s too heavy” At the advent of another adventure, the usual voices of doubt began. Some real, some in my head. The list of potential hurdles and hiccups mounted and, as ever, I began to question whether what I was doing was feasible. But…
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London Loves
By the time we’ve wrestled our bikes from the carriage and re-mounted our baggage, the platform has deserted and begun to refill with passengers boarding the next departure. Wheeling our vessels against the flow of the crowd feels like the perfect metaphor for a return to the city. Clothes still a little grubby, eyes still…
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Dude, Where’s My Tent?
Masirah island sits in the Indian Ocean just off the east coast of Oman. It is around 50 miles long and 10 miles wide. It has a single town called Hilf on its north western coast and little else besides 90 miles of ring road; somewhere off which lies our tent. “Well, the speedo said…
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Expedition Report: 21st Century Altai
Abstract A team of six travelled to the Russian Altai mountains, establishing a base camp in the South Kurai Range and successfully climbing to five summits. All peaks are thought to be first British ascents and it is possible that four of these had not previously been climbed. Some team members also spent a few…
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Cycling Around Masirah Island on Christmas Day
Excitement quickly penetrates lethargy as the alarm sounds early on Christmas morning. Waking swiftly not to open presents but to ensure we have enough time for a 90 mile bike ride. And it wasn’t actually an alarm that woke us first but the sound of fishermen and the cacophony of seabirds outside the tent we’ve…
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2010 Review – A Statistical Analysis of My Website
With the aid of WordPress.com Stats and Google Analytics, both wonderfully helpful and free bits of software, I’ve had a quick look at some of the stats for my site in 2010. “Statistical analysis” might be a bit much but here are some of the numbers… Most read articles 5 Health Benefits of Cold Water…
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10 Tips For Your First Off-Road Cycling Expedition
THIS ARTICLE: Is written by Tom Allen who has recently returned to the UK with his mountain bike having spent the last few years travelling on it through 30-odd countries. His old teammate Andy Welch recently gave us some tips for anyone planning a big cycling expedition and now it’s Tom’s turn to give some pointers…