The Next Challenge Grant will be skipping a year due to Covid-19. Applications for the 2021 Next Challenge Grant should have opened by now. I kept putting off the launch though. It always takes a bit of willpower for me to get it started each au... Read more
Last summer, Laura and I spent a month cycling up the Baltic coast towards the Aland Islands: Scandinavia’s answer to the Hebrides. Accompanying us for his first long tour was our son, nine months old at the time, towed behind me in a trai... Read more
So, the lockdown continues. Another three weeks here in the UK and no doubt more to come. On the plus side, we have at least been allowed more freedom for getting outside and staying active. The challenge, as is often the case, is probably more... Read more
This weekend, the Cycle Touring Festival is happening online. It is free and accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. There should have been another Cycle Touring Festival in Lancashire next month. The venue was booked, speakers were signed... Read more
As we lay swaddled in our tent, a loud rumbling noise echoed around us. For several seconds it seemed the world was collapsing beneath us, until a decisive cracking sound ended the show, and we breathed again. A couple of years ago, Laura and I... Read more
I am delighted to announce the winners of this year’s Next Challenge Grant. Every year it’s inspiring to read about so many amazing expedition ideas and hard not being able to support them all. But we have 13 fantastic and deserving... Read more
65 year old architect and Perthshire resident Sue Manning recently went walking in the mountains with her pack pony Kirsty. She won a Next Challenge Grant in part because she wanted to show that it is possible to have an adventure at any age, tr... Read more
I tend to call the winning ideas from my grant “adventures” rather than “expeditions” because I don’t like to throw around the term “expedition” lightly. Like the word “epic”, I think it gets... Read more
For its sixth year, the Cycle Touring Festival is focussing on the near abroad: bicycle adventures that don’t involve flying. The festival is organised by my wife, Laura. It is the only festival in the UK aimed specifically at cycle tourin... Read more
Next Challenge Grant winner Chase Lewine and his partner, Eve, recently completed the Te Arora Trail, a 3,000km walk that runs the full length of New Zealand’s two main islands. They encountered mud baths, cyclones, cheeky Kea birds and wild pig... Read more
The Next Challenge Grant is open to applicants of all ages but I especially like receiving applications from young people. I never stop being impressed by the ambition and boldness of youth, and today’s grant winner is no exception. At fir... Read more
When I started going on expeditions, I was a student and had all the time in the world for travelling over the long summers. I disappeared to Central Asia for a month, around the world for two months and the Americas for 10 weeks. Then I got a j... Read more
