I always enjoy reading applications for my grant but but I particularly enjoy applications from young people. The application I received from teenagers Joe, William and Ollie to walk the Tour du Mont Blanc was excellent. I was really impressed w... Read more
I usually say that The Next Challenge Grant is for small adventures but every year there are exceptions. Last year, Lisa and Libby ran up every 3,000ft mountain in Scotland and, in 2015, Elise ran five thousand miles around the coast of Great Br... Read more
The Next Challenge Grant is once again open for applications and donations. The deadline for applications is 31 December 2018 and grants will be awarded in January 2019. Click here to apply Click here to donate The 2019 Next Challenge Grant This... Read more
In his application for The Next Challenge Grant, German student Hajo Spathe wrote: I have never seen a more beautiful place than the Canadian Rockies! Turquoise lakes like emeralds and the Icefield Parkway Highway is just breathtaking.” Hi... Read more
The ‘TT’ (Tourist Trophy) is a series of motorcycle races that take place on the Isle of Man each year. The route of those races is 37 miles and grant winner George Shelton decided that it would make for a good day’s run. So, earlier... Read more
As well as enjoying the drama of England’s progress through the group and knock-out stages of the World Cup, it’s also reminding me of where I was this time four years ago: cycling across Malaysia. Our time in the country did not jus... Read more
Grant winner Val Ismaili and his friend Mark (pictured above) have recently completed a kayak descent of the Drin River, which runs for 200 miles through Kosovo and Albania. Kayaking the Drin by Val Ismaili This Easter my friend Mark and I compl... Read more
North Korea is in the news a lot at the moment. I’m sure it’s a great place and, who knows, maybe it will be open to cycle tourists one day. But until then, let me sing the praises of its southern neighbour. Laura and I spent three b... Read more
Six years ago, Dan Keeley was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and experienced a dangerous manic episode whilst in Rome. Six months ago, he went back to Rome to exorcise his demons, which he did in remarkable style by running over one thousand mi... Read more
Brothers Ed and Richard dreamed of undertaking an epic expedition, conspiring in the pub to complete a massive triathlon right the way across Scotland. When they woke up the next day, however, they remembered that they had jobs and lives and fam... Read more
Last month I shared a story on this blog about how depression and anxiety almost stopped our round-the-world cycling plans. Since writing about it here, I’ve spoken about it on stage, posted it on LinkedIn and even had the story published... Read more
There was loads of stuff that I wanted to include in my new book, but just could not fit in. Even after editing, there were 20,000 words worth of stories and anecdotes that I removed. The book has 16-pages of photographs in the middle, but that... Read more
