One of the added joys of writing my book last year was that I had an excuse to contact many legendary names, people whose books I’d read and names I’d heard countless times but never met. Here are the mountaineers that kindly contrib... Read more
Below are Laura’s and my own diary entries, respectively, after our first day of walking in Patagonia: We wake around 7am and pack up the tent with few words. We walk, enjoying the morning peace and our rested legs. Before an hour is up, I... Read more
My new book – How to Get to the North Pole: and Other Iconic Adventures – is now on sale. You can buy it from me, on Amazon or in your local book shop. If you are so desperate to get your hands on a copy that you can’t read any... Read more
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’... Read more
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... Read more
Below is a list of the equipment I took to Patagonia. We bought quite a lot of new kit so I’ve mentioned any particular bargains and expensive items. I think we took too much stuff though so I’ve also included what we could have done... Read more
Expeditions to the North and South Poles have a lot in common and it can be easy to assume that they are both pretty much the same – cold and white. However, they are very different in a number of ways. Below are some of them. The Arctic T... Read more
Three days stuck in the same Argentinian town. But which town? See if Laura’s diary entry will help you work it out: In the style of those ‘Guess the location’ features that appear in several papers, see if you can guess our lo... Read more
Whenever I told people that a recent client of mine, Sarah Outen, had rowed a boat from Australia to Mauritius, the most common source of beffudlement was where you sleep on an ocean rowing boat. This was usually followed by some curiosity about... Read more
Laura and I were given a GoPro Hero video camera for Christmas (thanks Rob!) and, after a few test runs, we took it to Patagonia to film. For those not familiar, it is a tiny box of a camera about the size of a large stack of credit cards. It co... Read more
Some reflections about the trusty rucksack I lugged half away across South America: My rucksack has a particularly large pocket in its lid. Big enough for an A4 folder or a pair of shoes. It always contains those items which I will need most oft... Read more
Recent years have seen a spate of young sailors taking to the waves in an attempt to become the youngest person to complete a solo and unsupported circumnavigation. There are debates about which journeys were made entirely unsupported and those... Read more
