This morning I am flying to Budapest ahead of the weekend’s Balaton-átúszás: the annual swimming race across Lake Balaton. It’s about 5km and my wife, Laura, is taking part. Appa... Read more
A brief overview of the kit we used on our Tube running challenge, as well as the food and drink we took: What we wore Running shoes – mine were old New Balance, Laura’s were new... 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 tho... 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 tha... 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... Read more
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. Ins... Read more
Here’s a not-too-philosophical piece that Laura wrote and which entertained us both no end in Patagonia: One December, I was leaving Coire Cas car park ready to climb Ben Macdui when I... Read more
I have been running The Next Challenge for three years now and learned a little along the way about working for myself, working from home and building a website with followers, all without s... Read more
Tomorrow evening I will be hopping on a train to Cornwall with my wife and two bicycles. Laura and I will then take a ferry to the Isles of Scilly where we’ll start cycling vaguely nor... Read more
Laura writes about our first few, hard days’ walking along the Carretera Austral: The last two days were tough. While they were happening, we were in a zone, a single-minded, zombie st... Read more
Mine and Laura’s different reactions to the hardships in Patagonia made me wonder if I was some kind of masochist… After the tough two days at the start of our trip, we resolved... Read more
Laura’s reflections after another difficult stretch down south: With aching shoulders and throbbing feet, today I spent several hours pondering the question of hardship on expeditions.... Read more
