Category: Tim’s Adventures
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Shouldering the Burden
The first touch of the chilled water felt good against my skin. In England, outdoor pools are heated but here in Oman, they’re cooled. The warm up was 200-metres of front crawl. I hadn’t really done serious lengths for over a year now. Not since I first hurt my shoulder. I’ve been avoiding hard swimming…
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Living in Oman
As of last weekend I am now based in Muscat, Oman, for the next few months. I’ve never been anywhere in the Middle East before (unless you count Baku airport) or lived in country whose first language isn’t English (or which is quite so hot). It already seems like a warm and welcoming place, and…
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‘Running the Tube’ BBC News Feature
This is the BBC News piece featuring Laura and I on our final Tube run. Apologies for the awful quality.
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Sakhalin, Hokkaido, Choshi, Muscat
I will be visiting a few new places in the next two weeks. By the time you read this, I will be in a plane somewhere over Siberia on my way to the island of Sakhalin. From there I’ll take a boat to Hokkaido, the north island of Japan, then fly down to Tokyo and…
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I Didn’t Win
Just a quick one to let you know that I wasn’t one of the winners in the British Airways ‘Great Britons’ competition last week. I was shortlisted to win flights for my Olympics-themed South Pole expedition but evidently did not get enough votes. Part of me felt silly for scrabbling around so desperately to gather…
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The Next Challenge is changing
You may have noticed a few changes on my website. I’ve had a bit of a re-design that will, hopefully, make it more use friendly and look a little better. Thanks for bearing with me while I tinker. But I am also trying to make changes that extend beyond the aesthetic. I first came up…
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Please say nice things about me (so I can get to the South Pole)
Voting ends tomorrow in the competition for which I’ve been shortlisted. Hopefully you have already voted for me but, if not, I’d be very grateful if you’d take 30-seconds out of your day to do so. Only two candidates go through but the website indicates it’s not based on votes alone but rather a more…
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Can you help me get to the South Pole? (Takes two minutes!)
Would you give two minutes of your time to help me get to the South Pole? I have been short-listed for a British Airways ‘Great Briton’ Award. If I get enough votes then they will provide me and my team mates with flights to South America to begin our journey to the Pole. As you…
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Celebrate the end of Running the Tube
Last Saturday, Laura and I joyfully staggered into Aldgate Tube Station at the end of the Metropolitan Line and the end of an adventure. At 24 miles long, it was our last endurance Tube run leaving only a wee 3 mile jog around the Waterloo & City Line to finish after work next Thursday, September…
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An Introduction to Arctic Exploration – Part III
Unclip harnesses. Unstrap boots from skis. Unzip pulk bags and unpack tent. A good camping routine can be the highlight of any adventurer’s day (OK, it can be the highlight of my day) but there is nothing quite like the ritual of preparing a campsite in Svalbard. First you dig a platform of snow. This…
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An Introduction to Arctic Exploration – Part II
First stop? The rifle range. “100 yards… 80 yards… 60 yards…! 50 yards”, and the air fills with screeches, pops and, finally, a booming noise that wrenches your gut and shakes the ground as smoke trickles from the barrel, the rifle’s wry acknowledgement of its attention grabbing action as the imaginary bear gets too close…
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An Introduction to Arctic Exploration – Part I
I’ll admit to being a little confused. It’s to be expected after any international flights – losing track of time as you cross different zones and spend infeasible periods in queues and uncomfortable seats – but I’m pretty sure it should be dark by now. Stepping out of the airport gates the first thing that…