Tag: Motivation
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Freedom (or: Why cycling to work is the answer to all of your worries)
There is no feeling quite like the freedom of standing atop an isolated mountain, nothing between you and the horizon but snow, rock and more mountains. Or perhaps pedalling purposefully along a straight stretch of tarmac, running flat across an empty plane with the sun lowering slowly ahead. And peering from the porch of your…
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What if they say it’s not possible?
“Your tyres are too worn” – “The brakes won’t work” – “It’s too heavy” At the advent of another adventure, the usual voices of doubt began. Some real, some in my head. The list of potential hurdles and hiccups mounted and, as ever, I began to question whether what I was doing was feasible. But…
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London Loves
By the time we’ve wrestled our bikes from the carriage and re-mounted our baggage, the platform has deserted and begun to refill with passengers boarding the next departure. Wheeling our vessels against the flow of the crowd feels like the perfect metaphor for a return to the city. Clothes still a little grubby, eyes still…
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2010 Review – Best of the Blog
I’ve written somewhere between 150 and 200 posts on this website over the course of the year. I started off with a high output (four posts a week) but have tried latterly to focus on quality rather than quantity; producing articles that will still be interesting or useful this time next year and beyond. I…
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A New Year’s Message from Dave Cornthwaite
As regular readers will know, I am part of a small group of adventurous people who take it in turns to write articles for each other as part of an Adventurer’s Blogging Chain. To mark the New Year I’m very pleased to welcome Dave Cornthwaite to my site. Dave has roller skated across Australia, kayaked…
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Live on a Dollar a Day – Everyday Adventure #10
The major sticking point for most people planning an expedition is money. Right? How they can fund it and who will sponsor them. Yet, I’ve never been on an expedition that had enough money or, for that matter, met anyone else that has. Few are the groups who can afford the latest and greatest bits…
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Head for the Drawing Board – Everyday Adventure #9
The next best thing to the thrill of an expedition is planning one. Poring over a map, tracing the line that you’re going to walk/run/cycle/fly and piercing it with a pin as the idea once did your heart. Punching key words into Google, scouring message boards and gulping down Wikipedia articles to feed greedily with…
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One Small Piece of Advice… (Start Running)
I frequently get emails from people asking for help with their expeditions – it’s the reason I started this website and the reason there’s a big green button at the top right of your screen offering as much. More often than not, such conversations peter out and I never hear from the people again (with…
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Everyday Adventure #8 – Reclaim the Night
“I’m tired when I get home from work.” “I couldn’t do that sort of thing.” “There aren’t enough hours in the day.” I can’t help with all of the excuses but, with that last one, I can. I happen to agree though. There aren’t enough hours in the day to fit in all of the…
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Lose Yourself – Everyday Adventure #7
“I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks” – Daniel Boone, American pioneer and explorer When was the last time you didn’t know exactly where you were? Or at least that you couldn’t find out instantly from your phone or the robotic voice of that device mounted on…
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Midweek Missions – Part II
Everyday Adventures with an outdoor twist. Over the past few months I’ve been writing a series of articles for my favourite outdoorsy website – Outdoors Magic. They’re called Mid-Week Missions and they’re more than a little inspired by the Everyday Adventures campaign. They’re targeted a little more specifically at the mountain-lovers amongst you but hopefully…