Alastair Humphreys

My blog has moved: new RSS needed!

2008-10-23T15:33:00.001-07:00

My blog has flown the nest to bigger and snazzier things.
Please reload www.alastairhumphreys.com
Thanks a lot!

Fixing my feet

2008-10-23T09:10:00.001-07:00

marathon des sables, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Ben and I spent a useful hour this afternoon with John from Fulham Podiatry on the recommendation of our coach, Faye. We were very impressed with his expertise and came away with plenty of useful advice. I think he was less impressed with the state of our feet! Ben's are pretty minging as he's spent 2% of his life squidged into ski boots getting alternately hot/sweaty and cold/frostbitten. And I broke my foot in the Marathon des Sables (lovely picture above), so was eager to get it checked out as it's not quite fixed.
John put us on a running machine to analyse a gait. I was irritated to be told that Ben had a much better running style. Ben was irritated to hear that, with some coaching, I'll be able to run much (even?!) faster...

Some slightly ashamed self-promotion

2008-10-23T06:49:00.000-07:00

I saw my first Christmas tree yesterday. And so, comfortable in the knowledge that I am not the most shameless of the predators nibbling around people's seasonal compulsion to buy lots and lots of stuff, I thought that I would give myself a little plug.
I have put together a collection of images, available as greetings cards, prints, canvas frames, posters or framed images. Some of them are shown below. These are unusual, limited edition photographs at very reasonable prices; perfect for easy, interesting Christmas gifts! A full selection of all the available images is here.

Christmas Card

Cycling Reflections

Barcelona sunrise

Skyline riding

Christmas Card

Racing the rainbow

Eiffel Tower

St Paul's Cat…

A video to cheer you up

2008-10-23T03:07:00.000-07:00

The old collapsing chair gag. Thirty seconds of entertainment.

Hill Reps in Richmond Park

2008-10-22T14:38:00.001-07:00

"Oh God, what am I doing?"
A silent grumble for illumination as I climb wearily onto my bike in the cold darkness of 6am. I find it so hard to motivate myself to train. It's not something I've ever done before, nor something I particularly enjoy. I find it hard to justify the time it requires. It hurts. It's boring. I'd rather be in bed... So run the excuses of weakness as I pedal down the road. It is particularly difficult to dedicate so much blood, sweat and time to training when we do not even have a sponsor yet, following the withdrawal of Ernst&Young.
Thankfully dawn broke eventually and I cheered up.
After 5 hours of cycling, running, and hill reps, during which Ben and I covered 55km and burned over 3500kcal, I decided to dedicate the rest of my day to hobbling and eating. But there was no time for that; I spent the afternoon working on a photoshoot of Colin Firth (honestly), and in the evening went to a lecture by Saffia Farr about Kyrgyzstan. Now, as soon as I finish this, I'm off to bed! The 6am alarm for weights in the gym will come along oh too soon...
Here's a few pics of our morning. I particularly enjoy the one of me being ahead of Ben - a rare photo indeed! (I think he'd just stopped to tie his shoelaces)

The 'rules' of polar travel

2008-10-22T14:11:00.001-07:00

Antarctica 2006, originally uploaded by Agent_Cooper.

People often ask me about the so-called 'rules' of polar travel. What does 'unsupported' really mean?
With the caveats that I don't think expeditions and people should be judged 'better' or 'worse' because of a failure to adhere to these arbitrary details, that I don't know who made these up, nor who has the right to pass judgement on someone's dreams, plans and triumphs, here are the polar 'rules'.

Home from Home

2008-10-22T04:44:00.001-07:00

The Guardian ran a fabulous feature at the weekend called Home from Home. They photographed, and spoke to, a child from every country in the world who is now living in England. It was sad, uplifting and fascinating to see my country through their eyes. Have a dip into it here: just double click on the photos to begin.

They can't both be right...

2008-10-22T04:25:00.000-07:00

One, or possibly both, of these camps is categorically wrong. They cannot both be right:

The atheist bus is coming soon to London's streets. The Alpha Course have been advertising on buses for a while. The recruitment drive of religions, and of non-religions is hotting up. But thankfully not quite to the ludicrous levels of the Taleban shooting a charity worker in their country because she was a Christian.
I love the world, I find it fascinating, and I love being out and immersed in it. But at times it is so mad that four isolated months in Antarctica feels like the only option.

A Portrait in the Interior

2008-10-20T04:10:00.001-07:00

Self-portrait, originally uploaded by Ben Saunders.

Where can you place him - among natural species?
There are precisely none in the hinterland
away from the qualified society of the littoral
- the stink of guano, the litter of penguin feathers,
whole colonies of raucous innocents massacred
or protected at will, flapping their impotent rage
at the skuas' tricks and thievery. You come to
a high plateau, the sink and mirror of Antarctica,
existential terrain - photograph him here.
Each day he grows heavier with the ice,
his breath cracking out and freezing,
a ruff of accumulating crystals around his neck.
His dry-shod fathers approve the struggle
- that company of prim-mouthed adventurers
who watch him now and for old times' sake
avert eyes and memory from natural deeds
that spring upon him like small jealousies:
the faeces he shakes frozen from his trousers,
the liquid in him resisting its natural flow.
How savage his face grows, tanned to leather
by wind and sun: the stinging glare off the ice
will not melt his carapace or loosen
the frosted helmet encompassing him
like a model hemisphere and pole.
His goggles have ghosted a pale moonscape
around his eyes; aqueous humour
admits the passage of light, marks out
the planetary stillness at his centre.
Picture him at the moment of temptation:
there's nothing to draw him back - no memory
served or inflamed by a temperate scene,
no water moving, no shrub to cast its shadow.
He gazes on the linear imperialism
traipsed by sledges and his own layered feet
across the plateau. A scraggy reckoning
is spun out by the pinioned wheel behind;
the summary horizon draws him on,
neutral, mineral, into his own terrrain.

- Chris Orsman

Thoughts from a geriatric

2008-10-17T00:26:00.000-07:00

On the news yesterday was an interview with a self-styled 'geriatric'. I felt he deserved a mention on my blog too. His prolific YouTube bloggings -musings on his long life- are well worth a watch. Here's one:

The difficulties of writing

2008-10-16T23:05:00.001-07:00

Mantis on a leaf, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday helping a friend edit the book he is writing. It reminded me how exasperatingly difficult writing a book can be at times.
Reading my friend's latest chapter I had the sense that something was not quite right. However it was difficult to put my finger on exactly what the problem was. I felt, in the end, that it was simply a little bit flat. My friend had begun to just write down everything that happened, rather than writing only what adds value to the story.
Then last night I came across these words from TS Eliot, and they seemed to sum up what I had been trying to say:

...every phrase
And sentence is right (where every word is at home,
Taking its place to support the others,
The word neither diffident nor ostentatious,
An easy commerce of the old and the new,
The common word exact without vulgarity,
The formal word precise but not pedantic,
The complete consort dancing together)
Every phrase and every sentence is an end and a beginning,
Every poem an epitaph. And any action
Is a step to the block, to the fire, down the sea's throat
Or to an illegible stone: and that is where we start.

Easier said than done!

The Call of the Wild: Robert Service

2008-10-16T22:56:00.001-07:00

canoeing down the yukon, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Have you gazed on naked grandeur
where there’s nothing else to gaze on,
Set pieces and drop-curtain scenes galore,
Big mountains heaved to heaven, which the blinding sunsets blazon,
Black canyons where the rapids rip and roar?
Have you swept the visioned valley
with the green stream streaking through it,
Searched the Vastness for a something you have lost?
Have you strung your soul to silence?
Then for God’s sake go and do it;
Hear the challenge, learn the lesson, pay the cost.
Have you wandered in the wilderness, the sagebrush desolation,
The bunch-grass levels where the cattle graze?
Have you whistled bits of rag-time at the end of all creation,
And learned to know the desert’s little ways?
Have you camped upon the foothills,
have you galloped o'er the ranges,
Have you roamed the arid sun-lands through and through?
Have you chummed up with the mesa?
Do you know its moods and changes?
Then listen to the Wild -- it’s calling you.
Have you known the Great White Silence,
not a snow-gemmed twig aquiver?
(Eternal truths that shame our soothing lies).
Have you broken trail on snowshoes? mushed your huskies up the river,
Dared the unknown, led the way, and clutched the prize?
Have you marked the map’s void spaces, mingled with the mongrel races,
Felt the savage strength of brute in every thew?
And though grim as hell the worst is,
can you round it off with curses?
Then hearken to the Wild -- it’s wanting you.
Have you suffered, starved and triumphed,
groveled down, yet grasped at glory,
Grown bigger in the bigness of the whole?
"Done things" just for the doing, letting babblers tell the story,
Seeing through the nice veneer the naked soul?
Have you seen God in His splendors,
heard the text that nature renders?
(You'll never hear it in the family pew).
The simple things, the true things, the silent men who do things --
Then listen to the Wild -- it’s calling you.
They have cradled you in custom,
they have primed you with their preaching,
They have soaked you in convention through and through;
They have put you in a showcase; you're a credit to their teaching --
But can't you hear the Wild? -- it’s calling you.
Let us probe the silent places, let us seek what luck betide us;
Let us journey to a lonely land I know.
There’s a whisper on the night-wind,
there’s a star agleam to guide us,
And the Wild is calling, calling. . .let us go.

A bit of troop-rallying enthusiasm for a sleepy Thursday afternoon

2008-10-16T09:46:00.001-07:00

Breakfast of Champions, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs. - Henry Ford

Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. - Goethe

Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity, to seize everything you ever wanted, Would you capture it or just let it slip? - EMINEM

Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. - T.S. Eliot

There’s only one rule: the guy who trains the hardest wins. - Floyd Landis (except, for him, sadly, it seems there are two rules...)

Our greatest battles are with our own mind. - James Frank

Everything is in the mind. That’s where it all starts. Knowing what you want is the first step toward getting it. - Mae West

Eighty percent of success is showing up. - Woody Allen

It is better to live one year as a tiger than one hundred years as a sheep. - Buddhist saying

The longest journey starts with a single step. - Lao Tze

Years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. - Mark Twain

I don’t know if I can do this. Then again, I don’t know that I can’t do it. - Ffyona Campbell

If think you can’t, you can’t. If think you can, you can.

This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time. - Fight Club

We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort. - Jesse Owens

Failing doesn’t make you a failure. Giving up and refusing to try again does! - Richard Exely

Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting: “Holy Cow.. What a ride!”

To be a champion, fight one more round. - James Corbett

Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. - John Lennon

It is better to be a little over-bold than a little over-cautious. - Apsley Cherry Garrard

That which does not kill us, makes us stronger - slogan for Egyptian Stella beer

Life is too short for second-class ambitions. - Sir Ranulph Fiennes

Pain is temporary. Quitting is forever. - Lance Armstrong

Poverty

2008-10-15T06:08:00.001-07:00

Vietnam, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Today's Blog Action Day is devoted to the issue of poverty. The day encourages bloggers to do whatever they see fit to remind people about global poverty. One billion people still have to exist on just a dollar a day. Over one million children across Europe still live in state institutions. The charity I have supported on my recent projects are doing superb work with poor, vulnerable children worldwide and you can learn more about their work here. Thank you.

Morning running

2008-10-14T00:59:00.001-07:00

marathon des sables, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

"Man's greatest journey is the long step between the warm bed and the cold floor."

The alarm crushed my dreams at 5.20 this morning.
It was dark, my bed was warm. I did not care about Antarctica, or getting fit. I wanted to sleep.
But I made it out of bed, and out onto the black London streets. Cycling through the dark to Richmond Park my spirits rose and I enjoyed the smugness of having made it out of bed before almost everyone else.
The full moon was majestic. In the park I heard deer, saw the moon through the mist and the trees, and it felt good to be up. I met Ben and we started running. The sun rose, the miles passed, and home for breakfast. It was a great start to the day. The real value of mornings like this is that they cement in my mind the awareness that I am serious about SOUTH, and that I am willing to set the alarm at 5.20 if that is what is needed for success. The only problem is that Ben and I now have to head to the gym to be beasted by Faye. Wish me luck...

An interesting week.

2008-10-10T11:38:00.001-07:00

, originally uploaded by

averylongwalk

A nice picture to begin this entry, courtesy of Andy, to stop him complaining about my narcissistic tendencies to self-promote my Flickr pics on my own website and therefore demolish him in our nerdy contests to see whose pictures get the most hits each day...  It's been an unusually (if reassuringly) busy week for me. I spoke at the TravelPlan awards on Monday, a reassuring reminder that big corporations are beginning to take cycling seriously for financial, health and environmental reasons. On Tuesday I spoke for Mars in Stratford-upon-Avon. 'Wah'* of the day, and source of much personal amusement, came when I asked the local taxi driver what river Stratford-upon-Avon was on. He fell for it perfectly. The Mars talk went really well, especially as I broke from my normal spiel and experimented with a new corporate talk called 'Lessons from the Road'. My corporate talks go down really well, with excellent feedback, yet I am having zero success in convincing any speaking agencies to make an effort to get me engagements. Cycling round the world, sleeping in ditches, living cheap: they seem to feel it's not as glamorous or relevant to corporations as an Everest climb. So, as seems to be the norm in my life, I am just ploughing a lone furrow and doing it by myself.  Wednesday I spoke for RBS, trying to cheer up some credit-crunched bankers, then on Thursday I spent an interesting day learning from a photographer. Richard Foster and his team are still-life whizzes and I spent the whole day watching them not quite manage to take one complete picture of a phenomenally expensive watch. Their attention to detail, high standards, and extremely high skill levels were really interesting to watch. They also sat down to eat roast chicken for lunch which was an unexpected bonus! In the evening I watched a photography lecture, including this excellent short film about the sad demise of the Walthamstow dog racing track. And today I was back in the SOUTH office wondering where we can look next for sponsors. Ben was hard at work geeking away at the new SOUTH website (watch this space!) and sadly I was too inept to be much use to him. So I made a few cups of tea. This afternoon, as opera played through the sunshine from over on Parson's Green, Richard from Mountain Equipment came over to the flat to deliver some SOUTH branded training kit (pics here). Top quality equipment which will be well-used in the months to come, smart-looking logos to help convince sponsors that we are serious, and a nice present to send me encouraged into the weekend. I'll be back to the sponsorship-chasing-coalface withe enthusiasm on Monday morning. But, until then, I'm spending the weekend with some friends from Kyrgyzstan. Enjoy your own weekends.  *Urbandictionary.com defines a 'Wah' thus:
Used within the British Army as response to an answer to an obvious question that you have set the other person up to answer. Can become quite frustrating as you become paranoid answering any question in case it is a 'Wah'!
Steve "Is that a can of beer in your hand, Bill?"
Bill "Yeah!"
Steve "Wah!"
Bill "Bugger, been Wah'd again!"

City cycling

2008-10-08T08:29:00.001-07:00

upside down bmx bike jumper, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Whilst I am a huge advocate for people cycling in London, I am aware that there are risks involved. If you're aware of these risks, however, you can take action to minimise them. This BBC article is useful reading.

One less car

2008-10-08T08:24:00.001-07:00

bmx bike jumpers, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Every bike is one less car...
http://1lesscar.org.uk/

How SOUTH got credit-crunched...

2008-10-08T04:02:00.001-07:00

Danger! Ridiculously steep cliffs and chaotic tumbles..., originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

British sports events and expeditions are facing delays and cancellations this year amid a severe shortage of corporate sponsorship (wrote the Sunday Telegraph).
The credit crisis has led to companies slashing their marketing budgets, with dismal consequences for many sporting events. Richard Gillis of SportBusiness, the marketing and research firm, said straightforward brand exposure was no longer enough to attract corporate big hitters.
"Sponsorship budgets are the first thing to go in a downturn," said Gillis. "These events are going to have to start lowering their expectations on price or generate more compelling business opportunities for companies."
This analysis of the £5.3bn industry comes as an unprecedented number of major sporting events seek backers for 2009 as one in five firms cut sponsorship budgets.
The worst affected is snooker, with 888.com cancelling its sponsorship of the World Championships and Saga Insurance terminating its contract with the Wembley Masters. The World Snooker Association told players: "Both companies have stated that the current economic climate is affecting marketing budgets in all industries."
Tennis is also under pressure. The Queen's Club Tournament, once known simply as the Stella Artois, has been renamed after the 30-year association was not renewed. Even within Premiership football, West Bromwich Albion was forced to start the season without a shirt sponsor.
"Companies don't have money to splash around at the moment, so they are going for the big events," said Ben Speight, the head of research at SportBusiness. "The middle tier really are struggling to come up with new sponsors."
Among the events currently suffering setbacks, the Cowes Week regatta has come to the end of its deal with Skandia and the Epsom Derby has lost Vodafone, its sponsor of 14 years.
The Wentworth Matchplay golf tournament will be scaled back or cancelled entirely this autumn after a replacement for its sponsor, HSBC, could not be found.
Explorers Ben Saunders and Alastair Humphreys have been forced to postpone plans to journey to the South Pole on foot after their sponsors Ernst & Young pulled out, writes Sarah Butler.
The accountancy firm backed out of a planned three year deal in which it would also have provided £850,000 for the expedition.
Saunders said the firm had told him it would not back the trip because it was “cutting back on any non-core marketing activities” in the current economic climate.
The 1,800 mile return trip to the South Pole, which was intended to start in October, will now be postponed until next year after four years of planning.
The four month expedition would have been the first since Captain Scott’s ill-fated venture to attempt an unsupported return journey to the South Pole. It will now begin in October 2009.

Desert Island books

2008-10-05T14:04:00.001-07:00

Virgin Solo Row, originally uploaded by Virgin Global Row - Olly Hicks.

Imagine you were stuck on a desert island for 18 months...
What books would you take?
This is the sort of delicious quandry I can daydream indecisively about for ages.
But a friend of mine, Olly Hicks, is departing in a few weeks to row round Antarctica. This lunatic, courageous, epic solo expedition will take about 18 months to complete. A while ago I promised I'd help out with his on-board 'library' (makes it sound like a relaxing cruise!). And so, in a bit of a rush last week, I delved into Amazon and ordered these books:

- The Penguin History of the World: JM Roberts
- Withnail and I; the screenplay (Andy's choice as this kept him entertained as he walked from London to Istanbul)
- For Whom the Bell Tolls: Ernest Hemingway
- The Unequalled Self: Samuel Pepys (Ben's choice)
- Blackadder, the whole damn dynasty
- East of Eden: John Steinbeck

I wanted books with substance, to keep Olly entertained and curious for those long, lonely months. What would you have chosen?

A 12,000km skateboard journey ends at People's Square, Shanghai, China

2008-10-05T01:57:00.001-07:00

A 12,000km skateboard journey ends at People's Square, Shanghai, China, originally uploaded by Robert Thomson.

The title says it all.
A great journey, and some really good pics to check out (click on the photo).
Well done, Rob!

Learning from Photographers

2008-10-04T06:27:00.000-07:00

I've had a really useful this week as four very different, but all talented, photographers were kind enough to give me their time and advice.

Thank you to Patrick, Sam, Greg and Nikole...

Daunted by Greatness

2008-10-02T15:28:00.001-07:00

tate modern, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Yesterday I was at Loughborough University. Our coach, Faye, was launching her new business, Oracle Elite Performance management., with an impressive conference aiming to encourage people to think more widely and openly about their own specialist niches.
Faye began by showing a video of staggering power, flexibility and athleticism from a Chinese acrobat/dance troupe to encourage us to think beyond our own particular sports.
The first speaker was Ben. I have never heard him speak before, and I was very impressed. As well as a polished delivery, I was really impressed by his achievements and began to get quite scared about my capability to keep up with him in Antarctica.
Up next was Matt, a genuine expert who made me realise how little I learned at university and how much I have to learn about efficient expedition nutrition. (No banana sandwiches in this new world!)
After lunch came Vern. An enormous hulk of a man, running a multi-multi-multi-million dollar America's Cup campaign, working on his PhD, an ex-professional rugby player who was also a very polished motivational speaker.
By now I was getting pretty daunted about having to take to the stage after all this lot!
To make it worse the next speaker was an Olympic gold medallist! Jason Gardener's humble tales of that 39 seconds was absolutely gripping.
By now it was five to 5. Everyone was meant to go home at 5. And I was still left to talk. What a nightmare to have to blurt out a talk when the audience all want to go home! What a nightmare to follow all those incredible people! I was sweating and feeling as out of place as the wonderful Guy Goma. This couldn't get any worse.
Faye, trying to be lovely, bigged me up in her introduction, saying all sorts of generous things about my speaking skills. As a speaker there is nothing worse though than getting the audience's hopes up before you've said a word!
Her introduction sealed my fate. I got up, did my talk as well as I could, and was very relieved when it was all over and we could escape to spend the evening watching a rugby match that many of Faye's clients were playing in.
Moral of the day: insist you speak first! Everyone loves you, they're still interested, and you can relax for the rest of the day!

Six Billion Others

2008-10-02T14:52:00.001-07:00

Bird in flight, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand has created a profoundly impactful yet simple project, called 6 Billion Others, that challenges us to see "the other", our fellow human kind, in an apolitical, non-religious, non-terrorist, way. He simply asked people world-wide elegantly humane questions; What is Love? What did your parents teach you? Who are you? What is happiness? That's it. But watching the flash video for the first time filled me with awe, then looking at the close ups of those interviewed, listening to their voices, reading the translations of their statements, filled my face with a smile that I think challenged the small but growing deep-seated heartache brought on by the thought that living in a humane world is somehow slipping outside our reach.

Watch here.

One wish: the sun and a morning run

2008-09-29T14:16:00.001-07:00

SOUTH, originally uploaded by averylongwalk.

Have you gazed on naked grandeur
where there’s nothing else to gaze on,
Set pieces and drop-curtain scenes galore,
Have you strung your soul to silence?
Then for God’s sake go and do it;
Hear the challenge, learn the lesson, pay the cost.
Then listen to the Wild -- it’s calling you.
Have you suffered, starved and triumphed,
groveled down, yet grasped at glory,
Grown bigger in the bigness of the whole?
The simple things, the true things, the silent men who do things
Then listen to the Wild -- it’s calling you.
Let us probe the silent places, let us seek what luck betide us;
Let us journey to a lonely land I know.
There’s a whisper on the night-wind,
there’s a star agleam to guide us,
And the Wild is calling, calling. . .let us go.
- Robert Service

If you squint your eyes real tight it's like being a kid and flying your imaginary spaceship. The dashboard lights glow red, the white cats-eyes flash past at warp speed. The headlights rake the curves, lighting them then throwing them back to black as the wheels rip round the corners. The music thumps my head and it's on nights like this that (when I'm alone) I wind down all the windows and see how long I can tolerate the freezing night air. This night though I just settle for enjoying the squirming excitement in my stomach and the anticipation of the mountains ahead.
Even leaving London had felt exciting. Ben, Andy (the exped manager) and I hurled our rucsacs in the boot of the car and headed for Wales. By sunset we were in Merthyr Tydfil's finest/only curry house.
Curry. Beer. Pause. Relax. Chat. Andy nips outside to phone his girlfriend. Ben and I stretch out and enjoy feeling full and unhurried...
We stir ourselves into action. It's dark outside. Back into the car, and the music's loud and soon we're in a deserted carpark at the base of Pen y Fan. We change, heave packs onto our backs, light up our headtorches and point our noses upwards.
We climb, steady but fast, away from the car, the road, London, civilisation, the world. The night is clear, still, starry and silent. We feel hot in the cold air. The night is ours.
We pitch camp on the summit of Pen y Fan. I've climbed the mountain many times, yet never have known it so still. It's as well that there was no wind; this was our debut night in the expedition tent and it took us an hour to put up!
Happy chat, whisky, a pipe, a good sleep then morning arrived shrouded in cloud. Pot Noodle for breakfast, packs on, and a good-paced day of yomping lay ahead.
By the end of the day the weather was glorious, sweat poured and we spoke of little but food and how good it felt to have escaped the clutches of London. The only irritation was that the video camera mysteriously broke; an inconvenience on a film-making and mountain training outing. Still, it was so much fun that I know we'll be back out there soon.
Back in the car, back into London and straight to the pub to meet a buddy who's just back from some crazy times in Afghanistan. Burgers and beer to offset all the goodness of the hills, but to perfectly round off a brilliant training trip.

Midnight in the hills

2008-09-29T07:14:00.001-07:00

Ben and Al, originally uploaded by averylongwalk.

High in the Beacons, with the lights of Brecon far below. I've never had such a calm, clear night on those hills. Fabulous.

Camping on the summit of Pen y Fan

2008-09-29T07:13:00.001-07:00

DSC_1632_2, originally uploaded by averylongwalk.

Ben, Andy and I trekked (post-curry), up Pen y Fan last week and got some great midnight pictures up there. So good to get out of London.

Anything is possible in this world.

2008-09-24T05:21:00.001-07:00

P1000314.JPG, originally uploaded by averylongwalk.

I receive quite a few emails about my books, journeys and so on. Occasionally I receive one that makes me realise that the whole thing has been worthwhile, if only to pass on the spark to somebody else. "You can't start a fire without a spark." This was a wonderful email to receive:

Having recently purchased a bike to get about town with (I detest the London Underground, constantly being herded around like cattle) and having some problems with the chain I headed to Waterstones to find a book on fixing ones bike. There, I stumbled upon 'Moods of Future Joys'...and it has left me in limbo! As soon as I finished it I of course purchased the sequel, struggled to put it down, and now having completed the two I am left unsure of what to do...
Well I know what I want to do. I want to wander back to Australia my way...slowly be it by bike or whatever. Your books have re inspired me. For the last year since I left Sydney I have been working in London. Hospitality really doesn't excite me. Nor does a desk job. The only thing that makes me smile is photography...and wandering where I want when I want to. I watch people and listen to what they say. I am scared of one day waking up and being boring. No longer having anything left to talk about...nothing exciting me.

I don't like the materialism of the world I live in, how people pride themselves on having the biggest 'everything', the most expensive 'everything'. I doesn't feel real. It all feels so...fake.
I hate that being 22 I am expected to want to party all the time...drink myself into oblivion constantly. I did that when I was 18. Young and dumb partying in Sydney, chain smoking, trying new 'exciting' substances, sleeping with as many people as possible. I grew so tired of it! I left and discovered London is very much the same.
I'm rattling shit I know. Your books have just got me to thinking again. About how much happier and content I feel when I am wandering, carefree...existing rather than just living. Doing what I want, not what is expected.
Thank you. I am sure this is one of thousands of e-mails you have received but thank you. Anything is possible in this world.
Mark

Looking to start riding?

2008-09-24T05:14:00.001-07:00

bmx bike jumpers kid, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Beginning riding in a big city is a daunting prospect. But once you're converted, it really is the only way.
I tried to take the Tube today (I had a massive pack on my back as I'm off to the mountains tonight). Two trains arrived. So busy that I couldn't get on. Tube rage descended, I thought "sod this", walked home, jumped on my bike, rode instead, and still arrived far quicker than the Tube would have got me there.
If you're feeling daunted, have a read of this article. Lots of good stuff for newbies.

Fitness is about living at your peak, no matter what stands in your way.

2008-09-23T08:46:00.001-07:00

hawaii, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

"Forget what the mags with the shirtless, six-packed dudes on the cover tell you. Fitness is not about 20-inch guns and 10-minute full-body workouts. Nor is it about miracle diets or flashy sponsorships. And it's certainly not about looking good at the gym. Fitness is about living at your peak, no matter what stands in your way. It's about obeying the alarm clock, peeling yourself out of bed, and finding that extra hour most people think they'll never have." - Outside Magazine

Grasping at Glory

2008-09-23T07:29:00.001-07:00

An Ordinary Life, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

"Have you suffered, starved and triumphed, grovelled down yet grasped at glory, grown bigger in the bigness of the whole?”
- The Call of the Wild – Jack London

The Worst Journey in the World

2008-09-23T06:49:00.001-07:00

Rus_me icebogeys1.jpg, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

'The Worst Journey in the World' is accepted as the greatest polar book of all time. Now the wonder that is Radio 4 have produced it as a play. It's fantastic and you can listen to Episode 1, for the next week, here.

Ups and Downs

2008-09-23T02:53:00.001-07:00

PERU_Huascaran mountains.jpg, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

It's a funny old world this expeditioning malarkey.
In the last week I have set up two meetings for Ben and me that I thought could be real openings to sponsorship for SOUTH. Both were disasters, with people who simply did not 'get' what we were doing. I came out of them despondent and thinking "what the hell are we doing?"
Then last night Andy and Ben went to watch 'Farther than the Eye Can See' (trailer below) and got fired up and motivated again. And this morning we have had the Brecon Beacons map out to plan this week's training route in the hills. Camping on top of Pen y Fan tomorrow, chat about Panda suits and Gorilla outfits in the Welsh hills, and a dream filming location in a village called Three Cocks. Suddenly it's all looking fun again.

Project Harar Ethiopia

2008-09-22T08:19:00.000-07:00

Today I had a very inspiring lunch with Jonathan Crown, founder of Project Harar Ethiopia. He was passionate, ambitious and determined to make an impact in the lives of young people with severe facial disfigurements in the poorest areas of Ethiopia.
Here are the key points of their work:
• We treat patients with a facial disfigurement no matter what the cause of their illness, injury or disability.
• We go to the people in need. We save our patients the ordeal and expense of travelling to a big city, where they may not even be suitable for treatment.
• We support a guardian to accompany our young patients and give moral encouragement to the children.
• We work in partnership with Ethiopian and European medics to ensure our work leaves a lasting positive impact on the capacity of the Ethiopian healthcare system.
• We give long-term after-care, ensure that secondary procedures are carried out and that our young patients thrive at home.
To learn more about their work please do visit their website.

Seize the day - as night will fall before you know it

2008-09-20T00:13:00.001-07:00

Hawaiian valleys, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

I came across a really good piece in the Times by Richard Morrison. It includes this sentiment:
Want to do good in the world? Do good today, rather than putting it off till you “have more time”. Want to create something beautiful? Create it now. Want to mend bridges with an old foe? Mend them this instant, while both of you are able to totter over them together. Want to tell someone you love them? Seize the moment. It may not come again.
Read more.

Hour by Hour resolve firmly...

2008-09-19T14:18:00.001-07:00

Mind the Gap, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Hour by hour resolve firmly to do what comes to hand with dignity, and with humanity, independence, and justice. Allow your mind freedom from all other considerations. This you can do, if you will approach each action as though it were your last, dismissing the desire to create an impression, the admiration of self, the discontent with your lot. See how little man needs to master, for his days to flow on in quietness and piety: he has but to observe these few counsels, and the gods will ask nothing more.
(Marcus Aurelius)

Award Winning Photographer!

2008-09-18T15:00:00.001-07:00

Bicycle Belles, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

It would be hard to underestimate the size of the competition, but I can now boast of being an "Award Winning Photographer" for this picture in a contest to promote female cycling in London. I'm impressed with all that the government is doing to push cycling in London.
If you don't hear from me a while I will probably be hanging out with celebrities from the Magnum agency somewhere glamorous....

Meditations

2008-09-16T14:41:00.001-07:00

CCTV, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Think of your many years of procrastination; how the gods have repeatedly granted you further periods of grace, of which you have taken no advantage. It is time now to realise the nature of the universe to which you belong, and of that controlling Power whose offspring you are; and to understand that your time has a limit set to it. Use it, then, to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in your power again.
(Marcus Aurelius)

Some day, if you are lucky, you'll return from a thunderous Journey

2008-09-15T14:20:00.001-07:00

Dawn on Snowdon, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Some day, if you are lucky,
you’ll return from a thunderous journey
trailing snake scales, wing fragments
and the musk of Earth and moon.

Eyes will examine you for signs
of damage, or change
and you, too, will wonder
if your skin shows traces

of fur, or leaves,
if thrushes have built a nest
of your hair, if Andromeda
burns from your eyes.

Do not be surprised by prickly questions
from those who barely inhabit
their own fleeting lives, who barely taste
their own possibility, who barely dream.

If your hands are empty, treasureless,
if your toes have not grown claws,
if your obedient voice has not
become a wild cry, a howl,

you will reassure them. We warned you,
they might declare, there is nothing else,
no point, no meaning, no mystery at all,
just this frantic waiting to die.

And yet, they tremble, mute,
afraid you’ve returned without sweet
elixir for unspeakable thirst, without
a fluent dance or holy language

to teach them, without a compass
bearing to a forgotten border where
no one crosses without weeping
for the terrible beauty of galaxies

and granite and bone. They tremble,
hoping your lips hold a secret,
that the song your body now sings
will redeem them, yet they fear

your secret is dangerous, shattering,
and once it flies from your astonished
mouth, they–like you–must disintegrate
before unfolding tremulous wings.
(Geneen Marie Haugen)

James Caird

2008-09-15T12:22:00.001-07:00

James Caird, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

The James Caird, at Dulwich College. I was so excited and thrilled to see this iconic Antarctic boat. If you don't know Shackleton's tale I recommend you check it out: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Caird_(boat)

What an amazing thing to have in your school! You would learn more by staring at that boat, and thinking of Shackleton's story, than in a year of classroom lessons...

35%

2008-09-14T15:26:00.001-07:00

visited 79 states (35.1%)
Create your own visited map of The World or determine the next president

Ian Hibbell's obituary. A life well-lived.

2008-09-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

IN A man’s life there comes a time when he must get out of Brixham. He must leave the boats bobbing in the harbour, the Devon cream teas, the holiday camp and the steam railway; he must bid farewell to the nine-to-five job at Standard Telephones and Cables, up the A379 in Paignton, and hit the more open road.

Some might get no farther than Bristol. But Ian Hibell went so far in one direction that his eyebrows crusted with frost and his hands froze; and so far in another that he lay down in the hot sand to die of dehydration (as he expected) under a thorn tree; and so far in another that the safest place to be, out of range of the mosquitoes, was to burrow like an alligator into black, viscous mud.

In the course of his 40-year travelling life he went the equivalent of ten times round the equator, covering 6,000 miles or so a year. He became the first man to cycle the Darien Gap in Panama, and the first to cycle from the top to the bottom of the American continent. He went from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope and from Bangkok to Vladivostok, wheeling or walking every inch of the way. Every so often he would come back, showing up at STC (from which he had taken, in the beginning, only a two-year leave of absence) with vague murmurings of an apology. But pretty soon the panniers would be packed, the brakes checked, the tyres pumped, and he would be off again.

His cycle, loaded with 60-80lb of clothes, tent, stove, biscuits, sardines and water, was sometimes a complication. In the Sahara it sank to its hubs in fine, talc-like sand. In the Amazonian jungle he could not squeeze it between the trees. Crossing the great Atrato swamp, where the track became a causeway over slimy logs and then a mat of floating grass, the bike would sometimes sink into nothingness. He became expert at feeling for it in the morass with his feet. Every tricky traverse in mountain, stream or forest needed doing twice over: once to find a way for himself, then to collect the steed, often carrying it shoulder-high through sharp palmetto, or water, or rocks.

Yet Mr Hibell’s love for his bikes was unconditional. He took them, muddy as they were, into hotels with him, and clung fiercely on to them whenever tribesmen robbed him of the rest of his things. His favourite had a Freddie Grubb frame of Reynolds 531 tubing on a 42-inch wheelbase, reinforced to take the extra weight of goatskins holding water; Campagnolo Nuevo Record gears front and rear; Robregal double-butted 14-16-gauge spokes; and Christophe pedal-straps. It was so lightweight, as touring bikes go, that a group of boys in Newfoundland mocked that it would soon break on their roads. Instead, it did 100,000 miles.

Bikes rarely let him down. Escaping once from spear-throwing Turkana in northern Kenya, he felt the chain come off, but managed to coast downhill to safety. He crossed China from north to south—in 2006, at 72—with just three brake-block changes, one jammed rear-brake cable and a change of tape on the handlebars. In his book, “Into the Remote Places” (1984), he described his bike as a companion, a crutch and a friend. Setting off in the morning light with “the quiet hum of the wheels, the creak of strap against load, the clink of something in the pannier”, was “delicious”. And more than that. Mr Hibell was a short, sinewy man, not particularly swift on his feet. But on a good smooth downhill run, the wind in his face, the landscape pelting past, he felt “oneness with everything”, like “a god almost”.
A teapot in the desert

Human company was less uplifting. His travelling companions usually proved selfish, violent and unreliable, unappreciative of Mr Hibell’s rather proper and methodical approach to putting up a tent or planning a route, leaving (sometimes with essential kit) to strike off by themselves. But there were exceptions. One was the beautiful Laura with whom, after years of shyness towards women, he found love as they skidded down rocky tracks in Peru. Others were the strangers whose kindness he encountered everywhere. Peasants in China shared their dumplings with him; Indians in Amazonia guided him through the jungle; and in a wilderness of sand a pair of Tuareg boys produced from their robes a bag of dates and a small blue teapot, which restored him.

In a career of hazards, from soldier ants to real soldiers to sleet that cut his face like steel, only motorists did him real damage. The drivers came too close, and passengers sometimes pelted him with bottles (in Nigeria), or with shovelfuls of gravel (in Brazil). In China in 2006 a van drove over his arm and hand. He recovered, but wondered whether his luck would last. It ran out on the road between Salonika and Athens this August, where he was knocked out of the way by a car that appeared to be chasing another.

At bad moments on his trips he had sometimes distracted himself by thinking of Devonian scenes: green fields, thatched cottages and daffodils. He would return to a nice house, a bit of garden, the job. But that thought could never hold him long. Although his body might long for the end of cycling—a flat seat, a straight back, unclenched hands—his mind was terrified of stopping. And in his mind, he never did.

(from The Economist)

Listen to a tribute show here.

Lance is Back!

2008-09-10T07:56:00.000-07:00

Lance Armstrong is coming back to race in the 2009 Tour! This is exciting news indeed: he is old, he has been out of action for years. But there's no way he would consider coming back unless he believed that he could win the thing. I will watch with interest!

Filming at -40

2008-09-10T01:34:00.000-07:00

Photography at -40 is tough, very tough.
Fortunately Martin Hartley is tough, very tough.
Here he is snapping Ben just prior to his North Pole speed record attempt in Spring 2008.

two worlds

2008-09-10T01:28:00.001-07:00

two worlds, originally uploaded by miss_kcc.

Sometimes two worlds meet and one just don't understand t'other!
This picture brings back so many memories of my own ride.

The London Gladiator rides again...

2008-09-10T01:26:00.001-07:00

salar-1.jpg, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Well, he was the only cyclist in the race, but hey, a win is still a win!

On Monday 25th August 2008, after setting off from Tooting Bec almost exactly 3 weeks earlier on his bike and after pedalling almost exactly 2000 kilometres, my good friend Tootus Maximus finally arrived in Monaco to become the winner of the first ever Gladiatour de France.

I caught up with Tootus on a beach in Nice. Whilst eating an ice cream, an exhausted and emotional Tootus said: 'I've been in a few great battles in my time, but that was tough, really tough. The first 1000 kilometres to Lake Geneva weren't too bad as it was all pretty flat, but after that, it became pretty tough in the Alps. Some of the mountains were so high that it took almost an hour and half of non-stop pedalling uphill to get to the top.

What amazing views you get from the top of those mountains though! What amazing people I met on the way too! The French and all the other cyclists I met along the way were incredibly kind. I can't wait to organise next year's Gladiatour de France for other people to take part in as it's a really original and exciting challenge to complete.'

Two further things Tootus asked me to remind you about:

1) He rode in his gladiator suit for 3 weeks from Tooting Bec to Monaco for charity. If you would like to donate, just go to www.wcrf-uk.org/gladiator Thank you to everyone who has donated so far.

2) Every now and then Tootus would like to show you a photograph or two (like the ones attached) to keep you up to gladidate with what he is up to (his next challenge will be running the Great North Run with 25 other gladiators in October). Please go to Tootus Maximus' space on Facebook and add him as a friend http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=727647672
so he can keep you fully informed with what he's up to.

Best wishes and keep it gladiatoreal,

Will Hodson (on behalf of Tootus Maximus)

Ten Random Acts of Kindness

2008-09-10T01:23:00.001-07:00

gecko, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

1. Wave at a baby.
2. Leave a pound in the shopping trolley.
3. Wish a telemarketer Good Luck.
4. Buy an energy-efficient light bulb.
5. If someone's sitting on their own during a pub quiz, invite them to join your team.
6. Tidy the office kitchen.
7. Spend a few minutes leaving your house/office/school in a better state than when you arrived.
8. Give someone a lift.
9. Give a disposable camera to a group of people you see having fun.
10. Give a newspaper to a taxi driver.

(with thanks to Danny Wallace and his Karma Army)

Explorers: Geographical boundaries or Human Limits?

2008-09-10T01:19:00.001-07:00

IMG_4687.JPG, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Last night I spoke at the Arete Club at the very plush Oxford & Cambridge Club on Pall Mall. Thankfully YouTube taught me how to tie a bowtie in time. The discussion was titled "Explorers: Geographical boundaries or Human Limits?"
Unfortunately I came unstuck at the first word. Google Earth has removed the need for anyone to claim to be an 'Explorer'. I don't like calling myself an 'Adventurer'; it just sounds a bit daft and puerile. And 'Writer' gives the wrong impression: I write to ride, not the other way round.
But it was an interesting evening, and I was relieved to find that the very clever audience were still curious about the sore-bum suffered by cyclists, as well as fellow speaker Jake Meyer's concerns about peeing at -70C in Antarctica!

Most of what I know about writing...

2008-09-09T00:42:00.000-07:00

Most of what I know about writing -says Haruki Murakami- I've learned through running every day. These are practical, physical lessons. How much can I push myself? How much rest is appropriate - and how much is too much? How far can I take something and still keep it decent and consistent? When does it become narrow-minded and inflexible? How much should I be aware of the world outside, and how much should I focus on my inner world? To what extent should I be confident in my abilities, and when should I start doubting myself? I know that if I hadn't become a long-distance runner when I became a novelist, my work would have been vastly different. How different? Hard to say. But something would have been vastly different.

To succeed we need to rise above the greyness

2008-09-08T23:02:00.001-07:00

punks, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

I wrote a while back about the need to rise above the rest. Success comes by standing out from the crowd, offering something different, being bold and having confidence in what you do. People may not agree with you, but that's probably just because they don't understand.
Follow your own path, with pride, and do it well.

(In other news: summer is truly over. I'm back from my summer holiday, and struggling to get back into getting out of bed at 6 to hit the gym. Yuk!)

Sexy and Gothic

2008-08-31T03:31:00.001-07:00

sexy and gothic, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Not my normal type of blog title, but I'm off on holiday now for a week. Hill running, swimming in the sea, breathing fresh air - I can't wait!

Bicycology

2008-08-31T03:27:00.000-07:00

Here's some guys making an effort to make a difference:

"Bicycology is a cyclists' collective that offers a range of activities to promote cycling and make the links with wider issues of environmental and social responsibility.
We use our passion for cycling to pursue our vision of a just and sustainable world through a combination of education, entertainment and creative direct action.
Bicycology was formed by riders who wanted to build on their shared experience of the 2005 G8 Bike Ride and organise future events of a similar nature. Bicycology is an independent, non-hierarchical group run directly by all its members through regular meetings that rotate around the country. Bicycology is funded by donations, fees and occasional grants."

Read more about their varied activities here.

The Man who Cycled round the World (2)

2008-08-30T15:31:00.001-07:00

The Man who Cycled round the World, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Round the world cycling has hit the big time, at least for Mark Beaumont who's made it onto the London Underground!

John Muir - a real adventurer

2008-08-29T02:05:00.000-07:00

I really admire the achievements of Australian adventurer John Muir. He's climbed Everest and trekked to both poles. I learnt about his walk across Oz (thanks, Wolf) as I am currently toying with the idea of walking across Australia. The vid's a bit cheesy, but it's a heck of an expedition.

Photography for Sale

2008-08-25T03:06:00.000-07:00

It is now possible to purchase some of my photography online. A selection of images are available to own as cards (even Xmas cards already - I hate myself!), prints, posters, canvases or framed pieces in a variety of styles (see below). I intend to rotate the stock every few weeks so, if you like anything, I suggest you grab it now! Similarly, please do pop back now and again to see if anything new appeals.

These limited edition, reasonably priced photographs make for original, low-effort gifts as well.

Please click here to view the images available.

To cheer you up on a Sunday morning

2008-08-24T02:29:00.001-07:00

Girlfriend, originally uploaded by Salminen.

"Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off--then, I account it high time to hit the road as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the road. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the road with me."
(With thanks to Moby Dick, and apologies for swapping the word 'ocean' with 'road')

Standing Out

2008-08-23T03:08:00.000-07:00

Us 'Adventurers', or 'Explorers', or whatever else we call ourselves are pretty interesting people. What we do is a bit unusual, and most of the world would not want to do it. Standing out's how we can pay the bills. The reasons we do what do varies a lot. Some do it for celebrity, some for glory, some to impress girls (or boys), some to pay the pay the bills, some with a lust for life, some with a death wish, some to avoid 'real jobs', some for fun.

Many people climb mountains, ride bikes, sail boats, run and row just because they enjoy it. That's the best reason of all. A few of us enjoy them so much that we decide to try to make a living from it. And that's where the difficulties begin.

To make a living as an adventurer you need to do some of these things:

a) interesting expeditions

b) write books or articles

c) take pictures or make films

d) 'motivational' speaking

You don't need to do them all. A few people get along fine without even doing category 'a'!

In order to survive, let alone thrive, in this 'business' you need to stand out. You need to be the first or the fastest or the funniest or the most inspiring or the best looking if you want to be top of the heap. And, if you're not careful, your undignified scramble to the summit can begin to be done by stepping on other people's heads and pushing them down.

It's very hard to stand out in our niche little market. The webshots of some successful adventurers below demonstrate that. There are too many motivated, intelligent, tough people scrabbling for too-few sponsorship, book and speaking deals. And we all need to claim to be the best and different. The reality is that we are not that different. We're mostly doing this stuff for similar reasons. We need to remember that we're all pretty similar, and we should respect and help each other rather than standing on heads.

The critical thing is to maintain your self-respect and remain true to your original motivations. Don't fool yourself on the way to fooling others. If you do that, the rest will follow OK.

Share a load, hit the road

2008-08-21T14:47:00.001-07:00

Chris camp sunset.jpg, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

With over a year until our expedition begins, and the mornings damp and grey, I sometimes find it hard to enjoy the daily 6am alarm. My wife is unsympathetic. She boots me out of bed and sleeps sensibly, contentedly and undisturbed for a couple more hours.
Insidious thoughts worm into my grumpy mind. What difference will one training ride or one gym session make? There's over a year to go: roll over and go back to sleep...
Almost always I overcome these devils, and by the time I have splashed cold water on my face and stepped outside I am awake and smug to be awake and I am ready to train.
I know that every session I do will help me get to the Pole and back. It's not so much the physical fitness increasing fraction by fraction. It's more the memories in the mind, the strengthening of resolve that each weary awakening gives me.
Sometimes though it is still not enough and I just cannot make myself care. I know that I will regret it in the end, but I just don't worry enough about letting myself down. This week, however, something dawned on me. Every time I get out of bed to train it increases Ben's chances of a successful expedition. Every time I don't bother, or cut corners, or make excuses to myself in the gym; all these times I am reducing Ben's chances of making it. Our futures and our dreams are bizarrely intertwined for the next 18 months. And it seems that, even if I'm willing to let myself down, I'm not willing to let down somebody else. So I get out of bed.
And on which note, it's time for bed: it's swimming in the morning and I hate swimming.

19.30

2008-08-20T13:13:00.001-07:00

IMG_3844.JPG, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

19.30
The new magic number.
19.30 seconds.
I hoped that I might see it but I did not think it would really happen. I knew that it might. I hoped that it would.
I wonder what Michael Johnson was thinking up in the BBC studio? When he ran 19.32 I was utterly enthralled at the capabilities of mankind. I was additionally stunned because what was possible for Michael Johnson (and now for Usain Bolt) was so palpably impossible even for all of the very, very best athletes in history.
The speed they ran is possible -they proved that- but it is impossible for 5,999,999,998 of us. That is gripping. Those 19.30 seconds in today's 200m men's Olympic final rescued a fairly uninspiring day for me and reminded me of how intoxicating it is to push the very limits of what people believe to be possible.

I hate gyms

2008-08-19T12:44:00.001-07:00

Lets Biking, originally uploaded by aliraza*.

Wise words from Miss Pollyanna (http://twitter.com/misspollyanna) "Well screw that! I am utterly sick of the turbo. I now know the reasons why I took up cycling. It's not to race or win, nope sirry! It was to feel the fresh air on my face. To battle on a solo mission on one's self over mountains and unexplored roads. To feel the elements all over my body as I can hear my ever increasing heart rate pound in my ear and lungs heave in the cold Irish air and then expel out all that crap that life throws at you. It was to find myself and be me. Cycling allowed to me for once to be utterly comfortable in myself and my own presence. We all at the end of the day really only ever have to live with ourselves. The bike in a nutshell made me like living with myself. It forgave me, accepted me and built me."

Blogging from Flickr

2008-08-19T12:28:00.001-07:00

Kim North Korea DPRK 북한, originally uploaded by Eric Lafforgue.

Rage has been all the rage in the last few weeks. My website has grown so unwieldy that it has become unmanageable. So I have been trying to switch so that I can use Google's Blogger to feed directly (via RapidBlog, if you care) to my RapidWeaver website. Trying. Very trying.
Anyway, I've finally nailed it.
And so, as the memories of pain fade towards a rose-tinted blur, I've decided to try to see now if I can get Flickr to speak to my website (via Blogger, via Rapidblog). So this doesn't make for a very exciting blog entry (though I hope you like the picture). But if it works ('if': such a small word, such a big 'IF') then I'll be able to start sharing some of the amazing photographs on Flickr with you. It's the site I use to learn so much from in my quest to become a competent photographer.
Right. Time to click 'Go'. Deep breath... Prepare for rage...

The essence of adventure

2008-08-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

I write occasional articles about travel, adventure and expeditions. This piece, that I wrote for the classy Traveller magazine, is one of my favourite pieces. It's short and sweet and makes me want to get out on the road. You can read it online here.

Fancy an expedition in Borneo?

2008-08-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

Five people are being sought for an expedition to Borneo.
Renowned photojournalist and author Mark Eveleigh is leading the expedition. Mark has worked for more than 60 international magazines and newspapers and is director of THE WIDEANGLE photographic agency.
Mark also guides journalists, photographers and enthusiasts on expeditions. If you want to learn more about this magnificent opportunity why not drop him an email?

The Man who Cycled the World (...errr... not me!)

2008-08-18T10:40:00.000-07:00

The Man who Cycled the World. Not me - no, Mark Beaumont puts me to shame! What took me over 4 years to complete took Mark just 194 days, shattering the world record for cycling round the world. I don't envy him his ride or record; I did my ride for different reasons. But it was a bloody good effort, Mark's a really genuine guy, and I hope you'll watch the four-part, prime time TV documentary about his expedition. It begins tonight at 10.35 on BBC1.
You may also have seen Mark on the new Orange ad on TV.

Disappointment

2008-08-14T05:59:00.000-07:00

SOUTH is postponed until 2009.

It looks simple like that. It was an easy thing to type. It's easy to say. It was even an easy decision to take (our sponsor pulled out and there was no Plan B).
But a year is a long time. I quit my job to become what I really want to be: a full-time adventurer and writer. Now I am without an income and sitting in an office for the next year, chasing sponsors and dreams.
For now, I am not going to think too much about it.
We have so much potential for SOUTH - the filming, the charity aspect, an epic expedition. We now must take the chance to really, really make the most of this project, and to maximise our chances of success down in Antarctica.
I read an interview with Seb Coe recently. He was asked how he maintained momentum with years still to go before the London Olympics. He spoke about the need for "every day to add value", to ensure that you end each day closer to your objective than you began it. What I worry about now is that we have 14 months until we head for Antarctica. It is so easy to fritter days, weeks and then months when the pressure is off. I am conscious of the need to work like men possessed, to be driven and desperate to secure sponsorship as soon as possible so that we can get on and concentrate on the fun stuff and ensure the success of SOUTH. So much to do, possibly too much time to do it in?
SOUTH is a wonderful project. I am thrilled and fortunate to be a part of it. It is a great thing, and great things require lots of hard, hard work.

(The day after I wrote this entry I came across a similar blog from Seth Godin.)

Eric Newby, Laurie Lee, Patrick Leigh Fermor

2008-08-14T05:50:00.000-07:00

Benedict Allen recently presented a fantastic 3-part series on three of the greatest travel writers of the 20th Century. Patrick Leigh Fermor, Laurie Lee and Eric Newby were all fascinating characters, great travellers and superb writers. Here's a few tributes:
Eric Newby's Times obituary
Laurie Lee's obituary in the Independent
A BBC piece on Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor

Free books! Why give them away?

2008-08-14T05:36:00.000-07:00

I have been asked a few times why I give my books away for free. For me there is no question of the benefits of doing this. I make little money from writing and am more focussed on the potential benefits of getting my books out to as wide an audience as possible. If a million people read my book for free online I would be delighted. I would not make any money from it but, if those people liked the book, they might buy a real copy for friends and family as presents. More people will learn about Hope and Homes for Children, more people will learn about my expeditions. Sponsorship opportunities may arise, helping me take on future expeditions.
I'm not the only person who sees benefits in giving stuff away for free. This is an interesting article on the subject. Another one here, focused more on the Web 2.0 angles.

A hopeful person

2008-08-14T05:34:00.000-07:00

Some of the early reviews for Thunder and Sunshine have been really encouraging, which is a big relief! Here's a nice one from the US.

The Bike Show - a podcast

2008-08-12T02:42:00.000-07:00

I was recently interviewed for the Bike Show, a really great London radio show that's interested in all aspects of cycling. I had a really interesting chat with Jack as we cycled a lap of Richmond Park together. You can here the rolling interview here.
Resonance 104.4 fm is London’s first radio art station and is run by the London Musicians’ Collective. It started broadcasting on May 1st 2002. Its brief? To provide a radical alternative to the universal formulas of mainstream broadcasting. Resonance 104.4 fm features programmes made by musicians, artists and critics who represent the diversity of London’s arts scenes, with regular weekly contributions from nearly two hundred musicians, artists, thinkers, critics, activists and instigators; plus numerous unique broadcasts by artists on the weekday “Clear Spot”.

All you need to know

2008-08-07T09:08:00.001-07:00

(Thanks 5Alpha!)

Struggling for impetus

2008-07-31T00:50:00.001-07:00

Motivation and inspiration are elusive things. At times I feel an urge to get out and train, to push my body to its limits and, through that, push those limits just a little further away. This stretching towards the rainbow's end is the addictive, invigorating aspect of training.
At the other extreme are the turgid, listless days. The days I'm grumpy and want to kick pigeons on the street. I mope around with a small knot in the stomach and a faint air of unease and dissatisfaction. I fidget and cannot settle to anything, even to accepting that I'm not going to train and enjoying the relaxation. These are the days when I would most benefit from getting out there, sucking in some fresh air or battering myself in the gym. But for some reason on those days I just can't be bothered. It's not as though I do anything else useful with my time. I just feel myself getting irritated with myself and the world at large. I know I'll be glad if I do the exercise. But it is as though there is some unseen force gluing me down, clogging me up and clouding my thoughts.
On days like that I do pointless things, like writing this blog entry. What I really need to do is stop wasting my life, turn off the bloody computer, put my trainers on, stop being all that I despise, and get down to the gym. After all, I'm going to be murdered at Gym Jones next week.
There, that's done it. I'm fixed.
Off to the gym!
(You too...)

Vietnam

2008-07-30T20:34:00.001-07:00

I am fortunate, this week, to be in Vietnam for a speaking assignment. The theme of the conference is 'Reflect, Learn, Grow'; three very worthwhile actions. My week in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) has been a good opportunity for me to reflect back on my ride round the world and to learn a couple of things about myself. For this is the first time I have been back in the developing world (discounting the Sahara) since I cycled out of it on my way back to Europe and home.
Arriving in the city I was interested by how happy and comfortable I felt to be back amongst the whirling madness of the world again after too long in the ordered routine of Europe. I was grinning as I wandered in the warm electric air; the lingering smell of drains and motorbikes, the beeping of the most motorbikes I have ever seen, the lunacy of crossing the streets (simply trusting that the waves of motorbikes will part around you like a shoal of fish), life being lived in the streets, families eating beneath naked white light bulbs on low plastic stools outside on the uneven pavements, men squatting on their haunches smoking and spitting. The constant, though pleasant enough, solicitations for motorbike rides, zippos, fake Rolexs' and very good sex with very beautiful ladies. I smile and keep walking. I slurp cheap noodles at a street stall and feel invigorated to be back. I eat bizarre things I have never seen before, a giggling girl shows me how to eat them, and I look back with amazement that this was how I lived my life for over four years.
I stare, mesmerised as a lady skins still-wriggling, decapitated frogs with a pair of pliers, her action as smooth as pulling off a wet rubber glove. I peer at desiccated squid, stinking yet apparently delicious with chili sauce. I wrinkle my nose and a lady in a conical hat laughs at me. The sky is grey and moist and the storm breaks through the heat. Motorbikes slosh their way homewards, ladies hide their hair in plastic bags, dashing through the downpour, and I wander warm through the gleaming reflecting streets, all the oily colours of electronic billboards. Motorbike lights look like stained glass lanterns, translucent and multi-coloured. It took me a while to realise that this was because everyone's ponchos were hanging over their headlights.
And though I love being here I realise also that I have moved on. It answers a question that has haunted me intermittently ever since I stopped riding. I don't feel the urge to get on a bike and follow my nose out of the city, riding on and on and on to discover more of the country or the world. I'm no longer self-contained enough to exist solely on my own, in the silence of my thoughts. My days of loving the squalor, the daily chaos, the feeling of being utterly alien appear, after all, to have been satiated by my four years on the road. It's an important thing to have discovered, something that can only help me begin to settle to my new life, to the more ordered stability of SOUTH.
The opulence of my 20th floor hotel room is fun and lovely, but here it seems even more grotesque than it does in England where we can ignore our rich bubble life. I make the most of the hotel though, watching the England cricket Test match live via South African cable TV, then up at 5.15 with the first greying of the sky and silvering of the Mekong river between the black skyscrapers shining with lights. I swim 80 lengths, hit the gym and then -feeling smug- consider that I have earned the right to eat fruit, miso, pho, 8 pancakes, steak and eggs, a croissant and a pot of coffee for breakfast (even I pass up the chocolate ice cream on offer). Even in Vietnam the daily intense training for SOUTH must continue (I swim also at lunchtime and again before bed), as must our search for sponsors. So I spend most of each day here in Saigon sweating in internet cafes amongst smoking, yelling youngsters, chasing a dream that will take us to the frozen silence of the South Pole. It's a hell of an interesting planet we live on!

(This website is not really an appropriate forum for this, but I spent yesterday at the Cu Chi tunnels and today at the War Museum in Ho Chi Minh / Saigon. Important, important stuff to keep in my mind. If you have the inclination, learn more here. Shocking. Awful.)

The Bright Field - RS Thomas

2008-07-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realize now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

A prayer

2008-07-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following
your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope tat I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I knew that if I do this you will lead me through the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore, I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me
To fact my peril alone
-Thomas Merton

South Pole anyone?

2008-07-30T01:33:00.000-07:00

Hmmm... The firm that has long pledged to back SOUTH in order to promote their values of
achieving potential, overcoming difficulties, pursuing passions, supporting the community etc etc etc has bailed out on us. This was not credit crunch belt tightening, it was just playing safe, taking the easy option and choosing to coast rather than striving to achieve their potential. I don't blame them for choosing this route, I just don't respect them for it. But there's no sour grapes in the SOUTH office at being led a merry dance for months and now left highish and dryish with just 3 months to raise several weeks' worth of John Terry's salary. We feel unleashed, galvanised, determined. We also realise that we are really up against it now if we are to pull this off. Any ideas, please do

get in touch

World Domination

2008-07-29T20:43:00.000-07:00

There's a few helpful ideas here, in this guide to

world domination

Scott Polar Research Institute

2008-07-26T05:04:00.000-07:00

On Thursday evening Ben, Andy and I went up to Cambridge to visit the Scott Polar Research Institute. Our friend, Martin Hartley, was exhibiting his brilliant polar photography. What makes his portraits all the more special is if you watch this very brief film clip that shows how difficult it is to operate at temperatures of -40. Impressive stuff. Shame about his taste in shirts. The exhibition is a big thing for him, and richly deserved.
Whilst at SPRI I took the opportunity to visit the museum. It was thrilling. Memorabilia from Scott's tent, final letters home when they knew their fate was sealed. The courage, the sadness, the pity of it all. Their stoic resignation and the lack of regret or recrimination. Powerful stuff.
From the poles to the orient: I'm off to Vietnam tomorrow for a speaking gig. Looking forward to being back in a mad, whirlwind sort of country again; it's been too long.

Sled pulling

2008-07-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

It was our first session pulling a sled today, the first time I've ever done it. I was looking forward to giving it a go seeing as I have committed myself to 4 months of it. 30kg on the sled and then haul it round the running track. Repeat.

Ben said that the feeling with the friction was akin to pulling a heavily-loaded sled on the ice. So I'm pleased to have had a taste of that. My butt, groin and calves are going to be mighty stiff tomorrow! We did 8 minutes hauling, then 8 minutes jogging round a field and repeated it 6 times. Each haul we had to cover at least the same distance as the time before. To pass the time as I plodded round the track, sweat streaming on this most un-Arctic of muggy summer's days, I did a bit of mental arithmetic [that's what comes of being married to an accountant!]. Our trek is going to be 2900km... equivalent to 7250 laps of the track. We hope to have 110 days to accomplish this. So each day in Antarctica we have to haul our sledge round 66 laps of the track. Today I did about 10. I came home, had an ice bath, stuffed my face with pasta and thought "crikey, I'm pretty weary now." There's a long way to go. In every sense.
On the track we were in illustrious company, being at the England Institute of Sport in Twickenham. Mo Farah, one of Britain's Olympic medal hopes, was being put through his paces. Several lithe looking Kenyans were also hurtling round the track at amazing, languid speed. Ben and I hugged the outside lane, plodding our way through almost 2000 calories of effort and, for me at least, excited to be manhauling for the first time. It felt like proper training. I suspect that after 110 days the novelty may have faded somewhat...

What does SOUTH mean to me? Why do I want to do it?

2008-07-23T10:15:00.000-07:00

Two questions I was pondering as I plodded round the track this morning. (Another question I was asking myself was "what on earth am I going to think about through 110 days of this?") What I am looking forward to, and what inspires me to do all I can to get the expedition off the ground, is the moment when the plane flies away and leaves Ben and me alone, completely alone. Alone at the very edge of Antarctic. The bright sky and the silence of the ice all around and the moment when I think "wow! Antarctica! I am here.

are here." What a privilege!

I think that that is the biggest appeal for me of the entire expedition. Secondly, to walk alone to the pole: that's a big deal for me. And thirdly, to turn around, to walk back again through all the memories of the pain of those miles, back again to the very beginning: that's the icing on the cake for me, the thought that makes me want to laugh out loud at the sheer craziness of it all. If we pull it off, when we pull it off -no, it's certainly an "if we" not a "when we"- if we pull it off, I will feel deeply, deeply satisfied. But to stand on Antarctica for the first time and inhale a gulp of fresh, frozen air: that will be the whoop out loud moment for me.

Good Friends

2008-07-23T10:10:00.000-07:00

Some people are just inherently decent. People I am reluctant to ask for favours because I know they will never say no and who will offer up far more time and energy than I have a right to take. A few weeks ago we were looking to print a nice, glossy brochure for

SOUTH

. When we were having no joy in finding a suitably priced printing firm I decided to email my friend

Jim

who works in

that kind of world

. Now, a couple of weeks later, 500 brochures have just arrived in the

SOUTH office

. They are stunning, exciting, and if we don't entice a corporate sponsor now we ain't never gonna do so. Jim designed them all, unpaid, despite being very busy. He never muttered a complaint or a sarcastic aside as Ben and I sent back tweak after tweak. Thanks Jim, you're a star! Here's our brochure, in all its glory:

SOUTH brochure - compressed

What's floating my boat at the moment

2008-07-23T10:03:00.000-07:00

The main words from my recent Twitter activity:

A new beginning

2008-07-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Riding over to the SOUTH office (Ben's spare bedroom) today marked a new beginning. I've left my job. I'm unemployed. I'm thrilled to bits.
It's my first day working full time, 9-to-5 and every hour before and after that on the expedition. I can't wait to get stuck into it. The river was beautiful, the sun was shining, I couldn't help but get competitive and overtake a guy on his road bike so I got to the office sweaty and hot. But I didn't care. There's so much to do. There's so much potential. It's going to be a mad, busy, colourful summer. There's cash to raise, flights to book, muscles to build and cricket to listen to on Test Match Special. Bliss.

Training

2008-07-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

Just home from a week in Andalucia and happy memories of true adventure; a mapless hike from Ronda to the coast that I did with Rob at university. We spent £5 in a week, walked south in a straight line up mountains and through valleys until we reached the sea. We swam in rivers, nicked apples from the trees and I slept in a sewage pipe for the first (but not the last) time.

This holiday I was eager to keep on with my training. I tried swimming but the hostel's 5m pool soon broke my resolve. Ditto aquajog. But I did begin running, tentatively at first, then sweating and puffing, then with relief that my foot was healed and exuberance at the pleasure of running up the dry-smelling dust tracks, up from a hermitage dating from 1537 up to the castle on the hilltop at Gaucin.
I'm enjoying getting fit, but quite worried about my strength work: I'm simply not very strong. I am new to gyms and gym mentality, I'm naturally scrawny, and I know I've still got a long way to go. I'll get there though.
What I'm most excited about though is that I'm no longer a teacher. I'm unconstrained and free (aka: 'unemployed') once again and able to dedicate 100% of my efforts to SOUTH (if I was a footballer it would be 110%). I can't wait for tomorrow morning: it's Monday morning and the expedition office beckons. Shorts, T-shirt and a fierce energy to get the show off the ground.

Laurie Lee, Eric Newby, Patrick Fermor...

2008-07-20T13:58:00.000-07:00

A mouthwatering prospect: traveller extraordinaire Benedict Allen, has put together a TV series on three of my very favourite travel writers. I shall certainly be watching BBC 4 this week*. Here's what it's about:

This is a look at three outstanding British travel writers – from three very different traditions. Eric Newby, that very British thing the amateur traveller - someone who packs his bags and sets off (with little or no preparation) for the sheer hell of it. Preparation, he feels, rather spoils the fun. You might remember that Newby prepared for his attempt on a remote, unclimbed 20,000 foot peak in Nuristan by nipping down to Snowdonia (a hilly area in Wales) for a weekend, and was assisted by a waitress.(The adventure was immortalised in a self-deprecating book, A Short Walk In the Hindu Kush. Secondly, there’s the poet Laurie Lee – someone who meandered along playing his violin, in the tradition of a troubadour or wandering minstrel. He set out from home, walking off down the lane, and just kept walking – two years later ending his journey in Southern Spain. Better remembered for Cider with Rosie, his tale of growing up in the English countryside, this other classic account, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning is my personal favourite. Finally, Patrick Lee Fermor, a man of action and also intellect. Once described as a mixture between Graham Greene and James Bond, he walked right across pre-war Europe, sometimes sleeping in haystacks, sometimes in castles; from time to time reciting from his copy of Hamlet (in German!). He recorded his experiences in two fine works of literature A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water. These three characters travelled during the golden age of travel - between the golden age of exploration and the present age of mass tourism, and mass exposure of the planet on TV. The world was now safe enough for a novice to set out alone – and he or she still might find exotic experience right on the doorstep. In Travellers Century, I examine the lives of these three characters, wondering what makes the British such inveterate travellers – is this a tradition left from the Empire Days? Or is it that we’re from an overcrowded, fairly suburban place that we need to escape? Perhaps we’re just a small island race and need to understand our more powerful neighbours!

* actually I won't be watching. I'm off to the

Scott Polar Research Institute

to be impressed by

Martin Hartley's

photography that leaves me yearning to get

SOUTH

off the ground. But I'll watch the repeat!

Travel Photos

2008-07-20T13:50:00.000-07:00

Some varied and inspiring travel photos here too, by Chris Jelf.

Training - what's the point?

2008-07-19T23:39:00.000-07:00

“For what is the point of training but making pain seem routine? You work the body, yes, but the real point of training is to accustom the mind to endure discomfort: to know it, tolerate it and even, finally, to like it.” - Matt Seaton

The vision for SOUTH

2008-07-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

What is our vision for SOUTH and what do we hope to achieve, long term, from the expedition? My opinions:

SOUTH is an exciting, adventurous, enormously ambitious project. It has all the ingredients to inspire the development of a leading learning and quality culture, to promote the pursuit of the highest levels of integrity, quality, and professionalism.
We believe that the experiences of SOUTH can help other people achieve their potential and make a difference, personally as well as professionally. Though SOUTH is but two men, we are conscious that we are always part of a community, and that means a great deal to us. So this idea of giving back and driving change for improvement is critical. Every day is a new day, and every day we have the opportunity to become better; as people, to those we work with, and to what we are in society.
We are both motivated people, energized and enthusiastic, determined to pursue our passions and ensure that we maximize our abilities.
But achieving potential isn’t just about us – it’s about those who follow the expedition and our stakeholders achieving their potential too. SOUTH involves great teamwork, a great respect for difference, and a great respect for people who are looking at their own challenges and solving them.
Environmental awareness has changed corporate planning, organizations, corporate accountability, and accounting. SOUTH is a flagship for the imperative for changing habits and attitudes. Today corporate responsibility is seen as a business imperative. It’s not enough to think of profit and loss only. These are highly relevant issues and sponsors taking steps to make their organization more sustainable, and anything else that makes a positive difference, send an important message to their people and recruits. We know that young workers expect a level of commitment to these issues. And that commitment has to be credible, meaningful, and complete. When they see that kind of effort, it tells them this is a place where they can be part of solutions to problems they care very much about. It is a wonderful way to inspire them. Corporate responsibility includes the full range of doing the right things in the market, in the workplace, and in the community.
Where’s the payoff for sponsors? They get better people. Because when their people grow outside of the office, and they get a chance to make a difference, they achieve more of their own potential, and they become even more creative and thoughtful about every aspect of their work.
We have broadened our view of what it means to be part of change. We can get energy out of disappointment and build things despite setbacks. We are looking to create value in society, and to endorse nonprofit organizations. We want to celebrate that: it’s inspiring, and it underscores the importance of people willing to have a vision and go through all the barriers to achieve things, and make society better.
But we need to focus to ensure that we can make an impact. SOUTH sees corporate responsibility as an entire wheel, not just the environment, not just communities, and not just workplace issues. So SOUTH is focusing on three big areas - knowledge, environment and education.
The vision of SOUTH has tremendous potential. We need only to find the right bold organization to stride forward with us into an exciting future.

Now, if you buy all that, have a look at this

interview here

and you will see how I believe that SOUTH is applicable and relevant to so many corporate situations. It's a bit cheeky, but I feel it makes a good point.

Nice pics

2008-07-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

Some really nice photos from round the world here.

RGS lecture online

2008-06-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

The lecture I gave at the Royal Geographical Society is now available for members to watch online here.

Advice for the Antarctic

2008-06-29T02:35:00.000-07:00

"Courage alone will not take you far in the Antarctic as we knew it in its old man-hauling days. The lady gave the bus conductor a penny and said "how far will it take me?" "To the door of the Ritz," was the answer, "but it will not take you far inside."
Courage or ambition, or love of notoriety, may take you to the Antarctic, or any other uncomfortable place in the world, but it won't take you far inside without being found out; its courage: and unselfishness: and helping one another: and sound condition: and willingness to put in every ounce you have: and clean living: and good temper: and tact: and good judgment: and faith. And the greatest of these is faith, especially a faith that what you are doing is of use. It's the idea which carries men on." - Apsley Cherry Garrard

46664

2008-06-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

Ever since I lived in Africa for a year I have been awed by the presence and character of Nelson Mandela. One of the highlights of last year was seeing him in the flesh as he unveiled his statue in Westminster (I also enjoyed the crowd's refusal to let fawning Ken Livingstone and Gordon Brown seize the limelight, though they both shamefully (and predictably) tried to).
Now he's back in London and the rich and the powerful are grovelling in his presence. Good old Madiba - he's here to party, and also to promote the foundation named after his old prisoner ID number, 46664. What a wonderful example to Africa, and to the world.

Some serious training...

2008-06-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

Fingers crossed, Ben and I are off to Utah in August for a training camp. It is important for us to be fit and strong (of course), but it is also important that we have some shared experiences of pain and suffering and the techniques required to push through that.
To that end, I think we have chosen well.

Mark Twight

("it doesn't have to be fun to be fun") us a world class mountaineer who does not tolerate weakness or mediocrity. He has set up an extraordinary gym and that is where we hope to train. Here is a

video

from the

Gym Jones website

that makes me a bit scared about what we are getting ourselves into!

Gym Jones is not a cozy place. There's no AC, no comfortable spot to sit and there are no mirrors. Stressors are intentionally designed to cause discomfort and apprehension. Effort and pain may not be avoided. Physical and psychological breakdowns occur. The support of a like-minded group, dedicated to The Art of Suffering, provides a safety net. An individual will push harder and risk more in the company of trustworthy peers and that's one reason the gym is not open to the public.

Twight's writing is worth a read too. You may not like it, you may not agree, it may raise your hackles. But you've got to applaud him for having the courage of his convictions. I love this piece below. I read it when I'm tempted by complacency.

(Twight would no doubt disapprove with my meddling, but I've removed his well-placed expletives)

What's your problem? I think I know. You see it in the mirror every morning: temptation and doubt hip to hip inside your head. You know it's not supposed to be like this. But you drank the Kool-Aid and dressed yourself up in someone else's life.
You're haunted because you remember having something more. With each drag of the razor you ask yourself why you piss your blood into another man's cup. Working at the job he offered, your future is between his thumb and forefinger. And the necessary accessories, the proclamations of success you thought gave you stability provide your boss security. Your debt encourages acquiescence, the heavy mortgage makes you polite.
Aren't you sick of being tempted by an alternative lifestyle, but bound by chains of your own choosing? Of the gnawing doubt that the college graduate, path of least resistance is the right way for you - for ever? Each weekend you prepare for the two weeks each summer when you wake up each day and really ride, or climb; the only imperative being to go to bed tired. When booming thermals shoot you full of juice and your Vario shrieks 7m/sec, you wonder if the lines will pop. The risk pares away life's trivia. Up there, sucking down the thin cumulus, the earth looks small, the boss even smaller, and you wish it could go on forever. But a wish is all it will ever be.
Because the ground is hard. Monday morning is harsh. You wear the hangover of your weekend rush under a strict and proper suit and tie. You listen to NPR because it's inoffensive, PFC: Politically F***ing Correct. Where's the counter-cultural righteousness that had you flirting with Bad Religion and the vintage Pistols tape over the weekend? On Monday you eat frozen food and live the homogenized city experience. But Sunday you thought about cutting your hair very short. You wanted a little more volume and wondered how out of place you looked in the Sub Pop Music Store. Flipping through the import section, you didn't recognize any of the bands. KMFDM? It stands for Kill Mother F***ing Depeche Mode. Didn't you know? How could you not?
Tuesday you look at the face in the mirror again. It stares back, accusing. How can you get by on that one weekly dose? How can you be satisfied by the artifice of these experiences? Why should your words mean anything? They aren't learned by heart and written in blood. If you cannot grasp the consciousness-altering experience that real mastery of these disciplines proposes, of what value is your participation? The truth is pointless when it is shallow. Do you have the courage to live with the integrity that stabs deep?
Use the mirror to cut to the heart of things and uncover your true self. Use the razor to cut away what you don't need. The life you want to live has no recipe. Following the recipe got you here in the first place:  Mix one high school diploma with an undergrad degree and a college sweetheart. With a whisk (or a whip) blend two cars, a poorly built house in a cul de sac, and fifty hours a week working for a board that doesn't give a damn about you. Reproduce once. Then again. Place all ingredients in a rut, or a grave. One is a bit longer than the other. Bake thoroughly until the resulting life is set. Rigid. With no way out. Serve and enjoy.  "You see your face reflected there in a sweating brow, you hate what you see, but what can be done when there's no way out, no way out?"  

The Chameleons, "Intrigue in Tangiers"

But there is a way out. Live the lifestyle instead of paying lip service to the lifestyle. Live with commitment. With emotional content. Live whatever life you choose honestly. Give up this renaissance man, dilettante bullshit of doing a lot of different things (and none of them very well by real standards). Get to the guts of one thing; accept, without reservation or rationalization, the responsibility of making a choice. When you live honestly, you can not separate your mind from your body, or your thoughts from your actions.  "If you really want to hurt them and their children not yet born tell them the truth always".  

Henry Rollins, from the book See a Grown Man Cry

Tell the truth. First, to yourself. Say it until it hurts. Learn the reality of your own selfishness. Quit living for other people at the expense of your own self, you're not really alive. You live in the land of denial - and they say the view is pretty a long as you remain asleep.
Well it's time to WAKE THE F*** UP!
So do it. Wake up. When you drink the coffee tomorrow, take it black and notice it. Feel the caffeine surge through you. Don't take it for granted. Use it for something. Burn the Grisham books. Sell the bad CDs. Mariah Carey, Dave Mathews and N Sync aren't part of the soundtrack where you're going.
Cut your hair. Don't worry about the gray. If you're good at what you do, no one cares what you look like. Go to the weight room. Learn the difference between actually working out and what you've been doing. Live for the Iron and the fresh air. Punish your body to perfect your soul. Kick the habit of being nice to everyone you meet. Do they deserve it? Say "no" more often.
Quit posturing at the weekly parties. Your high pulse rate, your 5.12s and quick time on the Slickrock Trail don't mean anything to anybody else. These numbers are the measuring sticks of your own progress; show, don't tell. Don't react to the itch with a scratch. Instead, learn it. Honor the necessity of both the itch and the scratch. But a haircut and a new soundtrack do not a modern man make. As long as you have a safety net you act without commitment. You'll go back to your old habits once you meet a little resistance. You need the samurai's desperateness and his insanity.
Burn the bridge. Nuke the foundation. Back yourself up against a wall. Have an opinion one way or the other, get off the fence and rip it up. Cut yourself off so there is no going back. Once you're committed the truth will come out. You ask about security? What you need is uncertainty. What you need is confusion; something that forces you to reinvent yourself, a whip to drive you harder.   "I never try anything - I just do it. Want to try me?  

White Zombie, "Thunder Kiss"

In Dune, Frank Herbert called it "the attitude of the knife,” cut off what's incomplete and say “now it has finished, for it has ended there.” So finish it, and walk away, forward. Only acts undertaken with commitment have meaning. Only your best effort matters. Life is a Meritocracy, with death as the auditor. Inconsistency, incompetence and lies are all cut short by that final word. Death will change you if you can't change yourself.
“If I can change one, then I can change two. If I can change two, then I can change four. If I can change four, then I can change eight. If I can change eight, then I can change.” 

One Minute Silence, "If I Can Change"

Great cities attract ambitious people

2008-06-26T10:15:00.000-07:00

Great cities attract ambitious people. You can sense it when you walk around one. In a hundred subtle ways, the city sends you a message: you could do more; you should try harder.

Stonehenge summer solstice

2008-06-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

Rain, mud, druids, drunks, sleep deprivation. And no sunrise.
Summer solstice at Stonehenge. Wonderful to be able to get up close to the stones. Shame it was raining. Pics

here

. I'm tired. Bed.

Vimeo

2008-06-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

I have just discovered

Vimeo

, what seems to me to be a superior version of YouTube.

Round the World in 3 Minutes from alastair Humphreys on Vimeo.

The Bicycle Diaries

2008-06-18T15:05:00.000-07:00

My books began life as raw, spontaneous blog entries. In many ways I think they are better than my finished books. If you are interested you can browse them, unedited, here:

The Bicycle Diaries

The State of the Nation

2008-05-30T10:57:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to a lecture about night photography. I hoped I may learn a bit of geeky technical information to help me improve my own pictures. Instead I came away with such a powerful image of the state of my country for so many young people here. How I wish I could get each one of the young people in these pictures and haul them to the top of Ben Nevis for a sunrise or get them jogging round the park at sunrise, getting fit for a 10k race. How I would love to be able to show them a way to get away from the cities and into the hills, out of their frustrated, unfulfilled comfort zones and show them how alive you feel when you are scared but in control, tired but focussed, hungry but heading back to the campfire and food...

Stunning pictures, stunning message.
Knife crime in Glasgow:

David Gillanders

Binge drinking in Cardiff:

Maciej Dakowicz

Who am I? What do I want?

2008-05-29T05:40:00.000-07:00

My publisher has asked me, prior to the official launch of Thunder and Sunshine in mid-June, to write a little bit about myself that will show journalists exactly who I am.
I have been cringing about this and procrastinating for ages. But he pinned me down today, so here goes:

"My route to making a career from arduous physical challenges began when I was small and weak and could not get into any sports teams at school. I found my niche in the outdoor clubs, sailing, fell-running and completing the National 3 Peaks in 24 hours when I was 13. At 18 I taught in Africa for a year. This opened my eyes to the beauty of the world, that the world is crazier and there's more of it than we think. I tasted adventure, camped beneath southern stars and I wanted more.
Throughout university I read books of epic journeys*, dreamed of being a writer and an adventurer and I set about taking the steps to make it happen. I saved up for summer exploits and the more I saw the greedier I became. Back home I ran in the hills and realised that simply refusing to stop is a good way to ensure you reach the end. My self confidence rose and, with it, my ambition.
Freed at last from the shackles of formal education I headed for the world to start learning. My journey round the world by bike was intended as a journey not a structured expedition. I would wander where the fancy took me, I would travel slow, and cheap, and with wide open, curious eyes. If I could also help to promote 'Hope and Homes for Children' by succeeding that would be a further boon. There was focus to it all as well: I wanted to make it right round the world to come home with sufficient material to begin learning to be a writer. I enjoy writing and I would love to make my life as a writer.
Home at last I tried hard to bury my wanderlust. I have had normal jobs and I have written two books. But it has not succeeded, and I'm now preparing for the next adventure. I have been at my most excited when hunched over a map and dreaming of more, or when eulogising to children at my talks about the thrill of freedom, the privilege of opportunity, the satisfaction of self-reliance and my gratitude that, for whatever reason, I snatched at my dream and I acted upon it. If my journeys can convince children (or anyone) to out-stare the fear of failure and insecurity and to take a risk upon their ambition then I shall be well-pleased. If I can also share my new appreciation of how good the people of the world actually are, as well as my experiences of the great imbalance and injustice in our world, and my corresponding scorn of the apathy and "affluenza" in our own society then so much the better.
My next big journey is different. It has nothing to do with the fun and excitement of foreign cultures. It is a complicated, high-budget, technologically challenging expedition. But I am still thrilled by it because it is different, it is difficult and because it will take me to more new places. New places physically, certainly, but new places in my mind and spirit as well. I will learn more about how hard I can push myself, about how much I can endure. It will hammer home how important the important things are in life, and how trivial most of our concerns are. If the expedition also convinces some children of the potential in their lives I will be proud. If the expedition produces a book and helps me to eke a career from doing what I love I will be grateful.
The lifelong memories will be sweet. But most of all the adventure itself will be glorious: forcing my heart and nerve and sinew to keep going through some of the most desolate, unvisited, majestic landscapes on Earth, the opportunity to explore what I am capable of, to make the most of my too-fleet three score years and ten, to share it all with a good friend, to try to achieve a goal many believe to impossibl. And all this away from the rushing madness of the world. To seek, to strive, to find, and not to yield: that's what I want."

*Ranulph Fiennes, Laurie Lee, Fitzroy Maclean, Eric Newby, Patrick Fermor, Simon Murray, Cherry Garrard et al.

I feel that this video conveys how I feel:

Where have all the leaders gone?

2008-05-28T12:20:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended a lecture by

Simon Murray

. If I tell you he was in the

Foreign Legion

(a plan of mine until I got married!), ran the Marathon des Sables and trekked to the South Pole (as well as becoming a millionaire businessman) you will appreciate why I was eager to listen to him. His lecture addressed the issues of "where have all the leaders gone?" He was pretty despairing of modern society, and reflected on the heroes he grew up with -books on Nelson, Churchill, Scott- with the heroes of today -Pete Docherty, Amy Winehouse, Big Brother et al. I was interested in the characteristics he saw as being essential in leaders:

Intellectual Honesty. It is critical that you remain true to yourself.
Charisma, an inspirational spark.
Self-sacrifice: the willingness to give of yourself.
Tolerance
Fairness
Sense of Humour
Optimism
Courage, such as that shown by Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird.
A "Don't give a damn" edge. He quoted this slogan from the side of a plane in the Battle of Britain where the death rate was as high as 10%:
"When my flying days are over, And from this world I pass, I hope they bury me upside down, So the world can kiss my ass."

A reminder

2008-05-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

A reminder from Bruce Chatwin that "man's real home is not a house, but the Road, and that life itself is a journey to be walked on foot."