October 2011
28 posts
1 tag
“Low expectations are often a self-fulfilling prophecy”
– Seth Godin
1 tag
“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others...”
– David Brinkley
6 tags
WatchThe latest of Al Humphrey’s Microadventures was a two-day wild swim along the Thames. This video, coupled with a regular and now much-missed swim in the Mississippi River this summer, got me thinking about a 1000+ mile swimming expedition. Currently looking at all rivers great and…erm, great.
> Read more about Al’s Year of the Microadventure
“Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.”
– W.B. Yeats
9 tags
One day in...
Here’s the thing about birthdays, if you treat them as figures you’re just encouraging life to pass you by. If there’s a suggestion that maybe you haven’t used the last year to its full potential then a birthday can be ever so depressing, especially after you nudge into a new decade. There’s no more of this ‘ah it’s okay, I’m in my early twenties,...
7 tags
Here's to the next one...
32 today: just had the best, most productive year of my life. Two speaking tours around Australia. Two splendiferous expeditions. Two world records. Learned to paraglide. Defeated vertigo. Started making a living through Adventure.
I’d like you to help me plan my 33rd year. Below are some options, challenges and ideas - I’d love some cheeky feedback, let’s make sure my 33rd...
4 tags
8 tags
Riverboarding the Sun Kosi
Imagine running a river, turbulent white water boiling up on all sides. And you’re without a paddle. Or a boat, for that matter. Instead the only thing between you and swimming is a small bodyboard and a pair of flippers. Welcome to Riverboarding.
A small but global team led by Huw Miles is planning to take Riverboarding to new heights in November. This intrepid crew will don wetsuits and...
14 tags
Meet Squash Falconer
Higher, Further, Funnier. As adventurous taglines go Squash Falconer has it nailed. A rare breed of Adventurer, Squash isn’t interested in exaggeration, she doesn’t do pretence, she’s perfectly happy admitting she once wanted to be a farmer and that carrying a change of underwear for every day is a must, even on an endurance journey.
I first heard about Squash in Pokhara, Nepal....
6 tags
11 tags
The guy at the front
I’ve been moping around for a little while, dragging my feet, waiting for me to come back.
I’ve shared with you before that I’ve been a little empty. Having spent my summer paddling down a river day after day, camping on sandbars, dodging barges, existing in great heats. I returned to the UK and didn’t encounter so much a culture shock, as a lack of one. The contrast...
14 tags
Dates for the Diary
With a book to write and more expeditions to plan I’m not speaking as much as I usually would for the rest of the year, but as I can’t completely keep my mouth shut here are the events I’ll be speaking at over the coming weeks, and also there’s one TV appearance to watch out for, too….
Wednesday 19th October Event: Union Bar, Chiswick. Lecture My first public London...
8 tags
WatchIn between churning out chapters I’m seeking inspiration for new journeys, journeys which will make a stereotypically quirky mode of transport a more accepted way to travel.
Next week I’m picking up my first unicycle, and this video following Gracie Sorbello and Matt Burney’s ride across the Great Divide provided much persuasion that a long journey on one wheel isn’t just...
7 tags
The Word Count
I cried watching Dragon’s Den last night. Big fat uncontrollable tears while listening to a young single mother’s story about how she managed to get Tesco interested in her allergy-free yoghurty ice cream. I had to take the dishes out and wipe my face with an oven glove.
All day long I stare at my screen, daunted. Writing a book about an endurance journey is harder than doing the...
8 tags
Dear Lord Sebastian Coe
Here’s a little bit of funny (by which I mean, of course, completely serious) to lighten up your morning, courtesy of The Adventurists
> Visit the Adventurists website > Find out about the Mongol Rally > Read more about the London Sports Day in 2012
10 tags
7 tags
3 tags
“The secret of success is making your vocation your vacation”
– Mark Twain
9 tags
Talking is easier than writing
I don’t believe in writer’s block, I believe in patience. Manage to make the time to firmly affix your butt to a seat that just happens to be close to a computer and there’s a fine chance you’ll solve the crux issue of your writer’s block.
Here’s my problem; making the time. I’ve been back from the Mississippi River for a month and a day and I...
11 tags
One month dry...
One month ago today I woke up at 6am in Venice, Louisiana. The night before I’d arrived after dark having paddled a few metres short of 60 miles in 15 hours. Tired but exhilarated, it felt like I’d passed an exam. For 82 days the Mississippi River had grown, pulling me with it, and suddenly I was there, less than 30 miles and one day’s paddle from the Gulf of Mexico.
...
6 tags
10 tags
Farewell Steve, and thank you
This morning the world woke up, turned on its MacBook, iPhone or iPad, and read that the man behind that very machine had died.
Steve Jobs was a visionary who changed the way we viewed computers, phones, portable music players and the 21st Century. Computers became fun when Steve came along, they gave us more time doing what we needed to do, and we spent less time stressing because the screen...
11 tags
Don't be Blue. Be Blue.
Today I spent a few hours in the company of Conrad Humphreys and a team of people focused on sending The Blue Project into the future.
I’ve been a proud Blue ambassador since I jumped into my kayak at the top of the Murray River in October 2009, two years ago this week. That 2479km descent took me two and a half months and began to help me define myself as an adventurer, and a person....
4 tags
12 tags
14 tags
The Night of Adventure, Bristol
On 17th October the next instalment of Alistair Humphrey’s Night of Adventure lecture series will arrive in Bristol for the first time.
I’m delighted to be one of a number of speakers taking on the challenging Pecha Kucha format, 20 slides, 20 seconds per slide. It’s fast-moving, fast-thinking and fast-talking, easy to lose your train of thought as a speaker but superb to watch...
5 tags
