Popular Blog Posts
Bears and how to beat them
Ice lakes and frozen worlds
To the lake…
60 Signs that you need to STOP Cycle Touring and GO HOME
1. You put your entire leg through a rip in the crotch of your shorts when trying to find the leg hole
2. You ‘sense’ wild camping opportunities, like a Jedi
3. If you are a woman, there is consistently a crust of peanut butter in your facial hair
Curveballs
Kazbegi
Georgia is a country of curves – from its meeting with the Black Sea, a bitemark of coast, to the probing tongue that composes the border with Azerbaijan. From its looping script, to the roads that circulate packs of mountains, succeeding in switchbacks like the restive rivers they chaperon. But before my friend Oli and I take on these roads by bicycle, I encounter another sinuosity: that of the Georgian toast.
Why adventurers should aim to inspire, not motivate: the trouble with life-hackery
The succour of homesickness
Thoughts on returning home after six years around the world by bicycle
My journey around the globe began fatefully – with a life-changing decision, taken in the pub.
Pint in hand, mini-atlas flipped open on the table, I sat in the beer garden of The George near London Bridge on some forgotten day in 2008,
parading a new plan to a small circle of friends. Pen hovering above the tiny dot of London, I flashed a grin at my audience – all frowns – and began sketching out my route around the globe and across six continents. All would be conveniently handled, I’d affirmed, by bicycle. ‘In six years, give or take.’
Life after cycling: stage 1 – The Honeymoon
Video highlights from six years biking around the world
For the sake of balance…
My mum loves Levison Wood
My mum loves Levison Wood.
In case you’ve been on hiatus from our star system, Levison is an adventurer whom Channel 4 follow about doing venturesome things.
‘He’s such an adventurous guy’ my mum says.
‘Mum’ I begin, steadily. ‘I’ve been cycling around the world for six years.’
‘I know, I know darling’ she says, before lapsing into a reverie.
‘But he’s so handsome, isn’t he?’
She follows him on Twitter. It makes me wonder when she’s going to follow me. ‘Oh, are you on Twitter? I didn’t know’ she says when I remind her. I send her the link, but she’s lost to Lev’s feed, embarking on a festival of ‘likes’.
She bought tickets to see him speak at the Sheldonian theatre in Oxford, weeks after I’d given a talk to the students of the Oxford University Exploration Society, in a classroom. They were lovely and full of appreciation, all 16 of them.