Category Archives: Our World

15
Sep
2009

I wish I could do what you do… Well, why can’t you?

15 comments
Posted in Best Bits, Motivation, Our World, Ramblings
At the end of a recent talk a young man approached me. “I wish I could do what you do…“, he said, wistfully. He was 23, earning good money in the City, single, had no mortgage and was physically fit. So I asked him what was stopping him from doing what he really wanted to [...]

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03
Aug
2009

Treehouse Living

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Posted in Best Bits, Our World, Ramblings, slideshows
I’ve just returned to London after a fantastic stay in Nick Weston’s tree house in Sussex. Nick has turned his back on city life to build, and live in, a tree house “somewhere in Sussex”. He is living off the land whilst he writes a book about his experiences. In return for a couple of [...]

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23
Jul
2009

Map of all the countries I have visited

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Posted in Our World, Travel
At times, when the search for sponsorship for Antarctica gets me down a bit, I turn my mind to daydreaming of easier, cheaper journeys. Last week I explained why I now need to find myself a new project for the next few months. Here’s a map that shows (in red), the places I’ve been to. [...]

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20
Jul
2009

We choose the Moon

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Posted in Our World
(skip to 1’30″ for the good part!) “There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this [...]

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15
Jul
2009

Society, I hope you’re not lonely without me.

1 comment
Posted in Best Bits, Our World, Ramblings
Struggling to overcome inertia a week or two back I listened to the soundtrack to Into the Wild, one of my favourite films. It helped me to remember the power that the world’s natural places can have on us, and also to maintain my priorities. I had sunk into the typical London trap of equating [...]

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14
Jul
2009

Hunger and Night and the Stars

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Posted in Our World, Poetry, Ramblings
“Were you ever out on the Great Alone, When the moon was awful clear, And the icy mountains hemmed you in With a silence you ‘most could hear With only the sound of a timber wolf And you camped there, in the cold, A half-dead thing in a stark, dead world, Clean mad for the [...]

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09
Jul
2009

Ed Stafford: From the Amazon to Regent Street

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Posted in Expeditions, Our World
Ed Stafford - the first man to walk the length of the River Amazon, presents a lecture to the National Geographic store via Skype
24
May
2009

Discovery is always spine-tingling and hair-raising, and tumescently inspirational

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Posted in Expeditions, Our World, Travel
AA Gill wrote a long piece today about the RGS and its recent debate on whether to resume sending out its own expeditions. That debate may or may not interest you. But what caught my eye were these few paragraphs which resonated with me and are of interest whether or not you care about the [...]

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22
May
2009

Life is a journey full of infinite potential experiences

5 comments
Posted in Best Bits, Expeditions, Motivation, Our World
I have just been for a coffee with James Hooper who climbed Everest aged 19. James was the expedition partner and best friend of Rob Gauntlett who died whilst climbing in the Alps in January. He was 21. Until today I had only met them both at the same time, a real double act as [...]

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19
May
2009

The Unfolding Road

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Posted in Best Bits, Our World, Poetry, Ramblings, Travel
I was asked to read a poem at a friend’s wedding last week. The poem (Ben Okri’s ‘To An English Friend In Africa’) was one of my favourites, in fact it is the one that I have carried with me on all my journeys for a decade or so. Here’s a few snippets. Be grateful [...]

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09
Mar
2009

In the Shadow of the Moon

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Posted in Best Bits, Expeditions, Motivation, Our World
“I was able to look out the window to see this incredible sight of the whole circle of the Earth. Oceans were crystal blue, the land was brown, and the clouds and the snow were pure white. And that jewel of Earth was just hung up in the blackness of space” – Charlie Duke On [...]

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17
Feb
2009

How’s your training going?

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Posted in Our World, Training
All being well you are still keeping up your New Year’s Resolution to improve your fitness. Your gym membership, your recovery protein shakes, your inspiring iPod playlists are all getting you to be where you want to be. But there is another way. For several billion people being fit and strong is not a leisure [...]

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09
Feb
2009

Are you Living it?

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Posted in Motivation, Our World
I have been enjoying nosing through the archives of the Are you Living it blog recently. Here’s a marvellous video clip to remind us to snap out of the easy lure of mundane existence, a glimpse of the awesome majesty and power of our planet, and a brave/crazy/heroic feat. Enjoy! I can only hope I [...]

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02
Feb
2009

Snow and smiles in London

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Posted in Our World, Ramblings
“Fear less, hope more, whine less, breathe more, talk less, say more, love more, and all good things will be yours.” - Swedish proverb I woke up this morning to the wonderful, unexpected sight of several inches of snow covering London. Sensing an opportunity for something more exciting than another torture session on the rowing [...]

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15
Dec
2008

Walking a lap of Britain to say “sorry”

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Posted in Charity, Our World
One night, when he was just 15 years old, Sebastian Green and a friend took a boat from Weymouth Marina and went for a spin. They ran aground and when no-one responded to their shouts for help, Seb leapt over the side to seek assistance – and promptly sank up to his waist in mud. [...]

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06
Dec
2008

Global day of Action on Climate Change

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Posted in Our World
Today, December 6th, is the Global Day of Action on climate. It has occurred every year since 2005 at the time of the annual United Nations Talks on climate change. People from all around the world have come together on the same day to demand urgent action on climate, and climate justice, from the governments [...]

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28
Oct
2008

On risk’s grand arena

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Posted in Our World, Ramblings
A very interesting article on the need for risk in life, the stifling of risk-taking in today’s society, and the power of the great outdoors to inspire, humble and educate us all. By taking risk, we take life by the scruff of the neck and shake it. Without it, we are simply passengers… [Read the [...]

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22
Oct
2008

Home from Home

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Posted in Our World
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 [...]

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22
Oct
2008

They can’t both be right…

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Posted in Our World, Ramblings
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 [...]

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15
Oct
2008

Poverty

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Posted in Charity, Our World
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 [...]

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