Alastair Humphreys » slideshows

Hitchhiking to Malaysia

Al Humphreys — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 11:28:43 +0000

On July 11th 2008, Steve Dew-Jones and Will Jackson set off from their home in Salisbury, England, with only one thing in mind: HITCHHIKING TO MALAYSIA.

This is the story of a journey that spanned the length of EUROPE, the MIDDLE EAST and SOUTHEAST ASIA, abiding by two simple rules:

1. Never pay for transport

2. Never refuse an offer

Leaving families, friends and loved ones behind, their beady eyes staring at the map, they embarked on a discovery of great kindness and warmth in a world where mischief and trouble are always around the corner.

Here is their story, told by Steve at the London Night of Adventure…

Packrafting Iceland Pecha Kucha

Al Humphreys — Fri, 20 May 2011 08:15:36 +0000

For my talk at the recent Night of Adventure night I decided to focus on how easy it is to undertake an expedition: you need to commit to a project and you need to get it up and running. You don’t necessarily need skill, money or talent…

Here’s my 400 seconds’ worth:

If you enjoyed this perhaps you’d like to come to the Scottish Night of Adventure in Edinburgh in June? If you know anyone who lives near Edinburgh please do share this link with them: I’ve got to sell a lot of tickets and need some help!

Cycling to the Ashes

Al Humphreys — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 08:38:48 +0000

Following the recent Night of Adventure lectures in London I’m going to share the stories here each Friday.
If you like what you see why not come along to our Scottish event in June, or sign up for details of the autumn event in Bristol.

Opening the batting is Oli Broom who cycled from London to watch England whup the Aussies at cricket. I can’t really think of a more satisfying end to a great adventure.

The format of the talk is 20 slides, each of which scrolls on after 20 seconds. Unfortunately the computer died in the latter stages, but Oli batted on bravely to the end.

For more on Oli’s trip click here.

Iceland expedition – back on our feet

Al Humphreys — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 13:24:57 +0000

Packrafts bring variety and freedom to your travels. They are not ideal if you would rather hike the whole journey. They are not ideal if you would like to paddle the whole journey. They are ideal if you’re looking for adventure, and whatever comes your way.
We chose not to paddle the Þjórsá all the way to the sea. Instead we packed up the boats and set off on foot once more to go and have a look at the volcano that had been causing such chaos across Europe all year. Like everyone else in Europe, we couldn’t say its name. But we wanted to have a look. From there we would take to another river to work our way down to the sea.

We decided to incorporate Iceland’s most famous long-distance hike into this stage of the journey. I have been writing a few travel pieces for the Sunday Times recently. They are not interested one iota in my macho tales of derring-do. Rather they want stories that may encourage other people to go out and try the same thing. The 4-day Laugavegur trek seemed ideal for this. It was rumoured to be remote, difficult-but-do-able, and very, very beautiful. It would also lead us to the foot of the famous volcano. We hiked for a couple of days from the river to Landmannalaugur, the start of the hike, and then started the hike. Still following?

The trek turned out to be everything that I had hoped, and more. It should be as famous as the Inca Trail; it is certainly as rugged and beautiful, but without the trail of backpackers’ pink toilet paper along the way.

Unfortunately for you, having just written 1000 words about the route for the newspaper I cannot quite summon the energy to write about it all over again. So instead I have put together this audio slideshow of photographs and a recording I made along the trail.

Or you can just listen to the audio here:

Oh, and as for the name of “the famous volcano”: like many place names in Iceland, it became less of a tongue-twister as I began to learn the meaning of its component parts from my maps: Eyja = “island”, fjalla = “mountain”, jökull = “glacier”. The mountain with a glacier that can be seen from the islands off the country’s south coast… Eyafjallajökull. Simples!

Coming up in the next installment: I bite off a hell of a lot more than I can chew as we try to raft a deep canyon. Scary moments…

This expedition was generously supported by:

Missed the other pieces in this story? Catch up with them all here.

365: a photo a day for a year. An explanation

Al Humphreys — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:01:38 +0000

My New Year’s resolution for 2009 was to take a photograph every single day, and to document them on Flickr.
I did this in order to improve my photography. But now, over 200 days into the challenge, I realise that the experience has taught me more than just photography.
Here is an audio slideshow that talks through the project.

You can have a look at all my 365 photos on Flickr here. Do you have any suggestions for pictures for the remainder of the year: it’s hard thinking up a photo every day?! Leave them in the comments section…