• Challenging Expeditions
    Challenging Convention
    Challenging Ourselves

    Welcome to my website. I spend my days on expeditions or planning the next adventure. As well as motivational speaking and writing books I also work hard on what I hope is an inspiring, encouraging blog.

    Use this site to find out more about my journeys - read the accounts or look through photographs and videos. Follow upcoming ventures as they happen. Or, for more traditional vicarious travel you can read my books.

  • Packrafting the River Þjórsá
  •  
18
Aug
2010

A snapshot of a wandering wildman.

5 comments
Posted in Travel, Writing
Back in the spring I gave a corporate motivational talk in Mallorca. As well as the usual smart clothes and laptop for my presentation, I also packed a bivvy bag. The night of my talk I stayed in a very smart hotel. The next morning I filled my pockets from the breakfast buffet, checked out, [...]

Read more
17
Aug
2010

Life without a Blackberry

2 comments
Posted in Ramblings
I read an interesting blog post last week entitled Life without a Blackberry. The post describes how nobody would want to watch a movie about a fellow who worked very hard his whole life in order to buy a shiny red sports car at the end. It’s a dull plotline, so why do so many [...]

Read more
13
Aug
2010

PK Friday 13th: Rowing Round the World

0 comments
Posted in Charity, Expeditions, Pecha Kucha
Enjoy Olly Hicks describing his various adventures, including running the Marathon des Sables carrying a shovel, his record-breaking slowest ever crossing of the Atlantic, and his audacious recent attempt to row round the world.
12
Aug
2010

The art of living

2 comments
Posted in Ramblings
A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labour and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine [...]

Read more
10
Aug
2010

Walking the Amazon – an epic journey

9 comments
Posted in Expeditions
Ed Stafford and Cho Rivera ran in celebration into the Atlantic Ocean yesterday. Ed had just walked the length of the vast Amazon river, accompanied from Peru by Cho. Ed began his expedition over two years ago. In that time he and his various partners have experienced all of the nightmarish stuff you might imagine jungles [...]

Read more
06
Aug
2010

PK Friday: why do people go on expeditions?

0 comments
Posted in Expeditions, MicroAdventure, Pecha Kucha, Speaking, Travel
At the recent Night of Adventure I attempted to explain what lures me on to the next adventure.
05
Aug
2010

The fight is won or lost far away

0 comments
Posted in Motivation, Poetry, Training
“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses… “The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights” – Muhammad Ali
05
Aug
2010

Review of The Treehouse Diaries

2 comments
Posted in Books, MicroAdventure
Last year I became friends with Nick Weston when I went to stay with him in his treehouse. Nick did a couple of great talks for me at the charity Nights of Adventure I organised. You can see his 6 minute talk here. I’ve just finished reading his book and it’s great. I asked him to send [...]

Read more
02
Aug
2010

The Joy of Less

1 comment
Posted in Motivation, Our World
I’ve edited down this superb piece on simple living by Pico Eyer. Read the full New York Times article here. “The beat of my heart has grown deeper, more active, and yet more peaceful, and it is as if I were all the time storing up inner riches…My [life] is one long sequence of inner [...]

Read more
30
Jul
2010

PK Friday: the terrifying sport of cave diving

1 comment
Posted in Pecha Kucha
Listen to Chris Jewell explaining the thrills and techniques of exploring underground cave systems.