I would imagine my great uncle had mixed feelings over leaving Algeria for Tunisia to the east, in an ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’ sort of a way, even if his last recorded whereabouts in the country was in a small town called Duvivier (modern-day Bouchegouf)… Continue reading
Leaving a place I’ve come to know and call home always fills me with feelings of anxiety. Yet, in leaving my rented flat in Cambridge after three years I am doing precisely that, and leaving behind another small group of good friends. Standing on the gravel outside the flat’s patio… Continue reading
A few months ago when I was walking from the barren northernmost point of the Isle of Man at the Point of Ayre back towards some sort of civilisation along the lonely cold beaches, with only unrecognised seabirds and the very real risk of rock falls to keep me company… Continue reading
Living in Cambridge has its advantages: friendly Nobel Prize winners, a near complete absence of hills, and countryside almost everywhere. So it doesn’t take long on my bike to end up in a small village of thatched cottages surrounded by fields where it will forever remain circa 1953, only with… Continue reading
The Isle of Man may not be the most exotic place to begin an adventure, but it has its advantages. It is close by, friendly in an I’m-not-too-keen-on-strangers sort of a way, and spectacularly beautiful. It is the sort of beauty that really doesn’t come out in photographs and which… Continue reading
When everything is open to you: opening hours, displays, shelving even, where do you start? Not with a rhetorical question, according to one of my old English teachers. The name of Wigtown may not trip off the tongue in the same way as Hay-on-Wye, but since 1997 the former county… Continue reading
I had wanted to travel using only a vintage-era guidebook for some time. A truly old, and not just out of date, guide was surprisingly difficult to find, but eventually I managed to source one. I would be heading across the North Sea to travel the length of Scandinavia, to… Continue reading
After much time, and a lot more editing, I’ve finally managed to complete my first foray into video making. Based on my first foray into kayaking, Mahaweli Challenge, I hope you enjoy the result as much as I do. It brings a smile to my face every time I watch… Continue reading
In our risk averse culture, I was attempting a hugely risky venture in kayaking Sri Lanka’s longest river, the Mahaweli Ganga. Using maps dating back to just a couple of years after I was born, I was to traverse a river of which I had gleaned little knowledge, in a… Continue reading
It’s close enough to my next expedition to be worrying about whether all my kit will fit into the 25 litre backpack I intend on using. So for all the adventure purists out there, or those thinking of planning an expedition in the future, below you’ll find a hopefully handy… Continue reading
