Adventures
Here you can find out about some of the bigger expeditions that I have completed to date.
Please see Future Challenges for an outline of what else I am up to in 2012.
Many of my ideas for 2012 are in the early stages of planning and will feature on the site once they have been developed.
My ‘Mini-Challenges’ can be found here.
Tour du Mont Blanc - August 2011
Tour of Mont Blanc – Complete Two-Way Trekking Guide: Book review
Atlantic Rowing Race - January to March, 2010
In January 2010 a 23ft plywood rowing boat became my home for three months. Teaming up with Alex Macdonald we set off from La Gomera (Canary Islands) in a 2500 mile race across the Atlantic Ocean to Antigua, racing against 30 other crews.
At the outset I always knew this would be a demanding adventure physically and mentally, however, this year’s race was not only the hardest in the history of Ocean Rowing but there will never be another race as tough as this. There were no trade winds; instead we experienced counter currents and periods of strong winds pushing us backwards for days on end as well as sweltering heat and treacle like water. This years crossing was a true challenge pushing competitors to their physical and mental limits.
We spent 84 days in one of the world’s most hostile environments with a daily routine of rowing for 12 hours each, only sleeping for 90 minutes at a time. We were completely isolated from normal life and encountered 40 ft waves, cyclones, sharks as well as super tankers, sleep deprivation, salt sores and hallucinations.
The crossing was made even more difficult on the first night when Alex fell and injured his back after being struck by a ferocious wave whilst on deck. This was a huge setback and effectively ended our chances of positioning well in the race as Alex struggled in the early weeks with the injury. It then initially became about survival and successfully crossing the Ocean before setting new objectives and getting back in to the race.
Check out our blog from the row
Related Articles:
10 things that could have gone wrong…
Top 10 Questions - Ocean Rowing
Ocean Rowing sites:
Trek Kilimanjaro - Tanzania - 5-12 September 2010
Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa (5895m) and lies just 3 degrees south of the equator. It is one of the highest volcanoes in the world and is the largest free standing mountain on the planet, rising 4572m above the surrounding plains. The terrain changes from a tropical to an arctic clime in just a few days, with a typical trek taking between 5 and 8 days.
With my parents (Carl and Karen), along with our guides and porters we reached the summit (Uhuru) after five days. We trekked the Machame Route (aka the Whiskey Route), which begins with rain forests before reaching the dry area of Shira Plateau, the Barranco area with its senecios (mountain cactus), the Karanga Valley with its streams and finally the rocky and inhospitable Barafu before making the final ascent to the summit.
For my full report and photos from the trek please see;
Kilimanjaro Report (coming soon)
Kilimanjaro Photos
We completed the trek with Maasai Wanderings.
Related Articles:
Maasai Wanderings Review
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