Month: April 2011
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Frequently-Asked Questions About Bicycle Touring Answered
So I finally got round to going through the years of correspondence — hundreds of emails — that I’ve had through this site’s contact form. It was quite fascinating to see how the figures came out, and occasionally funny: A large proportion of messages were from people who wanted advice on various aspects of a […] Continue reading →
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How To Start A Travel Blog: A 5‑Minute Intro To How Easy It Really Is
Travel blogging direct from the road, on your backpacking/walking/cycling/skateboarding/unicycling trip, is not only a realistic ambition: with today’s technology it’s also a piece of cake and costs very little. Read on for a quick primer… Continue reading →
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Writer’s Blog: Searching In The Dark (Or, What Was It About Again?)
I’m making great progress, on the face of it. I’ve written 31,000 words — almost half the word-count of the average novel, according to some. I feel that I have made headway into the meat of the process — the ‘middle’ of the story, as it were. Continue reading →
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Should I Use Panniers Or A Trailer On My Bike Tour?
This particular cycle touring debate – trailer or panniers? – has been running for almost as long as people have been going on bike trips. There’s a reason for this. As with so many aspects of equipment choice for a cycle tour, there’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to choosing between a trailer or […] Continue reading →
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Forget Middle Eastern Politics — It’s All About Food
While the media is hollering madly about civil unrest and revolutions, it’s time to remind ourselves that pretty much everyone in the region (and the world) is still going to work, drinking tea, and — of course — sharing meals with close family and friends. My parents-in-law and many of their extended family live in […] Continue reading →
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Writer’s Blog: What’s On A Long-Distance Cyclist’s Bookshelf?
You generate a lot of free time on the road. To observe, to create images, to think. Often it’s nice to simply empty your head entirely and think of nothing at all. But I have been able to do a ton of reading in my tent at night, during lazy lunch-breaks, while waiting for friends to […] Continue reading →
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Revisiting Sudan As The South Prepares For Independence
Sudan has recently held a referendum on the issue of the independence of southern Sudan, a geographically and ethnically distinct region of the country which, in 1956, was — thanks once again to the good old British Empire — lumped in with the northern tribes to form a single independent nation. Civil war has been […] Continue reading →
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Help And Get Helped With Expedition Planning This Week
If you’re lucky enough to be in or near London on Thursday April 7th, and you’re planning or have been on an adventure or two, you can’t miss this event at the Royal Geographical Society with IBG headquarters. From the organiser Alastair Humphreys: When I was planning to cycle round the world there was so […] Continue reading →
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Writer’s Blog: With All The Enthusiasm Of A Beginner
I sat down a few days ago and began to write. I wrote and wrote and wrote. The words flew from my mind faster than I could get them down. Before I knew what had happened I’d committed six thousand words to manuscript. And I was happy with all of them. Continue reading →