Category: U.S. West Coast 2012
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The World Is Not Dangerous. So Why Are We Afraid?
“Ben.” I lay on my back, staring upwards into blackness. Water dripped steadily from the heavy branches above, pounding repetitively on the fly sheet of my new 1‑man tent, invisible and paper-thin. The shelter felt small. Inadequate. “BEN!!!” A brief pause. Some muffled movement from his pitch a few metres behind my head. Then, groggily: […] Continue reading →
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A Long Goodbye To Canada
Down at the Serpentine Swimming Club one January morning, as the last handful of bright pink bodies struggled back into their thermals and began the post-swim ritual of uncontrollable shivering, a chap named Roger made a memorable observation: “Once you’ve s‑s-swum the winter season at the S‑s-serpentine, you’re s‑s-suddenly immensely liberated! B‑b-because you know that […] Continue reading →
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Is This The Most Livable City In The World?
For someone with a stubborn hatred of cities, I was surprised to find myself liking Vancouver. The city is well-known as being one of the most desirable places in the world to live, but what I hadn’t quite appreciated before arriving were the reasons for the accolade. I previously supposed that many of the reasons […] Continue reading →
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The Evolving Rationale Of A ‘Professional’ Adventurer
It’s less than a month until I leave these shores for the first of the two ‘big trips’ I’m going to undertake this year. And of all the questions in my head right now, this one sounds the simplest: “Which camera should I take?” But this post will not deal with the ins and outs of […] Continue reading →
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New Year, New Gear — Considerations When Comfortably Roughing It
I have a good working relationship with Mountain Safety Research, better known as MSR, who for several decades have been quietly turning out top-quality equipment for use in the world’s wild places. The little green 2‑man Vaude tent which was my home for so long is now well past its best, and with two significant […] Continue reading →
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And For My Next Trip…
It’s announcement time! In a few short months I’m planning to take a bike trip through a nation that’s permanently in the headlines, but which I — like most of us here in the U.K. — know absolutely nothing about. That nation, of course, is Continue reading →