Category: Creative Projects
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Stunning, Stormy Jordan
I got stoned in Jordan. I also got tomatoed, window-framed, slapped and sworn at. When you’re alone, language-less, and unable to understand why you’re on the receiving end of several daily doses of hurtful xenophobia, it’s pretty tough on morale. Continue reading →
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Look at Syria
Apparently some bad stuff has happened in Syria recently. I hope that those I met and who helped me so memorably on my ride through the country are doing O.K. — but then they’re the probably the lucky ones, living in the rural regions rather than the political hot-spots. Continue reading →
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The Ravaged, War-torn, Peaceful, Gentle & Stunningly Hospitable Country of Sudan
In my last post I asked what readers wanted to see more of. At the top of the list was more photographs. An excellent choice, as I’ve recently been reviewing my raw images from the road. And no other month in my life was more eye-opening than the one I spent trundling through the sun-baked deserts, Nile-side hamlets and roasting savannahs of Sudan, from Egypt in the north to Ethiopia in the south-east. Continue reading →
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Writer’s Blog: On Adventure Travel Literature
Why write a book anyway? There seems to be a welter of expedition and adventure literature hitting the shelves at the moment, along with a growing surge in high-profile expeditioning. Continue reading →
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Film Blog: The Big, Scary World Of Independent Filmmaking
James Newton is the same age as I am. While I’ve spent years galavanting off on cycling jaunts, he has forged his way into a cushty, enviable freelance existence making factual programmes for prime-time British TV, many shows of which are household names in the UK. But today he’s chosen to spend his time doing something that has already cost him thousands, and is unlikely to make a penny of profit. That thing, of course, is producing an independent feature film. And the film, somewhat cringeworthily, is about me! Seriously — who’d want to make a film about this idiot?!? Continue reading →
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Adventures Off The Map In Outer Mongolia
It was on the sixth day after leaving Hatgal that the trail petered out. In its place, a tangle of tiny channels began to eat its way westwards down a long valley floor, paved by fist-sized, weather-rounded stones. On either side of the river basin rose steep, jagged walls of rock enthusiastically smothered in green by the spring’s new growth of larch and pine. A whopping green trout flashed past beneath the clear waters that trickled and filtered down from the lofty whitewashed crags. But for all its unspoiled splendour, the landscape was accompanied by no soaring Hollywood overture, no… Continue reading →
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Video: Cycling The Scandinavian Arctic In Midwinter
I re-edited the short film I made of my little ice-biking excursion in Norway and Sweden to make it eligible for a documentary scholarship application run by WorldNomads. I was surprised and pleased to come in as the fourth-place runner up out of about 200 entries. It is a valuable thing for an aspiring film-maker to receive a bit of critical praise after a lot of hard work at honing a craft — just as valuable, maybe, as the first-place prize, which was to join a documentary-making expedition in the northern Australian outback. That would have been fun! It’s equally valuable to… Continue reading →
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Writer’s Blog: The End Of The Beginning
It took quite a bit longer than expected, but suddenly, yesterday, I felt that the end of the book had appeared on the horizon. The hope is to finish the first draft within the next few days. Without much idea of how it would turn out, I began writing three months ago, shortly after returning from a chilly Scandinavian bike trip. Continue reading →
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This Is What Travel Filmmaking Is Supposed To Look Like
My brother, who emigrated to Canada a few years back, has just introduced me to a Canadian TV series called Departures. Three old university friends, three round-the-world tickets and a video camera. If only anything I’d filmed on the road resembled the visual beauty of this. (The episodes themselves are even more stunning!) [youtube width=“720” height=“405”]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkIdtzXmpYk[/youtube] Check out the show’s website. It’s such a shame that the series hasn’t yet made it to the UK. Continue reading →
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Early Adventures — An Interview on Armenian TV
If for no other reason than to laugh at our ridiculous beards and mops, have a look at the short interview that Andy and I did for the Armenian TV network H2 back in 2008, after we’d pedalled through the wintry Caucasus on our way to Iran. I’m afraid there are no subtitles, which means you’ll be as baffled as we were… [vimeo width=“720” height=“576”]http://vimeo.com/25136492[/vimeo] Continue reading →