Category: Creative Projects
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Safe roads & tailwinds to Janapar Grant winner Jess Hargreaves!
A little over a year ago, I was having a chat with a small group of friends who all made a living – one way or another – from adventure. We’d been having these irregular meetings for a couple of years. Ideally they took place down the pub, but often – the lifestyle of the nomadic self-unemployed adventurer being what it is – they’d be conducted via Skype or somesuch technology, all dialling in from a constantly changing series of locations worldwide. The reason for these group chats was to soundboard new ideas, figure out if they had the potential… Continue reading →
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What Does The Ideal Cycle Touring Clothing Collection Look Like?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel I’ve ever quite solved the cycle touring clothing quandry. Walk into a bike shop or outdoor store and it isn’t quite as simple as finding the ‘cycle touring’ department and taking your pick. I inevitably end up wearing garments – such as trekking trousers, merino or bamboo T‑shirts, hand-made linen slacks, tailored cotton shirts, etc – that were never designed for cycling at all. These are generally supplemented with only a few cycle-specific accessories such as padded shorts, riding mitts, Buffs, waterproofs, and perhaps socks and shoes. I get the impression that… Continue reading →
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Your Frequently-Asked Questions About The Janapar Grant, Answered
The response to the announcement of the Janapar Grant has been overwhelmingly positive – but then with £2,500 worth of bikes and equipment up for grabs, that’s no great surprise. What’s been interesting is the questions I’ve been fielding about the specifics of the idea. Some have been obvious, some not so much. They’ve certainly got me thinking. In response, I’ve put together a selection of the most frequently-asked, and done my best to answer them. What are the dates for application submissions and winner announcements? The 2016 Janapar Grant will open for applications on Monday the 29th of February,… Continue reading →
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For One Week Only, Get The Kindle Edition Of Janapar For Just 99p
It has been really rewarding to be able to share for free (in serialised form) the entirety of my first book, Janapar, on this blog over the last few weeks. In particular, the comments from readers who the story has resonated with have been a keen reminder of my motivations for penning this complicated tale. Because I did not write this book in order to become rich and successful. (Trust me, there are far easier ways of doing that.) No – I wrote it to be read and absorbed; to catalyse journeys that I don’t expect I will ever hear about. I also wrote… Continue reading →
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The End
‘What was it Mark said three and‑a half years ago?’ I joked to Tenny. ‘Cycle on the left, cycle on the left, cycle on the left … or die!’ And with that we rolled off the ferry and onto the British mainland. There was no turning back now: we had escaped the Continent and set foot and rubber on the soil of England, five days short of my parents’ driveway in Middleton, Northamptonshire. The late afternoon autumn air felt chilly and damp as we rode alongside the Victorian terraces of the Dover seafront. Looking for a grocer’s, we were befuddled… Continue reading →
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I don’t want to spend the rest of my life trying to get one over on my younger self
I return from the quiet spot at the far end of the beach with my video camera. It is almost completely dark, and the soldiers have set up camp in one of the huts. Unpacking my sleeping gear on one of the beach loungers some distance away, I notice a figure walking towards me. I’m surprised, and a little confused, when I see a Chinese-looking face emerging from the darkness on this abandoned beach in the middle of Yemen. And I am even more surprised when he greets me in perfect, Canadian-accented English. ‘You must be the cyclist I’ve heard about!’… Continue reading →
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I cycle east out of Aden, savouring every breath of breeze
Aden is a nice place, I think, as we race along the cliff-hugging roads in and around the crater of the extinct volcano that houses the city. This upwelling of rock off the south coast of Yemen is connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land. Without this isthmus, Aden would just be a curious-looking island poking out of the sea. But the remarkable configuration of land and water once made it one of the old Empire’s main shipping stop-offs between Britain and India, poised halfway between the Suez Canal and Bombay. We drive through the old town,… Continue reading →
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Soon I’d ditched the traditional idea of being lost or found altogether
Mokha isn’t my ideal destination, but it ends up being the first available boat ride. The port once gave its name to a variety of coffee bean which was exported from its harbours before more profitable crops like qat took prominence in Yemen. Five crewmen, a handful of passengers and six hundred cows watch the twinkling lights of this port float towards us through the darkness, and suddenly – as if to welcome our humble vessel – a firework display bursts into life above the faraway string of streetlights. I’m transfixed by the pink and green airbursts, the rockets and… Continue reading →
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This is the very essence of adventure; nothing mighty or medal-winning, simply embracing the unknown
I was wrong about Hassan. On first impressions, I thought that he was just a particularly friendly vagrant who’d hopefully refrain from pinching my stuff. But I realise I’ve underestimated him when he reappears the following day and offers me a place to stay. Yesterday’s promised boat ride didn’t exist, and nor will there be a sailing today, so I’ll clearly need somewhere to spend another night, and I am more than welcome to come with him to his home. But out of the blue comes a distant memory – of Sebeş, of the dreary post-communist decay and rain and mud,… Continue reading →
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Maybe it’s the qat that keeps the peace around here
Djibouti City is a bizarre place indeed. On first impressions, it seems to exist for two reasons – firstly because every country needs a capital and a seat of government, so this might as well be it; secondly because the landlocked nations of East Africa need a seaport for trade. Under different circumstances this might have been the recipe for a thriving city of zeal and commerce. But, as I nose my way through the dusty sprawl, this is not what the place appears to be. It reminds me of Khartoum; a low, whitewashed colony of fenced compounds and street-sellers and… Continue reading →