9 possible answers to the question I am always asked at the end of my talks: “why?”
It’s a question I often touch on on this site (see here, here and here for starters!)
Can you give me a tenth reason to add to my armoury?!
1. Why not?
2. It’s fun, or at least it’s fun looking back on it when it’s over
3. There’s a hell of big world out there and I don’t want to limit my experiences and education to the tiny corner I happened to be born in
4. I haven’t yet found a more fulfilling, exciting, worthwhile thing to do with my allocation of days
5. Because I can (in my angry youth I may have added –sotto voce– “and because lots of other people can’t”)
6. Because I can’t do anything else very well
7. To test myself (in my angry youth I may have added -red faced and raging up a hill- “to prove myself to others”) and to enjoy the self-confidence that succeeding develops
8. To encourage young people to chase their own Everests (or perhaps a slightly lower yet less crowded, expensive peak). This is a relatively new addition to my list but an increasingly strong one
9. To feel alive: “Sometimes a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. It happens to nearly everyone. You can feel it growing or preparing like a fuse burning toward dynamite. It is a feeling in the stomach, a delight of the nerves, of the forearms. The skin tastes the air, and every deep-drawn breath is sweet. Its beginning has the pleasure of a great stretching yawn; it flashes in the brain and the whole world glows outside your eyes. A man may have lived all his life in the gray, and the land and trees of him dark and somber. The events, even the important ones, may have trooped by faceless and pale. And then—the glory—so that a cricket song sweetens the ears, the smell of the earth rises chanting to his nose, and dappling light under a tree blesses his eyes. Then a man pours outward, a torrent of him, and yet he is not diminished…” – Steinbeck
love it!
“It is a feeling in the stomach”…it is late wednesday night and i am reading this with this feeling in my stomach as i embark on my own wee adventure: cycling to aviemore (from dundee) on friday and then walking/cycling with a group of friends on sat/sun/mon back to dundee. Fun times! Keep up your great website/blog/adventures!!!
Best of luck with your adventure – sounds cool. Please let me know how you get on!
Al
Thank you – it was great..the weather was very scottish: windy, sunny, rainy, still all in the space of an hour. Fell in love with scotland and cycling all over again. When are you doing something in Scotland?? All the best.
10. To help put your ‘angry youth’ behind you 🙂
Hi Alastair
Good luck to you. I think you have missed a big one, and in may be the primary motivation for doing it, but a worthy cause does get you through the hard times. I know doing 1,000-mile rides that people supporting me/my charity made a big difference.
Best
Matthew
Recently, I was browsing the globe using google maps looking for an island to base my sci-fi story on, and I found my island. I had fun investigating different islands while I was searching. There is this one island that I found (that is not going to be into my story) that I cannot stop thinking about. This island is called Gough Island. It is located at 40°20’S, 10°0’W.
I want to plan an expedition (or go on one that is already planned) that will be within the next 5 years or so.
I am very new to this, but is there a good process to take that would be the most efficient way to make this happen?
Help.
Hi Alexander,
I am not sure where you live. But if you are in the UK I suggest contacting the Royal Geographical Society for advice and even coming along to this event they organise each year: http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Fieldwork+and+Expeditions/GO+seminars+and+workshops/Explore/Explore.htm
This is a beautiful book of remote islands: http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Remote-Islands-Judith-Schalansky/dp/014311820X
Try the Thorn Tree bulletin board on lonelyplanet.com to see if people know more about the place.
Finally, if you decide to go it alone, here are some tips on seeking sponsorship: https://alastairhumphreys.com/2009/11/10-tips-towards-finding-expedition-sponsorship/
Good luck!
Al