My writing days began with stories of big journeys. Books about cycling round the world, walking across southern India, or walking through Spain with no money, and only my terrible (and I mean terrible) violin skills to earn the next meal.

These books include my first book, the book I feel is the best I’ve written, and one described by an irate reviewer as ‘the most ridiculously non-specific travel book I have ever read.’ High praise indeed. 

If you haven’t read any of them, please would you give one a try or buy one as a gift? You can buy them on my website in the UK, or on the online bookstore of your choice everywhere else. Thank you!

• The “Man or Bear” debate recently went viral online, with women sharing their thoughts on whether they’d rather be stuck in the forest with a man or a bear. In this piece, long-term bicycle traveller Laura Killingbeck reflects on the question and adds her unique perspective to the conversation.
• Slow Ways is crowdfunding to make it easier for everyone to find and follow the best routes – whether you walk, run, cycle, scoot, skate, ride a horse, or use a pushchair or wheelchair.
• I’ve watched this 19 times this morning.
• A brilliant way to discover new books from around the world.
• After moving to a new area, one writer decided to get to know her area by travelling on every trail on the map.
• Admissions of an Amateur Bikepacker.
• Where Dreams Go to Die: Gary Robbins and The Barkley Marathons.
• Please sign this petition to provide funding for a nationwide, nature-rich river corridor network. If you’re interested in rivers and access, you might like this blog post I’ve written on the idea.
• The Camden Highline will be a new park on an old elevated railway line in London. The ones in Paris and New York are wonderful.

My big effort this year is my A+P newsletter. But I’m well aware you don’t all need more emails from me! So here’s just one recent post:

• Society grows more fun when young people plant trees they can actually enjoy

Let me know if you have a relevant project that my readers would appreciate.

Here’s what you guys have been up to recently:

• Anyone feel that they need a dose of beautiful good news for once?
• The real life Forrest Gump: why did Rob Pope run across the US five times?
• What Cold-Water Swimming Teaches About Mindfulness. (It’s not just a momentary mood booster, but a reminder of what we’re capable of…)
• Memoirs, Biographies, and Anthologies by and about Woman Climbers. (And hats off to this brave woman climber.)
• This film documents Ben Harris’ love of woodwork and boat building, how he acquired his skills, and how incredible it is to be able to take something that you’ve built with your own hands out onto the water and sail it across the sea.
• For thousands of years, Yupik and Inuit people have made snow goggles from various materials (bone, wood, whale baleen) to help protect their eyes from the sun and, more importantly, from the sunlight reflected off the Arctic snow. (Which reminds me of these brilliant Inuit driftwood ‘maps‘).

From the Archives: 100 Newsletters Ago

• “Passing through a place provides very little context in terms of truly understanding that place – like reading a single page from a book.” The solution: run every street of your home town.
• Islandeering – an explorer’s guide to the islands of Britain.
• A 20-second good deed if you use Twitter. Retweet any of these ideas that take your fancy and help spread their story.
• “I think I might try to run 52 marathons in 52 weeks this year and see how it goes.”
• I have launched a new podcast called The Doorstep Mile. You can subscribe for free here.
• This month I’ve published interviews with a man pushing a raft from Liverpool to London to deliver a piano, the boss of Friends of the Peak District, the founder of one of the adventure community’s most important publishers, and a chat about how we need to reclaim time to think in our life if we are to do meaningful things with our life.
• Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think. Shocking but important.
• How to Get a World-Famous Actor in your Short Film.

(If you’re seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can subscribe here.)

Cheers,

Alastair

• Would you like to try out my other newsletters: The Working Adventurer, The Doorstep Mile or Adventure + Purpose?
• I have four podcasts you can listen to: Living Adventurously (a series of interviews), Adventure + Purpose (me trying to figure out my life), There Are Other Rivers (a story about walking across India), and The Doorstep Mile (a friendly kick up the bum).
• I’ve written 16 books, for both adults and children. Hopefully one of them might appeal!