‘May you live in interesting times’ says the apocryphal old curse. I hope today’s offerings will help if you’re feeling despair at the state of the world (like me).

My temptation is to switch off the news and hide under a rock, but that ain’t gonna fix nothin’, so I’m feeling fired towards getting on with writing my next book (just as soon as I can finish the one I’m working on right now – a kids’ version of Lewis and Clark, which is currently so incredibly tedious that I’m tearing my hair out! But I’ve made a breakthrough on it at last (thanks in no small part to these daily communal Zoom writing groups) and I’m hoping to finish it ASAP so that I can get on with writing a book to follow Local. I poured so much into Local that I’ve felt emptied out for much of this year. But the upside of a world in chaos is that I’ve got my mojo back at last. 

•  I love America – the music, the literature, the landscapes, the people – so I thought I’d share some of my favourite adventure books, and a few films I’ve made in America, such as a Hollywood microadventure, some musings on life in Las Vegas, and yearning for simplicity in Texas.
•  If you’ve been feeling a deep desire, like me, to disappear to somewhere wild and empty, you might appreciate this gentle film from the Outback. (Via the ever-fab @kottke newsletter.)
  It also reminded me of this quirky film about a man on a mission to hang hooks in bothies across Scotland.
•  I received a wonderful message from a 99-year-old lady who enjoyed my book about cycling round the world. Shirley is also an adventurer: she cycled around Australia in the 1940s, as shown in this brilliant bit of old newsreel. Made my day.
•  When I replied to Shirley, I told her about Heinz Stücke, ‘the man who wanted to see it all’. He cycled around the world for 50 years!
•  In the UK, we are witnessing a mental health crisis. There is a strong body of evidence that engaging with nature supports good mental health. An interesting report from the Prescription for Nature campaign.
•  Fancy some relationship lessons from trees?
•  Do we need an alternative to Twitter?
  I honestly have no idea (nor the energy to give it much thought). But, just in case, I’ve joined the cool kids over on Bluesky if you want to say hi.
•  A poem about an orange might be just what you need today:

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

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

• I spent a bit of time putting together a collection of my YouTube videos with the most ‘likes’. Doing it reminded me of so many wonderful experiences I’ve had from combining adventure with filming and storytelling.
• Blackdog Outdoors is a platform for reconnecting people with the great outdoors as a tool for helping with mental health.
• A new start after 60: ‘I was a globetrotting photographer. Then I stayed home – and my world expanded.’ I LOVE these photographs.
• A fantastic essay about an insane 3,100-mile race round one city block.
• The First Mile is an immersive-travel podcast, bringing you untold stories from the world of adventure.
• The Mars Curiosity Rover has a great Twitter account. It makes me really, really want to go bikepacking on Mars!
• Over the past year, I’ve been collaborating with the fabulous artist Anna Brones on a series of posts about coffee adventures outside.
• You can find wildness everywhere, even underneath the bird feeder in your garden.
• Wide tyres on bicycles are not slower than skinny tyres.

• An Article about Captain Barclay who walked 1000 miles in 1000 hours for 1000 Guineas. Fascinating that athletic endeavor was a big deal two centuries ago (possibly even more so than today), and also that people were seriously hardcore back then.
• My Favourite Book of the Year is the Rough-Stuff Fellowship Archive. It’s big, bonkers, beautiful. Buy it here if you love cycling, adventure, and photography.
• How I Write a Book – a look at the process from start to finish. (This was an answer to the Ask Me Anything form where you can, well, ask me anything…)
• The trailer for a whopping Mum-Daughter adventure. “I’ll be 60! Yeah, let’s do it!”
• A list of the winds of the world.
• My Digital Journey is a series about how technology continues to influence, challenge, and disrupt businesses large and small. I talked about how I used social media to turn what I love doing into a viable ‘job’. (Short answer: sending you lot an email once a month then putting the kettle on…)
• The Trouble with Social Media in the Outdoors. An interesting article.

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

Cheers,

Alastair