Alastair Humphreys

It is a fine thing to sleep in the hills on hot summer's nights. Stars, moonlight a breath of breeze to deter the midges, swifts at dusk then possibly nightjars later. A mattress of soft, dry grass and springy heather. And a view to make you smile when the sun wakes you up. #yorkshire #blog #goniceplacesdogoodthings #neverstopexploring

Today, on the 50th anniversary of the moon landings, I saw the replica of Endeavour - the ship Captain Cook sailed out of Whitby in search of a possible southern continent, the Terra Australis. I believe those two voyages of discovery matched each other for audacity and adventure. Also today I met a 60-year-old who is filling his retirement with multi-day seakayaking trips and has just returned from helping run a 2-week expedition for young people in Iceland. Earlier I had met a couple whose steady, conventional route towards retirement was interrupted by forced redundancy after two decades working as school teachers. Forced into boldness and change they now run a farm (Beyond Boundaries) whose purpose is to help people with physical and mental disabilities be active, get outdoors, and keep challenging themselves. At the farm I met a young woman who grinned happily at the memory of when, with lots of help and cajoling, she eventually managed to cross the small stream in the small wood behind the farm. The event had clearly gone down in legend amongst that group of friends. I'm only 3 days in to this ride and already I am loving all the different interpretations of living adventurously that I have across. As for me, I'm sleeping on a beach tonight, weary from a day riding up moors and down the crazy, steep streets of quaint fishing villages. I carried my bike up flights of stairs on the Cleveland Way, poured with sweat, and was very grateful to cool down with a sunset dip in the North Sea. Now it is time to pile a little more driftwood onto the fire and snuggle into my sleeping bag. #yorkshire #blog #thenorthface #neverstopexploring

When someone asks me where I'm from I always say, "I live near London but I'm from Yorkshire." Yorkshire is my home. I'm very proud of that. But I haven't lived in Yorkshire for more than half my life. Is that still home? If not, what does 'home' mean? I love Yorkshire but how well do I know it? When I lived here I took it for granted. (Don't we all do that with the places we think we know best?) Going away has taught me to be curious. And now I want to get a better feel for, and appreciation of, the place I call home (but don't live in). So far everything I have seen here has been for the first time: new places, new sights, new people - exploring, perhaps, without leaving home? #yorkshire #blog #goniceplacesdogoodthings #neverstopexploring #home

I have cycled to China and to Cape Town, to the Atacama and Alaska. Can I get some of that travel experience, I wondered, without leaving home? Will I get that sense of being transported to a new world merely by going places I have never been within my own country? I don't know where I will sleep tonight, don't know who I may meet tomorrow. I have no roots, history or connection here. So all those ingredients are here. But is it true? Of course I have roots: I have lived here for most of my life. So is this ride a mere shadow of the joys of exploring many time zones away? And if that is the case, is the compromise worth it to reduce our addiction to flying far and often? (One of the ironies of travelling the world is that those of us who love it and therefore travel a lot cause the most damage.) Can a simple, relatively local journey spark my curiosity? Can I persuade myself to amble and follow my nose rather than handing ahead on a mission? Can this ride compare in any way to the epics of my youth? Questions, questions, questions for my first day on the road...,! (Plus hiding from storms under trees and bridges and garages, weariness, sore lips and voracious hunger. Some things never change!) #yorkshire #blog #goniceplacesdogoodthings #neverstopexploring

I am bidding a fond farewell to my shed and hitting the road for a while. Having cycled around the world and travelled to over 90 countries, can I find adventure cycling around home? (What does 'home' actually mean to me anyway after so long loving the adventurous nomad's life?) And what is important about living adventurously - to me and to the people I meet along the road? I will be sharing my experiences on Instagram so please tag any friends who might enjoy following along with the journey. Although I am going to be posting content, I will not be engaging with social media whilst I'm away. No reading comments or messages, no scrolling, no email. In fact, no internet browsing at all, no music or podcasts. Not even any books to read. I want the full immersion and separation that is key to all the richest travel experiences, like in the olden days when you waved good-bye and set off to seek dragons and hoped that you would not fall off the edge of the earth. I can't wait. To challenge myself on the trip I have decided to record my first-ever podcast. I am interested in being a beginner again, travelling in a different way, observing through a new prism, learning stuff.  When I cycled around the world I wanted to learn how to write. So I wrote a lot. (I took a mere 3000 photos in 4 years, and zero video). I used my walk across southern India to teach myself to take better photographs. And my trip into the Empty Quarter was a conscious effort to get to grips with story-telling through film-making. But the podcast is for further down the line. For now I hope that you enjoy seeing what I see along the way. I'm really looking forward to this ride. There be dragons out there. Dragons, plus the occasional cafe breakfast. #blog #bikepacking #cycletouring #adventure #travel #alpkit #goniceplacesdogoodthings #neverstopexploring #thenorthface