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South Georgia On My Mind

South Georgia On My Mind

The ladies from Singapore were perturbed. The revelation that we were leaving Antarctica a day earlier than planned sent them into a huddle to discuss options, as if they had any. I caught snippets of their conversation and the tone seemed to lie between conspiratorial and mutinous. Finally, one raised..
Salt, Stars and Survival

Salt, Stars and Survival

A cold, bloodless dawn breaks above the Andes, the yolk of a white sun spilling out across the Atacama Desert ahead. I’m standing next to the ruins of a shepherd’s hut, 13,800ft above sea level. This altitude — over three times that of Ben Nevis — plus the fact I’ve been..
Land of the Faroes

Land of the Faroes

“Where did you get this from?” Asks Ragnar as he approaches my rental car uninvited. In a long list of nations that aren’t the Faroe Islands, this sort of behaviour might make me nervous. Yet up here, half way between Scotland and Iceland, everything has the feel of a village,..
The Deep Mani

The Deep Mani

I was somewhere north of Sparta when the Monster began to let go of my jaw. As the awful infusion of caffeine and chemicals faded, it was replaced by an enormous fatigue, so as soon as possible I pulled over in the rental car and slept at the dusty roadside...
Husky Voices

Husky Voices

Like many young boys, the most upsetting thing I could hear as a child wasn’t that my mother was angry with me, but that she was “disappointed”. Thankfully, it’s been a while since I felt that particular kind of upset. Or I should say it was a while – despite..
The Hard Yacht Knots

The Hard Yacht Knots

Hummingbirds are used to migrating but not quite like the one in front of me. This particular Hummingbird has circumnavigated the globe three times. Adventure tour company Rubicon 3’s 60ft clipper may have been named after a bird famous for speeding from flower to flower, but she was built for..
Game Changer

Game Changer

At first it looks like a storm cloud gathering on the horizon. On a hilltop perhaps 500 yards dead ahead, dust is erupting in the yellow hues of dawn, shafts of early morning light shooting through agitated particles like lasers. These perfect lines are then interrupted by a huge, dark..
The Teeth of Navarino Island

The Teeth of Navarino Island

Often in Patagonia, you see the wind before you hear it or feel it. On water, white horses have their manes torn out with such force that the surface appears to be smoking. On land, howling gales rip dust from the surfaces of unsealed roads.  On the morning my group..
Guyana Rising

Guyana Rising

As our little Cessna Caravan navigates a corridor of puffy clouds, Guyana’s Atlantic coast is exchanged for an infinite sea of green. Along with seven others, I am high above this one-time British colony, heading deep into its vast interior. Below, varicose rivers channel brown water through the jungle. There are..
The Great Balkan Ride

The Great Balkan Ride

After more than two decades on and off-road Ursula was in bad shape. Her speedometer did not work, nor did her fuel gauge. Ursula’s odometer was stuck on 147,467.8km and nobody knew when it stopped counting. Her air-conditioning worked in theory, but in practise caused the engine to overheat. Her..