Podcast appearances and mentions of al humphreys

Accomplished Writer and Adventurer Alastair Humphreys shares his insights and experiences from over two decades of exploration. From his four-year journey cycling around the world, to busking his way across Spain, to championing the concept of microadventures, Alastair has inspired countless people to embark on their own adventures.In this episode, Alastair talks candidly about the emotional highs and lows of adventuring, the challenges of returning to normal life, and the importance of mental health specifically when dealing with post-adventure blues. While his impressive Grand Adventure CV speaks for itself, Alastair has also shown the value of taking local adventures. He believes the thrill of grand journeys can be found in smaller experiences, such as ‘spending a night sleeping on a local hill.'We reflect on how seeking beauty and excitement close to home can fill the void left by big adventures, while also sparking a deeper commitment to advocating for our local environments. As Alastair shares, ‘Think global, act local.'Find out more about Alastair via his website, check out his books and follow him on instagram - @al_humphreys During this episode I mentioned the following guests and you can check out their episodes here:Claire WyattPeter GostelowDavid McCourtBig thanks to Old Man Mountain for supporting this episode of Seek Travel Ride. If today's stories have you dreaming of your own bikepacking or touring adventure, check out Old Man Mountain's tough, reliable bike racks—designed to handle any journey. Visit Old Man Mountain to learn more. Support the showEnjoying Seek Travel Ride? Buy me a coffee and help support the show!Thank you to RedShift Sports for supporting the show! - Check them out here Sign up to the Seek Travel Ride NewsletterLeave me a voicemail messageJoin the Seek Travel Ride Facebook group - Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music Follow us on Social Media!Instagram - @SeekTravelRideTwitter - @BellaCyclingWebsite: Seek Travel Ride Facebook - Seek Travel Ride

Join us for a woodland wander with adventurer, author and tree lover, Al Humphreys. The 2012 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year has cycled round the world, rowed the Atlantic and walked across India, but now focuses on pursuits closer to home. Pioneering the concept of microadventures, Al explains how exploring small pockets of nature in our neighbourhoods helps us to better connect with and care for the environment. He speaks of enabling young people to embrace wild places, and encourages us to take time to be curious and astonished as we discover new places on our doorstep. Don't forget to rate us and subscribe! Learn more about the Woodland Trust at woodlandtrust.org.uk Transcript You are listening to Woodland Walks, a podcast for the Woodland Trust presented by Adam Shaw. We protect and plant trees for people to enjoy, to fight climate change and to help wildlife thrive. Adam: Today I am off to meet an author and adventurer, and there's a title you don't get to say, or indeed hear very much. He's the author of a whole ton of books, including Microadventures, which I want to talk to him specifically about, but also books called the Doorstep Mile, Local, There Are Other Rivers, Grand Adventures, Moods of Future Joys, Midsummer Mornings, Thunder and Sunshine, and I could go on and on. And I'm meeting him at a Woodland Trust site called Ashenbank Wood. It's a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is teeming with extraordinary wildlife. So we'll be talking a bit about the woods and a bit about the sort of adventures he's been on and the sort of adventures we might all be able to go on. Anyway, I'll let him introduce himself. Al: My name's Alastair Humphreys. I'm an adventurer and a writer and tree lover. Adam: Which sounds very exciting. So when you say you're an adventurer, what does that sort of mean? Al: Well, I was slightly hesitant to say that because I confess I feel more like an ex-adventurer, but I have spent pretty much all my career going off doing big adventures and then coming home and writing and speaking and making films about them. So they've gone ever smaller. I began by spending four years cycling around the world, I've rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, walked across the Empty Quarter desert, played my violin incredibly badly through Spain, and then gradually smaller onto what I call microadventures. So, encouraging people to find short, simple, affordable adventures close to home and squeezing around their busy daily lives. Adam: So that's interesting. You talk about the mini adventures. On a previous podcast we talked to the natural navigator, I don't know. Al: Ohh yes, Tristan. Well, he could tell you a lot more intelligent things than I can. He's great. Adam: No, but I think he took very much the similar view of yours. He went, I've done all these big adventures. But actually when you're doing these big adventures, it's all about tech, you know, and I needed satellite link ups and all sorts of stuff. And actually I wasn't, I was really looking at screens all the time. And he was going, the smaller adventures are actually much more revolutionary, because if you go low tech, that's a proper adventure. Just trying to find your way through a wood is a real adventure in a curious sort of way, even more challenging than doing something which sounds really flash. Al: Yes. And what Tristan's done fantastically is taking those skills from bigger journeys down to his literal daily life, hasn't he? If you, I get an e-mail from him, I think it's weekly or so and it just essentially says, where am I now and which way am I facing? And from his little clues in the local park, he can tell whether it's north, south, east, and west. Adam: Yes. No, you're right. I tried. I was very bad at that. And what I've learned, I've already forgotten. So tell me a little bit about why your connection to nature, then, how important that is to you, if at all. Al: So I had a nice, happy childhood growing up in the countryside, so as a kid I spent a lot of time running around the fields and woods and streams and things, so I suppose that hammers something deep into your subconscious, although you don't really notice it necessarily as a kid. Adam: Where whereabouts was that? Al: In the Yorkshire Dales. Adam: Ohh, God's own country. Amazing place. Al: Yes. Lovely part of the world. Yeah, so I really enjoyed that, and then my big expeditions, I've spent a lot of time in some of the world's really wild places and that's a fantastic backdrop to your adventures. But actually my – oh, and I also did a zoology degree. Although I found it incredibly boring, and now looking back I find it amazing that you can find something like that boring. But it's taken me stopping the big adventures, slowing down, paying attention to my local area to build a deeper connection with nature. And I don't know if that's partly just me getting old as well, I suspect there is an aspect of that. But whereas in my youth I was sort of cycling moderately quickly across continents and now pottering around small little parks and I have time to be astonished in a way that you don't necessarily when you're on a big A to B kind of journey. Adam: Yes, yes, there's the mechanics of getting you somewhere so challenging. Al: Yes, and you're on a mission. The mission is to go from A to B and not die, and to succeed. And that's all quite, and the backdrop of it all is this wonderful nature. But the things I've been doing more recently, then nature has come to the forefront. I'm not really doing any big, exciting mission. And therefore the paying attention to the small bits of nature and the changing seasons comes to the forefront. Adam: Yes, I did, I was just going to stop here. We're by one of the Woodland Trust sign posts about fungi and deadwood and the importance of that. We can talk a bit about that. But I was just thinking about what you said. I did an expedition across the Gobi in Outer Mongolia. I was working in Outer Mongolia, and it was, you're right, it was more interesting in retrospect. Because when I was there, we were just very concerned about the mechanics of the day. Getting through the day, making sure we weren't lost, getting food, all of that, rather than go ‘this is quite an interesting place'. Al: Yes. Adam: Whereas, because we didn't meander, you go, I think the importance of meandering and almost lost time, and in a way, I think, boredom. I mean, it was interesting to talk about kids, you know, I don't know if you've got kids, but I think there's a lot of pressure on people to keep the kids busy, get them to this class, to do this, do this, do this. Actually the importance of just going, you know, ‘they're bored now, they'll just go do something', is quite interesting. Al: Yeah. And I think that's a fantastic aspect of it, a bit of woodland like this, isn't it? Is to bring some kids here and essentially say there is nothing to do here, but equally you can do whatever you want. So go on, clear off. Off you go, go climb some of these trees, pick up some sticks, rummage around, see what you find. And that's the great thing of a woodland like this. Adam: Yeah. Do you have kids? Al: I do, yes. Adam: Well, how old are they? Al: Well, they are entering the dreaded teenage phase. So the um, it's really interesting, actually, because they're completely addicted to their screens and that would be their preferred choice would be to live in a damp, dark, smelly cave and never emerge. But when I drag them by their hair kicking and screaming into a wood like this, they're grumpy for a couple of minutes and then I just say clear off, go away and then they love it. And there's a real physical and mental transformation that's clear, when you can, once they get out here. Adam: Yeah. So I think that's interesting. And as a parent and everything, I just wonder what your take is on trying to engage a younger generation with nature and whether that's difficult, how you do it and whether we should be doing that, is that a concern of us or just, you know, let people do what they want? Al: I think it's a massive, massive concern and I also think it's extremely difficult. These screens are deliciously alluring. That's how they're designed. You know, if I was a kid today, I'd love to be just scrolling mindlessly through a thousand videos of people falling off their bikes. If it's endlessly addictive. So I think it's very, very hard and being a parent is exhausting. It's quite easy to not bother with the kicking and screaming, going to the woods, but I think it's really, really vital to do and the reward of when you get them out is of seeing how transformative that is for them, but also for yourself is really good. So yeah, I think screens are a massive problem. I think the nature disconnection of our society is a huge problem, both in terms of our physical health, our mental health, but also with our ignorance to the decline of species and the loss of wild places. So I think it's an enormous problem. Adam: And I mean you know, you're a broadcaster, you create a huge amount of content yourself. So I think there's an interesting question about how to frame that, because I fear then talking about all the trees are disappearing and wildlife is dying and that it turns, well, everybody, but perhaps especially younger generations off. They go, well if it's that blooming terrible, well, I'd just rather be on my screen. So how do you get that tone right, do you think? Al: That's a question that I've been thinking a lot about, particularly over the last year or so. I've just finished writing a book, which is all about exploring your local area, and when I wrote the book, in the early months of it, it was very much a moaning, ranting disaster book that everything's doomed and that it's all ruined. But as I was reading through my drafts, I was thinking, geez, this is this is, well, no one's going to read it for a start. But also, it's not going to encourage anyone. But as the project went on, I realised that I didn't need to frame it like that, because I could look at it another way, which was how much I personally was loving getting out into these small pockets of nature, what benefits I was getting and how much I was enjoying it. And then the more that I personally enjoyed it, the more I start to become connected and the more I start to care and the more hopefully I start to take action. So I think you're exactly right to try and frame it as a positive thing of saying hey, get out into X, Y and Z for these fantastic reasons and then hopefully the fixing the planet part will take care of itself, once there's enough people enthused. Adam: Yeah, interesting. Well, look, we'll carry on, but I said we stopped at this post. So the many dead and decaying trees you find here play a vital role in Ashenbank Wood's ecosystem. And that's a theme you'll see in lots of Woodland Trust places where deadwood is actually allowed to stay. In fact, it's not just allowed to stay, it's positively encouraged because of the fungi and the invertebrates, and then all the way up to the different sorts of animals that can live off that. So what looks like sort of untidiness is sometimes a real sort of oasis of life. Al: And this woodland here was completely smashed by the huge hurricane in 1987. So I think more than most woodlands, there's a lot of fallen down trees in this wood, which I suppose previously would have been carted off and chopped up for firewood or something. Adam: So let's, I mean, we're walking down this idyllic sort of dappled light, coming through the canopy of the still full roof of this of this woodland. So this is really idyllic, but take me somewhere else. So tell me about those adventures that you've had in these distant lands. Were there any particular that stand out for any particular reason? Al: Well, given that we're talking about trees, I spent 10 weeks, I think it was, on the frozen Arctic Ocean, up near the North Pole, which was a fantastic expedition itself, but the small detail that sticks with me now is that to get up there, you fly to Canada, then you fly to some smaller place in Canada and the planes gradually get smaller and smaller and the safety regulations get more and more lax till you're on the plane with people with rifles and harpoons and stuff. But up to this tiny little community right up in the north of Canada and the people - I went to visit the primary school there in the morning just to chat to the kids about my adventures and stuff. And they were chatting about my adventures and they were, the little kids there were amazed that I'd never seen a polar bear. And my riposte to them was along the lines of but you've never seen a tree! Where they where they lived, there were no trees, literally none above the tree line, and that really struck me, what it would be like to grow up in a place with zero trees. I mean, you get polar bears, which is pretty cool, but I'd be sad to have no trees. Adam: Yes, yeah, yes. And what was their view of that? Do they go well, I've never seen that, don't miss. Or were they interested in that? Al: Yeah, well, I guess everyone's normal is normal, isn't it? You know, they're going to school on skidoos and things like that. And so, yeah, it's just fascinating to see the different people's views of normal in the world. And before I started my big adventures, one of the motivating factors for me wanting to go off around the world was that I found where I lived incredibly boring, as a lot of young people do. Oh my goodness, where I live is the most boring place in the universe. I need to go far, far away. And it took me going far, far away to realise that actually the stuff I'd left behind is pretty fascinating in its own way. If only you're willing to pay attention to it. Adam: Yes, gosh, it sounds almost like a line from one of Tolkien's books. There you do a long adventure to find true interest is nearer to home. So I know you've written lots of things, but you've got a book just come out. So yeah, tell me, what's that book about then? Al: So I've written a book that's called Local, and it's about spending a whole year exploring only the single Ordnance Survey map that I happen to live on. So, the whole of Britain's divided up into about just over 400 Ordnance Survey maps. So wherever you live, you could go to your local bookshop and buy your local map. And what I'm trying to do is encourage people to do that and to realise how much new, undiscovered stuff is on their doorstep. Woodlands, footpaths, hills, fields but also towns, villages. What's behind the industrial yards? Like a proper exploring curiosity to your own backyard. Adam: And how much area does one of those maps cover then? Al: It's the orange Ordnance Survey maps. They're more detailed. So it's roughly 20 kilometres by 20 kilometres. Adam: Right. So a fair amount. Al: It's a fair amount, but I've also in previous time spent a year crossing an entire continent, so in that sense it felt incredibly tiny to me. And when I began the project, I thought ‘this map is so small, it's going to be so claustrophobic and so boring'. But actually, by the end of the year, I realise, wow, actually it's enormous. I haven't even begun to cover everything on the map. Adam: So what sort of things did you find there that was a surprise to you, then? Al: So what I did every week, I would go out once a week for the whole year and my rule was to explore one grid square a week. So a kilometre square chosen at random and the random was really important because if it wasn't random, all I would do is just choose all the nice bits of woodland around my map. But by making it random, it sent me off to towns and suburbs and motorway junctions and all sorts of random stuff. And I discovered a few things. The first thing I discovered was how little I knew this area that I thought I knew very well indeed. The second thing that I realised was that, yeah, of course it's nice to go out to woods and hills and streams and stuff, but also I was surprised how much I loved the forgotten grid squares, the abandoned bits, the broken down, fallen down, behind the warehouse kind of landscapes. Like what's behind the supermarket car park? And I found in these forgotten edgelands a real sense of wildness and solitude that I didn't get in somewhere lovely. And this wood we're in now is lovely, but you're not going to get much solitude. There's a lot of dog walkers wandering around. And whereas if you're sort of behind some factory and some regenerating thicket, you think, wow, no one comes here. This feels adventurous. This feels wild. No one on the planet knows where I am. I'm only 20 minutes from a massive city, so I really was surprised how much I liked the forgotten corners of my map. Adam: Well, it sounds romantic the way you describe it, but behind a dumpster or a big factory? I don't really want to go there. Al: Why not? Adam: Because it's not pretty. It's probably got some unsavoury characters hanging around there. It might be more dangerous than crossing, you know, at some wild tundra, so it doesn't attract. I mean, but it does attract you, genuinely? Al: I think I'd have agreed with you entirely beforehand. It seems much nicer to come to a pretty woodland and stroll around there. What surprised me was how rarely I saw people when I was out and about, and we live in a very crowded country. I live in a crowded corner of the country, and yet once I was off meandering, once you're slightly off the beaten track, it felt like I often had the place to myself. In terms of being scared, I never had any problems at all. But I was very conscious that I'm a six-foot-tall white man who's quite good at running and that the countryside in general is not equally accessible to everyone. That really struck home to me in the year, how the sort of privilege I have of being able to essentially wander wherever I want. And the worst thing that's happened, someone will say go away and I go, oh, I'm terribly sorry and be all sort of posh and cheerful and it'll be fine and that's not fair, and it's not right that there's that inequality. Adam: I wonder what you feel because we're talking now, a little after there was a big fuss in newspapers about Kirsty Allsop as children or a child who went off travelling and I think he was 16 or something like that. And it raised the debate whether that's right or wrong and people have their own views, it raised the debate about adventure, what it is, how much freedom we should give younger people. And there were lots of comments, you know, look back a generation, my parents' generation, you know, people of 17, 18 were fighting in wars. You know, the idea of going on Eurorail doesn't sound that adventurous by comparison. But it does engage with the natural world, doesn't it? You've done very adventurous things. What do you think about our position on safety now? The sort of vibe about that? Al: I think a relevant aspect of that discussion what we're talking about today is if you look at the roaming distances that kids have from home and you can see statistical maps of this online of how far our grandparents are allowed to go from home, you know, they'd get on their bicycle with a pickled egg and off they'd go for a month and then come home for their tea. All that sort of stuff. When I was a kid, I was basically in the Yorkshire Dales. I was basically allowed to go wherever I wanted, and then I'd just come home when I was hungry. And of course, I had no cell phone. And then kids today would not be generally allowed that sort of thing, and they're kept very much closer to home. And I think that trusting young people in wild places is an important thing to do. Adam: Well, on that note of wild places and adventure, we talked a lot about maps and if you want to visit Ashenbank Wood and are looking for a map, it is grid reference TQ 675692, map reference explorer 163, and OS land ranger 177. Good luck with finding this particular wood. I hope you enjoy it. And until next time, of course, happy wandering. Thank you for listening to the Woodland Trust Woodland Walks. Join us next month when Adam will be taking another walk in the company of Woodland Trust staff, partners and volunteers. And don't forget to subscribe to the series on iTunes or wherever you are listening. And do give us a review and a rating. If you want to find out more about our woods and those that are close to you, check out the Woodland Trust website. Just head to the visiting woods pages. Thank you.

Episode 160 of The Adventure Podcast features adventurer and writer, Al Humphreys. For those of you who have been around for a while, you'll recognise Al as our first ever guest on the podcast. He was the originator of the 'micro-adventures' movement, and after many years adventuring further afield, now focuses on pursuing journeys a little closer to home. In this episode, Al talks about his Seven Summits (but not as we know it) expedition, his latest challenge involving an Ordnance Survey map, and what freeing up the definition of 'adventure' has meant. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-adventure-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Allie Mason is an autistic children's author and micro-adventurer who has just published her first book, The Autistic Guide to Adventure: Active Pursuits from Archery to Wild Swimming for Tweens and Teens.  Allie lives in the English countryside with her partner and their beloved Labrador. The purpose of her writing is to give neurodivergent young people a place where they recognise themselves and feel that they belong. Allie in her own words: “When I was 23 years old, I was diagnosed as autistic. It was a bittersweet moment for me. On the one hand, it answered a lot of questions that had been accumulating since I was a child. On the other, it highlighted that a lot of the struggles I had faced when I was younger could have been avoided with the right support. I was (and still am!) an avid reader, but I never felt that I recognised myself in the pages of a book. The characters didn't face the same struggles as me, didn't think the same way, so as much as I tried to immerse myself in these fictional worlds, there was always something missing. Now, as an adult, I write books that neurodivergent kids and teens, like I once was, can see themselves in.” *** About the book:The Autistic Guide to Adventure: Active Pursuits from Archery to Wild Swimming for Tweens and Teens.  Outdoor adventuring can be life changing - it makes you physically and mentally stronger, takes you to new places and introduces you to new friends, as well as being an exhilarating challenge - but it can be stressful when there are unexpected social and sensory challenges involved. Allie Mason, autistic adventurer extraordinaire, is here to help. Join Allie as she introduces activities ranging from archery to stargazing, sailing to fossil hunting, snorkelling to nature-writing - and so much more. Each easily digestible factsheet comes with a short introduction, a summary of the sensory experiences involved, suggestions on approaching activities for when you're just getting started, as well as a handy budgeting system. With personal anecdotes and interviews with awesome autistic athletes, this book will give you the support you need to take on the great outdoors. *** New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday at 7am UK time - Subscribe so you don't miss out.  You can support the Tough Girl mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media - especially in relation to adventure and physical challenge by signing up as a patron. www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast. Thank you.    Show Notes Who is Allie Chilling with her dog at home Her early years growing up  Being diagnosed as autistic at 23 (Feb 2020) Feeling strange from a young age and knowing she was different Feeling isolated and being bullied  Why her diagnoses was liberating Understanding that she wasn't broken and that there is nothing wrong with her Her outlook on life  Being trusting, truthful and taking things at face value Not understanding social etiquette very well Wanting to gentle educate people by just being herself Understanding different Neurotypes  Getting an assessment done to diagnose autism Signing up for a roller-skate marathon in Berlin Training for 18 months and what that looked like  Thriving on structure  Raising money for charity - Ambitious About Autism Taking any reference to the roller-skate marathon out of the book What happened on the day of the marathon and why things didn't go according to plan  Dealing with injury and still wanting to do the challenge Being told to get off the course after 5km The lessons learned from the negative experience  Feeling emotions of frustration, resentment and feeling wronged How can organisers of the event could have handle having to take people off the course  Support for autistic people who enter larger events  Wanting to do the event again Equality and Equity Having the idea for her book while thinking about doing the roller-skate marathon New book: The Autistic Guide to Adventure: Active Pursuits from Archery to Wild Swimming for Tweens and Teens  The contents of the book and how to use the guide Highlights from the Autistic and Adventure manifesto - “Trying the thing, asking for support, respecting your limits and being an adventurer” Top tips for “trying the thing” Not being afraid to fail Who the book is aimed at The importance of representation and sharing stories from autistic athletics  Future projects in 2023 Working on book 2 Wanting to take a sensory space on tour around the UK How to connect with Allie Final words of advice  Being inspired by Al Humphreys   Social Media Website: www.alliewrote.com  Instagram: @alliewrote   TikTok: @alliewrote      

Alastair Humphreys is the author of my all-time favourite books on the topic of adventure and getting more out of life.He was awarded the National Geographic Adventurer of the Year award for his work. He cycled around the world over four years and has since rowed the Atlantic, ran the Marathon de Sables, and walked across India amongst numerous other adventures.Perhaps his greatest success, however, is pioneering the concept of micro-adventures, encouraging anyone to experience the outdoors and thrillseeking within an hour of their doorstep.- -Sponsor - HostingerLaunch a WordPress blog, site, or online shop in minutes.Go to Hostinger.com/GROWTH to get everything you need to create your website for less than $3/month, plus 10% off with promo code GROWTH.- -Sponsor - Better HelpThe Growth Mindset is sponsored by BetterHelp. Therapy to get you on your way to being your best self.Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/GROWTHMINDSET for 15% off. - -Connect with Alastair:Website - AlastairHumphreys.comInstagram - @Al_HumphreysTwitter - @Al_Humphreys- -Connect with Sam:Sam's newsletter on creativity - Explosive Thinking Watch the pod - YouTube - Growth MindsetTwitter - @samjamharrisInstagram - @SamJam.zen- - -Chapters00:00 Introduction03:34 Quick fire questions05:12 How do you define success and happiness06:04 What are your internal measures07:14 Adventures07:56 Why should we be adventurous09:50 What were the things people need to hear on how to start an adventure11:15 Microadventures12:19 Hardest part of an adventure is daring yourself to get out13:24 3 biggest questions when it comes to time - calendar, routines, little margins of time 16:13 Money-to-adventure ratio21:18 Just GO22:31 Overcoming sense of inadequancy26:01 SPONSOR - Hostinger27:33 SPONSOR - BetterHelp29:15 Mindset framework around finding a sustainable adventure and career32:36 Lessons to younger self35:50 A thousand true fans37:02 GeoWizard Tangent38:33 3 stages of flabbiness39:47 Physical Flabbiness40:17 Mental Flabbiness40:38 Moral Flabbiness42:16 Dealing with Mental Flabbiness43:05 Habit Calendar44:35 Pull-up or Press-up challenge46:32 Hardest cultural difference Alastair navigated during an adventure49:01 Maintaining relationships and adventures50:44 Kindest thing54:11 Earliest memories55:07 Advice to your 20 yr old self56:14 What's Sam's next adventure Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/growth-mindset-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“The worst of what adventurers do is an exercise in vanity, chasing a scrolling, envious audience. At best, an adventurer makes people smile, challenges them to think, brings about change and inspires action.”  –Alastair Humphreys In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Alastair talk about what the task of an "adventurer" is these days, and how Al got his start in adventure travel (2:00); how one might approach becoming an adventurer in this day and age, and how to balance embracing versus recording the adventure (7:30); the nuts and bolts of managing things like sponsorships and social media (19:00); communicating with one's audience, including optimizing blog posts and email newsletters (35:00); working with agents, and when and why to self-publish books (47:00). Alastair Humphreys (@Al_Humphreys) is an English adventurer, author and motivational speaker. Alastair was the National Geographic Adventurer of the Year in 2012, and has written thirteen books, most recently Ask An Adventurer. Notable Links: Bill Tillman (20th century English mountaineer) Bear Grylls (British adventurer) Microadventures, by Alastair Humphreys (book) Buffer (social-media managing application) "Five-Bullet Friday" (Tim Ferriss email newsletter) Google Forms (survey software) Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, by Gary Vaynerchuk (book) Alastair Humphreys newsletters Austin Kleon weekly newsletter Kindle Direct Publishing (self-publishing platform) Creative Penn (website for writers) The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel's 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don't host a “comments” section, but we're happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

Al reads the final chapter from his new book 'My Midsummer Morning'.

Following in the footsteps of Laurie Lee, Al set out to walk through Spain with only a violin, and a modest repertoire of elementary tunes. Along the way he experienced vulnerability and uncertainty, but also extraordinary kindness on "The most frightening adventure I have done in years".

If you’re looking for ways to live more adventurously, step away from your screen and spend more time in nature, then this conversation with Al Humphreys – around-the-world cyclist, ocean rower, desert walker and the inventor of the Microadventure – is chock-full of wisdom and inspiration.

Hannah set the world speed record for skiing solo and unsupported to the South Pole in December 2006, a record she held for four years. Hannah completed the 690 mile (1110 km) journey in 39 days, 9 hours and 33 minutes. She has completed six expeditions to the South Pole and over 6000 miles (9656 km) of Antarctic sled‐hauling. Hannah has also undertaken expeditions on the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, South America, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Namibia, Afghanistan and the Amazon, not to mention sailing around the world twice! https://www.polarexpeditiontraining.com/hannah-mckeand-1/ Content Summary 4:28 Introducing Hannah McKeand Polar expeditioner who held a world record for the fastest time, male or female, to journey by ski to the South Pole and how she fell in love with Antarctica. “It's like when Dorothy steps into Oz and it all goes into glorious technicolor. That's kind of how I feel when I step foot in Antarctica, like suddenly the world goes into glorious technicolor and I get this heightened sense of being.” 12:40 Feeling too big for the world Growing up as a tall woman, finding her home in an arctic desert “When I started encountering these places, it was in a really, it was a really refreshing feeling because I feel so tiny in these places.” 17:50 Meditation in ignoring the fuss Stay the course and carry on with purpose, despite the circumstances "There's no need to fuss. I'm just gonna do my thing." 24:45 Micro adventures The concept from Al Humphreys to take the first step “It's okay to embrace what's possible while you're dreaming about what seems impossible.” 32:55 North Pole & Giving your all Falling to sea ice and her survival “There's a difficult thing that's gonna happen, like something's gonna hurt or something's gonna taste bad. You’ve gotta do it. You've gotta give all the effort the first go cause you'll never be able to give that much effort again.” 40:46 Change one thing, change your perspective When you’re feeling stuck, give yourself a new perspective with one small change “You can be sort of frozen and stagnating in a moment that you don't know what the solution is, and I always say if that sort of situation comes up, change something.” For full transcription go here: https://emilyschromm.com/blog/meathead-hippie-podcast-78-hannah-mckeand Thank you listeners!! Please leave a review if you enjoyed and checkout my links below to get plugged in more to what I'm doing. PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP: www.facebook.com/groups/1292792567518714/ Find more on Em here: @emilyschromm www.emilyschromm.com youtube.com/emilyschromm

Al Humphreys is a very nice man indeed. He's achieved incredible things, but is desperate to let people know they can do adventuring themselves, every day. Truly exploring life. We met up with him straight after his appearance at the BBC on the legendary kid's program, Blue Peter. Unpretentious, super engaging and very tolerant of Nick's mad ramblings, Al was a smashing gent to have a pint of three with. Enjoy. Al's site: https://www.alastairhumphreys.com/

Al Humphries is best known for the concept of microadventures and his book of the same name, following his Year of Microadventure. He's no stranger to big adventures either, though. Al joins me on this podcast to talk about adventures great and small, what motivates him, how he chooses his adventures, the challenges of making a living as an adventurer and what he does when things go wrong...

National Geographic Traveler of the Year, speaker, author and adventurer Alastair Humphreys believes that adventures come in all sizes.After a 4 year, 45,000 mile bike journey in which he only spent £7000 Alastair now inspires others to have adventures of their own both big and small.Alastair's JourneyAs a pioneer in the concept of microadventures, Alastair believes that people can have proper, life changing adventures close to home with little money.[Tweet "I'm loving this episode of #epicbikerides with @Al_Humphreys! #travel #podcast"]In this travel podcast episode you'll hear how you can plan any adventure big and small.You'll also learn:What books inspired Alastair to become an adventurerThe trap you can fall into when you compare your adventures othersHow to define what success means to youHow to plan adventures at any ageHow to go on a life changing adventure for only $1000How to manage your mind to complete any adventure big or smallWhat a microadventure is and how you can use this concept as a springboard to bigger travelHow to overcome your limiting beliefsAnd much more!My favorite quote from this interview:'The whole planet is waiting on your front door step.'-AlastairAlastair's Website£1000 challengeMicroadvenuturescover photo and map photo courtesy of Alastair HumphreysThe post How To Have An Adventure On Any Budget: Epic Bike Rides With Alastair Humphreys appeared first on Zero to Travel.

Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Soundcloud or TuneIn "The most rewarding travel experiences are the ones that are quite difficult and you’re slightly pushing your limits all the time." - Alastair Humphreys When I first conceived of this show, I was doing some preliminary research and I stumbled upon this trailer for a movie called Into The Empty Quarter in which these two British guys wandered across a barren portion of Earth spanning the width of the Rub Al Khali desert that runs across the Arabian Peninsula. They were doing this for no other reason than to live the adventure of it -- just to chase life. And today, I get to bring one of those two guys on this podcast. In 2001, Alastair Humphreys set out on his bike from his home in Yorkshire to pedal the length of each continent. It was an ambitious round-the-world journey that took him four years to complete. When he finally did complete it, he returned home to realize that he'd only taken the first step on a much larger personal quest. Since then, he's walked across India, been a part of the first return journey from Greenland to the South Pole on foot, rowed across the Atlantic, and canoed through the Yukon. That’s only to name a few of his adventures. It’s now safe to say he’s seen more of this world than most people ever considered possible in one lifetime. He's also become a fantastic storyteller with seven books about his experiences, the journey for him and how others can be inspired to do the same -- to chase down life. He just released number seven, Microadventures: Local Discoveries for Great Escapes, in which he makes adventure, by his definition, accessible to everyone. In this show, we explore his adventures, and then delve into his unique concept of "microadventures," to dispel the notion that you need to travel to far-flung places to find life-changing experience. It is hidden in plain sight, waiting for you in your own backyard. What We Cover: How Alastair got into adventures. Why he pursues adventure as a medium for creating personal stories. Why he pursues overland travel and “human-powered” travel. Why he sets a goal for the end of every trip, like following a river or going from coast to coast, or finishing at the sea, as a reward. What is a Microadventure, and anyone can go on their own How to overcome the inertia of life to find the rewards that are worth pursuing. Words from an Explorer: “’Inertia is what stops so much of life. Take that first tiny step and that gives you momentum.” Explore Further: AlastairHumphreys.com @Al_Humphreys on Twitter Alastair Humphreys on Facebook Microadventures: Local Discoveries for Great Escapes, his book Into The Empty Quarter - Official HD Trailer from Alastair Humphreys on Vimeo. Microadventures - the Book from Alastair Humphreys on Vimeo. Music Credit: Move Slow by Felxprod ft. Jess Abran (Myriad Remix), Intrepid Journey, by Aaron Static Become a Friend of the Show: Please subscribe and review! It just takes a second and you can help the show increase its rankings on iTunes just by this simple and quick gesture. We’d be grateful for a review. Leave one here. If you do, click here to let me know so I can personally thank you! Your Feedback If you have an idea for a podcast you would like to see or a question about an upcoming episode,email me! I’d love to hear from you. Thank you so much for your support! See you next time! The post 86: How to Make Your Own Microadventures with Alastair Humphreys appeared first on The Daily Travel Podcast.