Only in Australia?

Is it only Australia that has the political will to attempt to safeguard their marine environment with any degree of urgency? - World's largest marine reserve

Other nations seem to be taking their lead from Nero as their territorial waters sicken from increasing pollution, acidification and over-fishing. As deadlines for measures needed to replete fish stocks are missed, the target is simply put back another five years and ministers congratulate themselves on their far-sighted plans. Short-sighted and often ill-managed fishing fleets then race to beam-trawl copious amounts of ever-smaller fish from the global waters while they still can (discarding millions of tonnes of dead by-catch along the way). In the process, sustainable and carefully managed local fleets wake to find their waters fished-out and their prospects scuttled. - Pitiful progress on oceans

Any delay in the introduction of an expanded global network of well policed marine reserves is bad news. Over 60 million sharks are finned annually, ancient coral reefs are dynamited daily and once healthy coastal waters are constantly deadened by terrestrial pollutants. In five years time our expectations of what healthy, productive oceans can offer us will be significantly lessened. In fifty years time, in the same way that we regard the Amazon rainforest as a beautiful natural ecosystem, we might think it perfectly normal to have to travel to Australia to witness a pristine and beautiful ocean the way that all oceans once looked.

Bending mettle

Middle-aged people really are the most adventurous it seems. A survey published widely this week has established that 41 is the age when people feel most able to pursue an adventure. Reduced family commitments, increased disposable income and a growing intolerance of work and routine all combine into a perfect storm of opportunity to prove that life really does begin at 40. Sooner or later (mostly later apparently) an astonishing realisation hits you square on the nose – you need to take more out of life and, as Bob Dylan put it, "but for the sky, there are no fences facing".

Where does this long-acquired lust for adventure take the mature risk-takers? An oft-quoted route for adventure is along 'the path less traveled', but a truly remote wilderness is hard to find in a world with 7 billion people and many of the standard 'package' adventures are too sanitised and itinerised to qualify. I've been on a few however, and they do, at least, leave you wanting something more raw. Anything potentially life-threatening, though, might have to be ruled out. But not always.

Perhaps something extreme, with a good dollop of danger but within a regulated package is what draws novice adventurers to the ultimate adventure of climbing Everest. Many of this years intake will have seen more than they bargained for as they carefully stepped around the frozen, dead bodies of fellow climbers (10 this year). The picture in this report: Everest is shocking if you imagine yourself at the back of the line, slowly slushing towards an 8,000m death-zone. It's not my idea of adventure. It doesn't even look like climbing. It's certainly foolish.

Nevertheless, a need for adventure is an instinct that, once recognised, demands resolution for good or ill. Middle age brings the experience, the life-skills and the desire to put ourselves up for judgement. It bends our mettle.

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”
Chris McCandless

PS: Some astonishing statistics are quoted in the survey conducted by Discovery Channel: 42% of people claim never to have attempted an adventurous activity and 14% of 18-24-year-olds thought virtual world gaming was an adventurous activity. I'd claim that gap years are wasted on the young.

Climbing the walls

What did pioneering explorers and travellers do before the days of travel insurance? Did Mungo Park have an extensive medical insurance package in place before venturing down the dark river? Did Colonel H. Fawcett have a provision for emergency evacuation negotiated should he get lost? And how  did George Orwell find cover before travelling to Catalonia to fight the fascists? Most of the famous explorers were, of course, contracted on grand ventures rather than merely holidaying. Most had wealthy employers or sponsors on a promise to oversee their responsibilities back home. However, being from a different era, they would have accepted that in the event of catastrophe, help was far away and would probably come too late. Not all globe-trotters had powerful backers though – missionaries, mercenaries, nurses and prospectors have walked through new worlds without a guarantee of getting home. They too would have had family that were worried for their safety.

Today's insurance companies have done good business from a modern travellers need to be utterly safe, secure and protected against all the ill winds of chance and circumstance. Access to instant medical care anywhere in the world is demanded. Sensibly perhaps, we try and insulate ourselves from the repercussions of risk and danger, often picking a calmer road after weighing up all the possible scenarios and unlikely outcomes of an exciting diversion. Visions of cold, hunger and disease seem logical to consider but it's all too easy to build them up into actual glimpses of a real event instead of a nervous daydream. Our worries and concerns eventually give themselves an almost physical substance that we must guard against lest they creep up in the dark. An initially innocent doubt is magnified into a wall of fear and so we seek a guarantee of well-being before venturing out.

Or do I have this the wrong way around? Is it the case instead that travel insurance allows working class people the freedom to travel the globe with peace of mind? Something that was denied to earlier generations who had neither the means or sponsorship available to people like Shackleton, Speke and Nanssen et al. I don't know which is true. Maybe I was born too late. I only know that I'd be quite prepared to travel to any part of the world without travel insurance and self-assess any sort of activity based on my own standards of risk versus reward without having to consult small-print. I'm happy to trust my own judgement with full acceptance of any consequences arising. I'm a big, big fan of self-reliance and I'd relish the opportunity. But of course, my peace of mind would be shattered – not out of concern for impending catastrophes – but with worries about those who were worried about me and any financial implications that may fall on them despite my wishes.

So, as an inter-continental, multi-year, touring cyclist I find myself in the position of many other such travellers. Which is one of reluctantly searching through the very, very slim pickings of companies that are prepared to offer insurance. In two months I've found one expensive possibility accompanied by an exhaustive list of terms and conditions which I refuse to be handcuffed by. A comprehensive policy, covering every possible illness or disablement is out of the question but I'm hoping that I can, at least, find some simple cover that can allay a loved one's worst fears.

Unsettling

Time marches on and the day of departure looms closer. Inevitably, doubts also arise and seem logical to consider. Anybody else who was single & healthy, with some savings and a well-paid job might consider putting a deposit down on a flat and setting some money aside for a shiny hatchback and gym membership. Isn’t that the normal thing to do?

Comfort, clean living, security, the promise of a tidy pension fund – why don’t I want that? What the hell’s wrong with me? Why on earth is an intelligent man in his mid-forties deciding to abandon all that and instead go cycling around the dirt tracks of the world with a tent?

Lots of questions, all difficult to answer. Except that I know deep down in the core of my being that none of it would make me happy, it wouldn’t allow me to lie down on my deathbed and think to myself ‘what a great life that was’. I’ve been happy, I’ve had beautiful children and I wouldn’t change the past, but the future is in a different part of me. I’ve spied the other side of the valley and the hardship and sacrifices don’t feel important enough not to try for it.

The plan

In August 2012 I’ll be leaving a well-rewarded job which I’ve happily occupied for the last 18 years, packing my whole life into 4 waterproof panniers and flying to the Indian Himalayas to begin a 4 or 5 year cycling journey around the world. After cycling across the high mountain ranges I’ll descend down to the Indian Ocean and then eastwards on a winding route through the mainland and islands of South East Asia. From there I’ll eventually make my way to Alaska and embark on a 2 year journey around the entire coastlines of North, Central and South America. My plans get a bit hazy after that but I’ll make my way back to Europe either westwards or eastwards, depending on how much money I have left.

I intend to go slow, stay off the highways as much as possible and explore the routes not on the tourist circuits. I want to spend time in places volunteering with interesting projects or just wandering around towns that I will probably never return to, sampling the local cuisine and trying to pick up some of the language. Everything I need to exist, I’ll carry with me: tent, stove, water, food, transport – what else is there?

In the meantime there’s a lot to do. Visas and vaccines, buying tools and selling belongings, route planning and getting my life into smaller order. Right now I have a plane ticket to Delhi, a great bike and a new passport. As the time to leave approaches I’m feeling more nervous and scared to death but also more excited.

When I decided I was going to travel around the world, the most enticing prospect was one of continually arriving at the edges of the oceans. I’ve always loved the sea. I love being in it, on it or beside it. The junction between land and sea is always my favourite destination. It makes me feel like an excited kid again on a trip to the seaside. I still enjoy the briny smell in the air just before hearing the swash of the breakers that comes just before the sight of the bay.

If I had the choice of anywhere in the world to live, it would be a little cobble-stoned Cornish fishing village with chaotic streets, wooden trawlers in the harbour and the sound of seagulls at first light. The sea can be the end of a journey or the start of a journey, it can be the best day of your life or the last - but it’s a great place to arrive. I’m lucky to live on an island where it’s always nearby. The cities are a place to work, the coasts are the place to breathe. I love the sea.

Please consider supporting the work of the Marine Conservation Society who are trying to raise awareness, before it’s too late, of the potential human catastrophe hidden away out of sight in the worlds oceans.

No ceiling

You may be looking at this blog because, in your heart, you’re an explorer, an adventurer. You’ve either acted upon, or will one day want to act upon, a desire to run further afield from current pastures. You may be planning a gap year, a career break or an unorthodox retirement after a lifetime at the mill or you might just have had a crazy idea that you’re determined to make real. Whatever the reason behind your restlessness, you may have already begun to feel the pull of the road, the excitement of new borders, the fresh dawns over ever changing horizons. You might be studying maps and thinking about learning a foreign language.

If you’re serious, then deep down you’ll have a nervous knot but it keeps your senses alert to the nature of the challenge and the closer you get to your goal the bigger the knot gets. Perhaps you’re being reckless and irresponsible, perhaps friends and family think your crazy plans are a bluff, perhaps you don’t have enough money saved. But perhaps you’ll do it anyway. You’ve started to look forward to imagined risks and set-backs and have accepted them as all part of the project. You know for certain that you’re going to do this – it’s only a matter of time. Mark Twain famously exhorted us to ‘explore, dream, discover’ and you’ll take that advice.

This is an account of my own long-time dream which I’m finally beginning to put into practice. When I was planning and dreaming, I trawled through blogs and websites looking for someone just like me. I read the experiences of Alistair Humphreys and Mark Beaumont and didn’t find any impossibilities. The only qualification appeared to be bloody-mindedness. Dangers, surprises and impracticalities seemed exciting, not worrying. So whether it be for research, for reminiscence or for day-dreaming I hope my own future reports can assist you and set you wandering. Forget sensible.

Live boldly

Do you ever find yourself daydreaming about a change of direction in your life but going to bed realising it probably won't happen? Ahh . . . wouldn't it be great, you think, one day I'll do it. It might simply be climbing a large mountain or learning to scuba dive. Perhaps you want to spend 6 months volunteering in Africa; or sign up at Open University and get that Masters degree; or buy a second-hand yacht and sail around the world.

But, of course, there are so many practical reasons against change and so many sensible people telling you to get real and stop dreaming. The immediacy of life gets in the way and demands your attention. But thoughts of escape remain carefully tucked away in your memory waiting for the opportune moment to burst forth with renewed conviction. As the years pass, you'll either regret your inaction, or laugh out loud at such naïve nonsense. As for me? I just thought "what the hell, why not, what's the worst that can happen?"

Some 'back of an envelope' budget calculations, divorce and a 45th birthday slotted some pieces into place. My own naïve dream was of exploring, wishing to have been born 200 years earlier into the romantic age of European exploration. Not really practical, but nonetheless much of the world is still out there just as it was. Mountains & lakes, rivers & valleys, islands & oceans still hold an unshakeable attraction. I'll go take a look . . . .  and I'll go on a bicycle!

Get one here: www.thorncycles.co.uk