Alastair Humphreys – författare

‘Enthusiastic, pleasingly madcap’ Geographical Adventure – something that’s new and exhilarating, outside your comfort zone. Adventures change you and how you see the world, and all you need is an open mind, bags of enthusiasm and boundless curiosity. So what’s a microadventure? It’s close to home, cheap, simple, short and 100% guaranteed to refresh your life. A microadventure takes the spirit of a big adventure and squeezes it into a day or even a few hours.The point of a microadventure is that you don’t need lots of time and money to meet a new challenge. This practical guide is filled with ideas for microadventures – for you to experience on your own or with friends and family – and over 150 stunning photographs, plus tips and advice on safety and kit.Whether it’s sleeping on a hilltop or going for a wild swim, cycling a lap of the Isle of Wight or walking home for Christmas, it’s time you discovered something new about yourself and the world outside your window. Adventure is everywhere, every day and it is up to us to find it.

Tom dreamed of being an adventurer. But people told him he was crazy, so he decided to prove them wrong by cycling round the world!Books One and Two follow Tom crossing Europe and descending Africa, then pedalling through the Americas to Alaska. In Part Three, the final leg of his journey, he continues to have amazing experiences. He tackles the freezing temperatures of Siberia, rides behind reindeer in Russia, floats in a Japanese pool watched by monkeys and follows the Great Wall of China. Finally, he bikes back home to England. Tom learns about the world, and himself, as he tackles this epic journey. Based on the author s personal adventure and with engaging illustrations, maps and handwritten journal entries throughout, this book provides an immersive experience for any young adventurer.

Part two of the bestselling trilogy Tom dreamed of being an adventurer, but people told him he was crazy, so he decided to prove them wrong by cycling round the world.The first book of adventures followed Tom across Europe and through the mysterious landscapes of Africa.In Part Two, he pedals north from the tip of South America up through the Americas towards Alaska. He must contend with deserts, jungles and the massive mountains of the Andes. He meets grizzly bears, fascinating locals and even a memorable guinea pig. Tom learns about the world, and himself, as he tackles this epic journey.Based on the author’s personal experiences and with engaging illustrations, maps and handwritten journal entries throughout, this book provides an immersive experience for any young adventurer.

A Financial Times Summer Book of 2019 Seasoned adventurer Alastair Humphreys pushes himself to his very limits – busking his way across Spain with a violin he can barely play. In 1935 a young Englishman named Laurie Lee arrived in Spain. He had never been overseas; had hardly even left the quiet village he grew up in. His idea was to walk through the country, earning money for food by playing his violin in bars and plazas.Nearly a century later, the book Laurie Lee wrote – As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning – inspired Alastair Humphreys. It made him fall in love with Spain – the landscapes and the spirit – and with Laurie's style of travel. He travelled slow, lived simply, slept on hilltops, relished spontaneity, and loved conversations with the different people he met along the hot and dusty road.For 15 years, Alastair dreamed of retracing Laurie Lee’s footsteps, but could never get past the hurdle of being distinctly unmusical. This year, he decided to go anyway. The journey was his most terrifying yet, risking failure and humiliation every day, and finding himself truly vulnerable to the rhythms of the road and of his own life. But along the way, he found humility, redemption and triumph. It was a very good adventure.

‘An inspirational ocean adventure’ - Bear GryllsSHORTLISTED: ESTWA Children’s Travel Book of the YearLucy wants to explore the world, and do something daring and difficult. But people laugh at her when she hatches a plan to row across the Atlantic Ocean.So her family rallies round to help prepare for the journey, loading her boat with supplies for 3,000 miles of rowing. Her school friends follow her from afar, learning about the ocean, its wildlife and pollution.Alone at sea, Lucy faces seasickness, storms and a very sore bottom, not to mention close encounters with ships and a humpback whale. Yet there are also the joys of wandering seabirds, shooting stars and magical sunsets, as she finds she is capable of more than she ever imagined.Step aboard and join Lucy on her life-changing adventure to become the girl who rowed the ocean.

SHORTLISTED: Wainwright Prize‍‘Agile, wryly funny and wise’ Robert MacfarlaneAfter years of expeditions all over the world, adventurer Alastair Humphreys spends a year exploring the detailed local map around his home.Can this unassuming landscape, marked by the glow of city lights and the hum of busy roads, hold any surprises for the world traveller or satisfy his wanderlust? Could a single map provide a lifetime of exploration?Discovering more about the natural world than in all his years in remote environments, he learns the value of truly getting to know his neighbourhood.An ode to slowing down , Local is a celebration of curiosity and time spent outdoors, as well as a rallying cry to protect the wild places on our doorstep.

Tom and his sister Lucy are no strangers to adventure. But now they are ready for their biggest challenge yet – teaming up for a joint expedition.Inspired by great explorers, they set out to retrace an epic journey across America by canoe. Two hundred years ago, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark travelled into the wilderness; now it’s Tom and Lucy’s turn to paddle along mighty rivers, battle wild rapids and camp beneath endless starry skies.Along the way they discover what has changed – technology, the size of towns and cities, the people who live in them – and what has stayed the same: the physical hardship, the camaraderie and the pure thrill of adventure.Travel with them as they journey into history, test themselves against the wild and prove that exploration is never out of date.

Humans used to be embedded in the natural world, but today many of us live sedentary screen-based lives indoors, treating nature as something distant – to be watched on television or reached by flying elsewhere.In Unwilded, Alastair Humphreys examines the consequences of this disconnection and how it shapes our wellbeing, childhood, education, diets, lifestyles and the liveability of towns. On a wider scale, it explains why the climate and ecological emergencies feel abstract and beyond our individual responsibility.At the heart of the book is shifting baseline syndrome: from the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree to the extinction of possibly the most abundant bird species in history, it is the quiet process by which each generation accepts a depleted world as normal. Unwilded argues that change need not begin with grand gestures. It can begin with spending just fifteen minutes outdoors, paying attention. From nothing comes understanding, care and responsibility – and the beginning of rewilding ourselves and the world.

FROM THE AUTHOR OF GREAT ADVENTURERS - WINNER OF THE EDWARD STANFORD CHILDREN'S TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019.Sometimes adventure, like life, doesn't work out as you want it to. Even determined explorers make mistakes. Many of the greatest adventurers of all time have failed along the way...Hand-picked by adventurer Alastair Humphreys, this compilation retells the extraordinary journeys undertaken by explorers who have tried, failed and succeeded against the odds. It features adventurers whose expeditions went desperately wrong, turning into struggles for survival. And adventurers who had to fight for their right to succeed in the face of discrimination or setbacks that threatened to squash their dreams. These are stories of self-belief, resilience, friendship, courage, determination and hope - against the odds.Featuring explorers modern and ancient, from Zheng He to Joe Simpson, Jeanne Baret to Matthew Henson, these men and women ventured into space, oceans, deserts and jungles, and may inspire you to do the same."We often hold a very narrow ideas of what 'success' means. We think that if we don't reach a certain outcome, then we've failed and wasted our time. But in this book, you are going to read of changed plans leading to greater happiness, of personal disaster opening the door to wonderful experiences, of lessons learned from compromising, and even occasions when mere survival is triumph enough." - Alastair Humphreys

** WINNER OF THE ORDNANCE SURVEY CHILDREN'S TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019 AND LONG-LISTED FOR THE BLUE PETER BOOK AWARD 2019**Hand-picked by adventurer Alastair Humphreys, this compilation retells the extraordinary journeys undertaken by his personal heroes. These men and women have ventured into space, oceans, deserts and jungles and inspired Alastair's own adventures. They may do the same for you too.

FROM THE WINNER OF THE ORDNANCE SURVEY CHILDREN'S TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019.Some of the greatest adventurers of all time have once failed. Many more have had to overcome great hardships to pursue lives of adventure.Hand-picked by Alastair Humphreys, this compilation retells the extraordinary journeys undertaken by adventurers who have tried, failed and succeeded against the odds. These men and women have ventured into space, oceans, deserts and jungles and inspired Alastair's own adventures. They may do the same for you too. A book full of hope and the power of self-belief and determination.

Packed with motivational images, quotes, and sayings, a guide to completing even the biggest of life's adventures.Alastair Humphreys spent four years traveling around the world on his bicycle, a journey that covered 46,000 miles and five continents. During his trip he gave motivational talks and received thousands of emails to his website in which people asked what kept him going through the low-points on his journey.Collected here are the sources of Alastair's inspiration, including affirming quotes, insights, and unique photographs. As this inspirational resource shows, the lessons he learned while on the road can be applied to any goal in life.

Part one of the bestselling trilogy Discover Africa by bicycle in Book One of a children’s adaptation of Alastair Humphreys’ journey around the world.In this charming caricature of the author’s own circumnavigation by bike, we meet Tom, an adventurous boy who feels there must be more to life than school.We follow him as he leaves England, cycling through Europe and all the way through Africa to the tip of South Africa. Along the way, young readers are introduced not only to the various fascinating landscapes he passes through, but also to the people who embrace him as he travels.With engaging illustrations and journal entries throughout, this delightful series provides an immersive experience for any young adventurer.

‘Alastair’s journey stands out as amazing’ Sir Ranulph FiennesMoods of Future Joys follows round-the-world cyclist Alastair Humphreys on the first leg of his epic journey, starting in Yorkshire, then going down through Europe and travelling the whole length of Africa, including Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya.The book conveys his journey in a style that is ‘reminiscent of the great tradition of the British explorers’ ( The Guardian ). At times uplifting, at times brutal, he faces loneliness, despair and harsh conditions, but his experience is ultimately one of joy and triumph.

Around the World by Bike – PART TWO ‘A ferocious challenge’ Sir Ranulph Fiennes At the age of 24, Alastair Humphreys set off to try to cycle round the world. By the time he arrived back home, four years later, he had ridden 46,000 miles across five continents on a tiny budget of just £7,000.Thunder and Sunshine is the sequel to the best-selling Moods of Future Joys . Here Alastair sails from Africa to South America, where he sets out to ride from the southern tip of Patagonia to northern Alaska. Crossing the Pacific, he cycles into a Siberian winter, carries on through Japan, China and, nearing the end of his journey at last, across Asia and Europe towards his home in Yorkshire