author, mountaineering writer – books, blog, opinion
Back in 2017 when Edita and I cycled the NC500, there wasn’t much information available and almost all of it was aimed at people with a vehicle. Imagine my delight when I was contacted by Cicerone’s marketing team asking me if I’d like them to send me a copy of their new guidebook.
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Sir Hugh Munro said of Ben Hope that he didn’t know any mountain of its height which could be climbed with less exertion. Surely a quick ascent on Christmas Day would be just the thing before our Christmas turkey? Ben Hope had other ideas.
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More excitement ! I’m delighted to say that my book Feet and Wheels to Chimborazo is now available as an audiobook. Once again, I’ve been enormously privileged to work with highly experienced, professional stage and screen actor Philip Battley as my narrator.
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‘Every once in a lifetime, a book comes along that is so outrageously witty that you have to wear a corset to avoid splitting your sides with laughter. Feet and Wheels to Chimborazo is just such a book,’ said my dad.
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Queues of slow moving traffic, people who don’t know how to drive, human faeces by the side of the road – are we talking about Everest again? No, it’s the North Coast 500, a magnificent road trip in north-west Scotland which I once pedalled round.
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Edita wanted to do another bike ride in Scotland. I suggested the Great Glen Way because it went along a glen rather than over hills, so it should be pretty flat. I was surprised when the cycle hire shop recommended a pair of mountain bikes.
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Those of you who have been kind enough to pre-order Feet and Wheels to Chimborazo will hopefully have seen it appear on your devices sometime last week. The entire project, from push off to launch has taken about two years.
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It’s been three months since I last spoke about my next book Chimborazo. It’s time I updated you, and gave you another short teaser from the book the whet your appetite.
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Everesting involves repeatedly cycling up and down a hill until you’ve ascended the height of Everest. I read an interesting article about Everesting on the Tibetan side of Everest, that shed light on how poorly adapted endurance training is for altitude.
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Once again, it’s time to give a bit more space in this blog to those of you who prefer to watch telly than read books. Here are the four short videos I made to capture the magic, the joy, the tears, the pain – and the farce – of our North Coast 500 bicycle journey.
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