Book Review: Furthest North

This book tells the story of the expedition to row to the North Pole - the magnetic North Pole that is, or at least where it was in 1996 (most famously once the destination for the Top Gear crew).

I blogged about them at the tail end of 2011 after watching a TV program about it and then googling the expedition's web site.

It was quite an amazing if chilly story about rowing across 450 NM of icy waters (and in this case I do really mean icy) to get up to 78.595°N. Six crew were crammed into the boat you see in the pic above which must have been a cosy fit.

Soon after watching it I was at the London Boat Show and who should I meet but the expedition leader, Arctic veteran Jock Wishart. We had a brief chat of which the only bit I really remember is the need for really good sleeping bags.

After that I bought the book and put to one side to read later, which I did just recently.

It's glossy and short but that's all good as it keeps it to the point. It covers not just the row itself but also the critical stages of preparation, in particular building a boat able to be withstand impact with ice floes and yet light enough to drag over pack ice.

I certainly enjoyed it and admired the story and photos of what is certainly a remarkable part of the planet, further north than I'm likely to go. The book includes a serious message about global warming's impact on the polar ice but at the end of the day its really about adventure.

A book to read somewhere warm with a glass of the sponsor's prize Old Pulteney whisky to hand.

Rather appropriately Old Pulteney comes from the far north of Scotland and calls itself "the genuine maritime malt".

Sounds like required drinking for polar explorers!


Updated: on BBC1 tonight and afterwards in iPlayer - see here


Photo from: Amazon

Book Review: The Natural Explorer

What does it mean to be an explorer in the age of Google Earth? When, unlike Magellan or Amundsen, we can not venture into lands uncharted or unmapped but rather known with a sometimes deep history, how can we still explore?

Those are the questions posed in The Natural Explorer by Tristan Gooley, author of The Natural Navigator. In what will surely become recognised as a classic of the genre Tristan reclaims the word for all of us.

Tristan (*) approaches the word in two directions. Firstly by suggesting we appreciate more the journeys we take by seeing how even the simplest path interacts with layers upon layers of information and knowledge.

Keep you senses, heart and mind open to the world around you. Be aware of the plants, the animals, the soil, the coastline, the hills and mountains, the sky, light and weather, waters both still and flowing, trees, woods and forests, geology and history, humans, cultures, food, drink, possessions, language, religions, beauty, music, art and so see the richness of the world.

As an example of this philosophy Tristan offers us the great German explorer Alexander von Humboldt who relished this greater treasure and his writing was valued by many not just of his time, like Charles Darwin, but also today.

For Humboldt also shows a way forward for exploring, as an act of communication. Those that gained the label of great explorer are almost by definition those that told the world of what they found.

And the modern explorer can do the same, for communicating what he or she finds is actually more necessary as the amount of information we could possibly know becomes an overpowering tsunami.

Filter data for knowledge, select stories wisely to tell truths, these are the tasks of the modern day explorer.

Another great read, well written and thought providing.


(*) full disclosure: Tristan is a sailing friend of mine

Picture from: Amazon

Yo ho ho - lets go racing!

On the Devizes to Westminster web site was interested to read a history of that race (which you can find here) and in particular how it was that anyone would come up with the idea of racing in a canoe or kayak across 200 km of England non-stop between those two particular places.

It was, you may not be that surprised to learn, the result of a couple of blokes yarning away over a pint or two (or more) in their local pub. And this is not some mamby bamby watered down stuff, this was strong West Country ale or cider, and after downing a few of them no doubt many things seem not just feasible but a jolly good idea.

I can't help wonder how many other races originated in the bar. The birth of the Volvo naturally springs to mind as it was born from the parents of the Navy (yo ho ho and a bottle of rum) and Whitbread (brewers of many a fine bottle of beer). And of course the answer to that question "what's your poison" after a day of hard sailing across those Southern Oceans was clear "make mine a pint of best".

Alas today its all got a bit too serious and the Volvo is all freeze dried food and nutritionist approved diets and the glass of red with the Sunday roast has gone. Maybe that's part of the team's incentive program: whatever Tillerman might say my experience of sailors is that the first, second, and third thing on their mind after reaching shore involves alcohol. Other priorities might come after that (though the TV programs show an alarming number of images of good dad's heading back to their wives and children - not the way of the traditional sailor) but the bar is the first port of call.

And I can't help wondering how much of sailing's history started in some drinking establishment. Was, I wonder, the great voyage of Columbus (1) inspired by one too many bottles of Chianti in some taverna beside the Mediterranean?

As conclusive proof of this theory I give you Sir Robin Knox Johnston who's ground breaking journey around the world was only threatened by shortage of Whisky! (2)


(1) I refuse to use the Spanish version of his name and call him Colon - that is either something from a medical dictionary or the secret password of the society of Punctuation.

(2) Don't worry Adam, this is not the official 22nd April post, that is yet to come

Walkabout with Dampier

Amiable bush craft and survival in the wild expert Ray Mears has been going walkabout down under in a series of programs for the BBC recently. It was wonderful to discover how you could survive on bugs and fight off swarms of mosquito's without actually having to.

In the last episode he was in the far North West of the Northern Territories partially looking into Aborigine art but also following the footsteps of that alleged ancestor of mine, William Dampier.

Dampier was one of the early circumnavigators, part time pirate, botanist and writer, and is oft considered to be the first Englishman to land on Australia back in 1688. The program noted his mistakes (confusing termite mounds for rock) and skipped over his descriptions of the locals (which were not complementary).

But the two themes of early explorers and Aborigine rock art had an intriguing connection - the early European voyages were recorded, and deep within caves of a remote part of the Australian Northern Territories Mears found paintings clearly showing a two masted ship.

Was it one of Dampier's ships? We'll never know.

I've often wanted to follow in Dampier's footsteps and the images of some of the places he visited along Australia's long north coast looked incredible tempting: unspoilt deserted islands with turquoise waters and sandy beaches.

And as Mears noted, the land in that far off corner of Australia looks untouched since that far off day that Dampier first walked there and wrote about what he saw in his diary.



If you have access to the BBC's iPlayer you can watch again by clicking here.

Faversham Creek

Just back from the Kentish town of Faversham, where picked up some "Pieces of Eight" after taking mum out to lunch to celebrate last week's mother's day.

One of the nice things about that town is that hidden away behind it is Faversham Creek, which as you can see above is a narrow strip of water that winds its way out to the sea. Its been a navigable channel for hundreds of years, and there are venerable old houses along side quays whose founding date is lost in deepest history.

A Roman road goes through Faversham, connecting Canterbury to London, so its more than likely that ships from far away Rome reached here, trading and exploring, maybe bringing Mediterranean olive oil to these cold and wet islands.

The chart of the wiggly route up from the Medway estuary can be seen below.

Dampier's true love

The explorer and traveling William Dampier was in no sense a traditional romantic. He married in 1678 but only a few months later left his wife, Judith, to go seeking adventure - a buccaneer voyaging all the way around the world. He didn't return for 12 years.

He certainly didn't seem to rush back, and only mentioned his wife once in his journals. He must have had several opportunities to return but chose to keep going, forever onwards.

Or maybe he didn't want to - maybe he was fleeing from the strength of her character. He is known to communicate difficult decisions to her by letter.

Did he find solace on the way? In Mindanaon, in the Philippines, having crossed the long expenses of the Pacific, he, like the rest of the crew, made friendships with local women, a so-called pagally. Did he remain just friends with his pagally?

The chapters of his book that describe their time in Mindanaon are the most vibrant, the most alive of any of his book. So maybe far away from his home in England he did find some romance.

But his true love was to travel. His mind and heart was lost to the horizon and wondering what was beyond it.

The Founding of Australia

Today is Australia Day - the 26th of January is the anniversary of the foundation by the British of the penal colony in Sydney, NSW.

But it was not the first connection between Britain and Australia. That wasn't Captain Cook either - it was the less well known William Dampier.

Pirate, Buccaneer, Explorer, Scientist, and Writer, William Dampier was the first Brit to land on Australia and describe what he saw to the world.

You'd think the date of that landing would be celebrated too - 7th August 1699. But no, and you'd have too look hard in the Maritime Museum in Sydney to find his name mentioned. For his descriptions of what he found were not complimentary and so his contribution to Australian history is often overlooked.

There is a family story of a distant connection, and one day I'd like to sail off to follow in his footsteps.

And so Ozzies everywhere remember to raise your glasses on the 7th August to one of your other founders!

The Magic of The North

I enjoyed reading this story at the BBC of the ship Tara that has finally freed itself of the polar ice after 500 days. It was only partly because the achievement of the voyage - half of the 1,000 days that a certain well known couple are trying to achieve at sea.

But mostly because it reminded me of the great explorers of the North - men like Nansen, and his boat, the famous Fran.

Its hard these days to remember how the great far North gripped the imagination. We have come blase - when we can do a virtual fly-by of Salvbard on Google Earth, and watch Jeremy Clarkson drive a 4x4 to the magnetic North Pole for a Top Gear special.

But at the end of the 19th Century it was all unknown. A land of cold darkness, where mysterious ribbons of fire lit up the sky. A terrifying land into which explorers like John Franklin would disappear, never to be heard of again.

Scientists in London would debate the wonders of those remote places. Was there land at the top of the world? Was there maybe an open sea? Where was the magnetic north pole and what were those lights?

I caught some of the magic when reading Arthur Ransome's Winter Holiday, when the Swallows and Amazon's and D's hosted their own exploration to find the North Pole, conveniently located somewhere in the Lake District. And it was there also in Lyra's journey in Northern Lights. Those children - and presumably Ransome and Pullman - were gripped by tales of Nansen's journey.

Here is the Fran locked into the ice:

And here is the route he took, stuck in the ice and drifting with it across the roof of the world. It took him 3 years - yes, thats over a thousand days! - and brought his wooden boat the furthest north of any in history.

Those great adventures were managed by men with the most basic of technology. I would like to follow where they went and get a sense of the stern beauty of the land and seas they found.

But preferably with better heating and taking a lot less than a thousand days!

Ratty and friends travel the world

Where people go, so do animals. Some, like horses, cats and dogs, by plan. Some, like mice and rats come along uninvited for their own reasons. And through their DNA they can tell stories that are forgotten by us humans.

So by looking at the DNA of rats scientists have mapped the migration of humans across the Pacific, showing not one but two waves of explorers.

Voles meanwhile were travelling in neolithic times between France and Spain and the Orkney Islands, just north of Scotland.

Meanwhile Viking mouse DNA shows the Madeira archipelago off Africa was discovered by the Scandinavians hundreds of years before the official discovery by the Portuguese in 1419.

There's an interesting article in the New Scientist this week about it (which you can find here though unfortunately subscription only).