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Riding a bicycle in the Argentinian Patagonia can be adventurous, amazing and many things more, but to me it is monotonous and tedious. The Patagonia is enormous, and one can hardly begin to understand its breadth, width and mystique unless you’re in the midst of it. Maps are a double edged sword for the intrepid adventurer because the scaled distance goads one forth, yet scoffs at the reality of the space involved.
I remember an anecdote of an Indian who knew the true length of his land, how it stretched from this river to that place and so forth because he had walked the distance many times. Eventually he came across a map of the land and found it deceitful, infuriating! The...
The start of a solo journey on bicycle from Argentina to Alaska along the pan-american highway
13/11/11
Not a bad night I have to admit and after yet another shower where I tried to remove my skin we were ready for a day exploring Singapore. Although they would probably never advertise it, Singapore is a walkable city, as long as you have a map of course. We went from the hotel to the marina district via the financial district, this being a Sunday the roads around the huge glass towers were deserted, but the pavements still had the usual mix of locals and tourists, but not so much that it felt crowded. Through Chinatown we passed the buddha's tooth temple with it's fearsome looking stone guards outside and huge gym complexes designed for the bankers and office workers around the...
10/11/11
We left the room around 0930 to get to the booking office, the plan is to get the night train from Penang to KL, arriving early in the morning and giving us a full day to look around. 10 am came and went but I was reassured by local people also waiting for the office to open, so bet bex breakfast on the opening time and we stood back to wait, sure enough at 1015 the staff member cooly walked up and opened the office, yes! Breakfast on her today!
The price for beds was 40 ringits each (£8) and the train staff said we had the last two, phew! He also told us to be at the ferry nice and early as the train leaves at 2300 and the boats are always late, warning noted.
We left the p...
07/11/11
By now you'll know we only travel in the early morning or over night, so no surprises then when we grabbed a quick takeaway breakfast at the ferry port before boarding our boat which would then stop at Phi Phi where we would transfer to a boat heading back to Phuket, in total 4 hours on ferries. We had already decided to pit stop in a cafe before trying to find a taxi to the Golddiggers resort in Nai Yang, Phuket, thus avoiding the minibus fiasco from the airport. Gold diggers was chosen due to it's location from the airport (1 or 2 km depending on who you believe) and it also had a pool to relax in, as we were just using this as a stop over we hadn't planned any trips or look...
04/11/11
After running in the humidity last night we decided to give the morning a go to compare the two and it started well, with a cloudy early morning sky and nice solid sand near the waves we both felt fresh and awake at 8am. That all changed as the sun came out and the temperature jumped 20c in seconds and suddenly I felt like I was running in treacle , how is it possible to be this hot this early in the day?
As the restaurant was closed on Fridays we decided to rent the bike and eat on the road somewhere. Our destination today was the national park and lighthouse on the southern tip of the island a good 30k away but mostly straight roads, according to the map. I must have looked...
01/11/11
We tried the diner attached to our hotel for breakfast and found the prices normal, so by the looks of things the only place open for food last night was the most expensive in town (I'm convinced the taxi driver took a cut from this!) and by 0930 we were on Kata beach, creamed up and ready to relax. By 10am we were both getting restless, we really are crap at sun bathing and drowning in our own sweat as the sun was beating down already. The sea cools you off, but by the time you are back to your gear your melting again, how on earth do people just lie there day after day for weeks on end and say they have had a holiday?
By midday we had both had enough and decided to walk alo...
29/10/11
Bright sunshine greeted us at 6am, which was not right as normally it's thunderstorms in the morning and sun in the afternoon, never mind I'm not going to complain. I was also feeling a lot better today, nothing was moving but just in case I passed on breakfast until we got back from the dives. Once on the boat seasick tablets were being handed out like smarties as there were other groups on board with us and it was not as flat as it looked, strangely I was feeling fine so I guess my sea legs had finally arrived, while Bex had left hers back in the room and was one of the pill poppers.
Back in my shorts and rashie for the dive down to White Rock and finally I had my buoyancy ...
14/10/11
Bitty day today, it's the night train to Hanoi again tonight so we have to check out of the room by 1030. I was woken at 3am last night by a huge storm going on outside and the rain on the window sounded like someone trying to get in. I pulled one of the curtains aside and was almost blinded by the lightning, is it strange there was no thunder to go with it?
The rain continued into mid morning so the day was pretty much taken up with writing this and watching the new arrivals entering the town. If you arrive during the week the place is a lot quieter, but from Thursday to Sunday it's a mass of day trippers and new arrivals, so I was glad to be leaving, but for this reason o...
12/10/11
Another early start but this time we were mountain biking from the town into the lower villages along the river valley and yet again the sun had decided it was summer not winter! We had the same guide, Hoe, as the day before and I hoped he was a fitter biker than he was walker, so water on board we started out along the road for 6k. Once the nightmare traffic was negotiated we hopped off onto a dirt track and into the first village, waving at the kids and trying to avoid the farm animals who seemed intent on killing themselves under our wheels!
The first climb and all hopes of a better biker vanished, Hoe soon realised that we had done this before and was left trailing some w...
08/10/11
Nothing worse than an early bus ride in the rain to Halong Bay. It's 3 hours on some of the worst roads in the world, and our bus seems to be mounted on two pogo sticks so writing is almost impossible, at best I'm correcting more words than I write. As we move further away from Hanoi the weather has improved slightly, it's still very grey but the rain is only appearing in showers and I'm more encouraged by the dry roads.
I'm told that our junk will be the Paloma and it was build in 2009, so unless we hit an island, there is no real risk of it sinking, so let's hope they have better captains than they do drivers!
On arrival at the dock we are herded into a small boat which w...
06/10/11
We decided to to make the next destination Hanoi in the north, I had spoken to a few locals and they all agreed that there really is not much to miss in the middle, plus storm number 3 was passing through the area and the middle highlands were pretty much no go due to the rain. Our choices were a 2 day train or and hour flight, well, it's a no brained really!
As we stepped off the plane two things happened, first the temperature dropped by 15 degrees and secondly the rain came down in buckets!
We found a taxi ($16) which took us to our hostel for the next two nights. Ms Han, the owner of the Hanoi guesthouse, speaks fantastic English and could not be helpful enough and it o...
''Unbelievable! Can''t believe he did that....''. Kieran exclaimed as he concluded a story from the last staff night out together. ''I''ve got a story...'' I murmur. My dinner guests continue to talk, laugh and soak up the atmosphere. My heart begins to pound and Kimmi''s side glance tells me she''s pretending not to hear me. Kieran clocks my nerves. He has no idea, but he switches on that this could be big. ''Shh! Shh'' Kieran hushes over our closest six friends around the table in my rented London flat. ''Brett has something to say!'' The chatter comes to a stop and all eyes are on me. I''m never lost for words. My closest friends that have become my London family for so many years are wai...
The weekend just gone is one of my favourite weekends of every year. Not necessarily the 19-20 March, but the first weekend that I get out climbing.
For the past few years these delicious weekends have followed a similar pattern. It’s always surprisingly warm for early spring. I’m usually surprisingly good at climbing considering I’ve been hibernating all winter. They remind me how wonderful summer is – and that it’s on its way. And finally, I come away full of resolve to climb lots and lots. And never do. The first early spring weekend usually turns out to be the best climbing I do all year.
Among the many national symbols of Ireland, perhaps the two most recognisable are the Leprechaun and and a pint of Guinness. By my second day in Ireland I had yet to come across an angry midget with a ginger beard and a green suit telling me not to steal his pot of gold. And perhaps even more shocking was the fact that my taste buds hadn't had the pleasure of tasting Guinness in its home country, instead I'd opted for Murpheys as it's local to Cork.
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