1. Reinhold Messner Extraordinary Adventure: Considered the best young climbers in Europe, Reinhold and his brother Günther were drafted up to join a 1970 attempt to climb Nanga Parbat. Nanga Parbat is a 8126m peak, the ninth highest in the world, located in Pakistan. The climb was only the third successful ascent of the mountain and also the first ascent of the enormous...
I know what you are thinking: "I havn't heard Pete Hubbard's dulcet tones in a while."Well fear not. I have recorded my thoughts as I wandered up Leonera, a 5050m high mountain near Santiago. I headed off alone for 3 nights and had a headache caused by altitude for most of that time. I left the bike with the hostal owner and told...
I have been in South America now for 100 days. I spent the day trying to hunt down a hiking map in Santiago. Then I cyced up to a ski resort 52kms from Santiago but almost 2000m higher. I took in 40 hairpin bends. Ok to celebrate 100 days here are 100 photos from the trip so far. (fb users might have to...
Some photos from a fantastic free jazz concert on the beach in La Serena. Flash just made everything look like white ghosts so I have embraced the blur! The first group was a five piece with piano, guitar, bass, drums and a frontman who sang and played flute and saxophone. They were all super tallented but the frontman was particularly gifted and spiralled...
I ran out of options for avoiding Ruta 5. So, screaming downhill, I entered Valparaiso the way every other road user does. In town, I found the hostel where I had arranged to meet Ray, a Chinese cyclist who I had crossed paths with on the Carretera Austral. Also in the hostal was a cyclist from the UK called Sam. Together, we went...
I love the way it mocks the lazily written Superman scripts. Especially the bit about international communism at the end. ...
A little more about circumnavigations, following on from my History Lesson.Firstly, the frankly odd world of RTW cycling worldt record.A record was "set" by a man with the faintly unbelievable name of Steve Strange back in the heady days of 2005. He did 277 days. Mark Beaumont (yeah? Scottish guy. You saw him on a phone advert) managed 194 days. Then a bloke...
Cazuela is, as far as I can make out, a cross between a soup and a roast dinner. In fact, it's a bit like a roast dinner tipped into a soup. Its a simple dish you can find throughout Chile. I like it.Calzuela has a piece of meat (usually chicken or beef on the bone), then there is a potato, a sweet potato,...
Pedal Pusherby MC Abdominal (featuring Young Einstein the DJ from Ugly Duckling)Squirt a little cross country on the chain,Get a fresh rag wipe down the frame,Ready to go, tie my army pants at the knees,Already got enough pants covered in grease.Slip on a discman, eyes so sharp,They do the listening,While suplying vision at the same time,Waste no time to slide my ride in...
I press on keeping the sea on my left (the only method of navigation that hasn't let me down). Passing through many seaside resort towns and a few incredible national reserves. Now only a handful of kilometers from Valapariaso where I intend to brown off a little...A few days ago, I woke up and didn't have the usual bleary-eyed feeling. I leapt out...