For Alastair Humphreys life is one long adventure, which he wants to share with would be adventurers.

When he emerged from university, he decided to pursue his thirst for adventure. Now, as one of National Geographic’s Adventurers of the Year, he is encouraging people to ‘find adventure’ wherever they can. This may not be at the top of a mountain or racing down tropical rapids. Alastair believes that we should all step outside of our normal experiences and chase the sense of adventure.

He spent last year undertaking a series of ‘Micro Adventures’ – which only demanded the desire to find and experience something new. As a native to the UK, Alastair chose to explore local locations. He swam the river Thames, spent four days living off the land in the woods and cycled to the UK’s most northern island – to get there he had to island hop using an inflatable dingy.

‘Each trip ticked all the boxes of adventure. It was cold. It was physically challenging. I talked to people I wouldn’t have otherwise met’

Man of Action
Alastair is somewhat of an authority on the topic of adventure. Before he was named as one National Geographic’s Adventurers of the Year, Alastair had cycled 46,000 miles around the globe, a journey he went on alone and that took four years. He has raced a yacht across the Atlantic; canoed 500 miles down the Yukon River in North America. Alastair was also one of the fastest Britons to finish the Marathon des Sables, across the Sahara Desert, even though he broke his foot in the process!

Alastair’s latest initiative – ‘A Night of Adventure’ – brings together other adventurers to tell their stories in a series of unusual lectures in ‘a celebration of adventure in all its guises’.

Guests include cyclers, ocean rowers, runners, kayakers and photographers. Even the lectures have been set up like a marathon. Each adventurer is given a slide limit of 20 for their presentations, which automatically change to the next slide every 20 seconds.

But the events, which take place across the UK, also involve ‘the spirit of giving’. Money raised at the lecture series will help the charity Hope and Homes for Children, which helps children in Sierra Leone. For more information visit the Hope and Homes website.