A Financial Times Summer Book of 2019

 Seasoned adventurer Alastair Humphreys pushes himself to his very limits - busking his way across Spain with a violin he can barely play.

 In 1935 a young Englishman named Laurie Lee arrived in Spain. He had never been overseas; had hardly even left the quiet village he grew up in. His idea was to walk through the country, earning money for food by playing his violin in bars and plazas.

 Nearly a century later, the book Laurie Lee wrote - As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - inspired Alastair Humphreys. It made him fall in love with Spain - the landscapes and the spirit - and with Laurie's style of travel. He travelled slow, lived simply, slept on hilltops, relished spontaneity, and loved conversations with the different people he met along the hot and dusty road.

 For 15 years, Alastair dreamed of retracing Laurie Lee's footsteps, but could never get past the hurdle of being distinctly unmusical. This year, he decided to go anyway. The journey was his most terrifying yet, risking failure and humiliation every day, and finding himself truly vulnerable to the rhythms of the road and of his own life. But along the way, he found humility, redemption and triumph. It was a very good adventure.

My Midsummer Morning - Rediscovering a Life of Adventure

'Enthusiastic, pleasingly madcap' Geographical

 Adventure - something that's new and exhilarating, outside your comfort zone. Adventures change you and how you see the world, and all you need is an open mind, bags of enthusiasm and boundless curiosity.

 Recommended for viewing on a colour tablet.

 So what's a GRAND ADVENTURE - it is the most life-changing, career-enhancing, personality-forging, fun adventure of your life.

 Following on from his popular Microadventures, in Grand Adventures Alastair Humphreys shines a spotlight on the real-life things that get in the way: stuff like time, money or your other commitments. Grand Adventures is also crammed with hard-won wisdom from people who have actually been there and done that: by boat and boot, car and kayak, bicycle and motorbike. People who had one epic trip then returned to normal life, or who got bitten so badly by the bug that they devoted their life to the pursuit of adventure. Young people, old people. Men, women. Mates, couples, families. Extraordinary, inspiring people. People like you.

 Saving your pennies, overcoming inertia, generating momentum, getting out the front door: if you want it enough, you can do it.

 Tiny steps to a grand adventure.

 Are you in?

Grand Adventures

L'aventure consiste simplement à faire quelque chose que vous n'avez jamais fait - le faire avec enthousiasme et curiosité : faire quelque chose de difficile avec passion.

Parfois, tout ce dont vous avez besoin est de gravir une colline simple, de passer du temps à regarder un horizon vide, à sauter dans une rivière froide ou à dormir sous les étoiles, ou peut-être partager un whisky dans une petite auberge de pays afin de vous rappeler ce qui compte le plus à vous dans la vie.

La vie est trop brève et trop riche pour la pointe des pieds sans enthousiasme, plutôt que de galoper avec excitation et ambition de coqueluche.

Voir les opportunités d'aventures, pas les contraintes qui gênent.

Vous n'avez pas besoin de voler de l'autre côté de la planète pour trouver la nature sauvage et la beauté.

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