Step Green

Recently I went to London to look at a mountaineer photographers work from about a 100 years ago. His name was Vittorio Sella. Just to give you an idea of his character he attempted to climb down the Matterhorn at the age of 76, the trip was only abandoned because one of the guides broke his leg.

His work was beautiful but the collection on view at the Estorick gallery was limited. I would have been disappointed if I had spent more on my travel arrangements for the day. His finest photograph in my opinion is the Matterhorn. It is almost symbolic, a dark looming object of unimaginable proportions. At seeing this picture I decided I will travel there one day.

I found although I had a good time and it was a good learning experience, I would personally prefer to be the person out there taking the pictures looking upon these beautiful landscapes with my own two eyes.

As my visit to the gallery was shorter than expected I used the opportunity to look for some photographic shops. Although unsuccessful in finding an open shop I found an outdoors shop. I now own a brilliant pair of hiking trousers suitable for my longer expeditions.

In this spare time I visited the natural history museum. History being the ideal work for it as everything was dead in there. There were many bones from endangered and extinct animals. Upon seeing several stuffed big cats and the bones of several whales my heart started to feel saddened. These animals were probably killed for the sheer entertainment of screaming children and adults alike. I decided to leave at that point before I became even more disheartened.

Soon after this I left London on the bus, after waiting around for an hour for the driver to fix a flat battery. Thanks to a lovely Lithuanian girl the time seemed to fly by. She taught me some Lithuanian in that short time as well.

Viso Gero for now my friend…

Lonely Tree

I think I had a very productive day off, I walked 11 miles this afternoon after having a lovely lie in.  I also managed to get this wonderful picture of a lonely lovers tree on Cleeve Hill.

I also found that I need to get a compass, new combats with big pockets and a water pack for my bag sooner rather than later.  If it wasn’t for some very big radio masts I would of probably carried on walking for another 5 miles before I realised I was going the wrong way.

Recently I emailed Jason Lewis regarding my expedition with some questions and he was kind enough to take the time to reply to my questions.  Here is what I asked him.

What kept you motivated whilst you were traveling such extreme distances?
When there was very little change in surroundings, like on the Atlantic ocean leg, we set little mini-targets in the tangible future to motivate ourselves towards. These ‘psychological carrot’s, as we called them, might be a cup of tea and a chocolate at the end of a two hour pedal shift, or a nip of Scotch every five degree line of longitude we crossed, and helped to break up the massive distance to Miami. A target 4,000 miles away, where not much changes in between, is a hard one to stay focused on.

What is the most useful piece of kit you had when you were traveling?
Probably a small bottle of iodine, for purifying water in developing countries. And a head torch.

What should I bear in mind when walking long distances?
I never walked very far with Expedition 360 - nothing like what you’re taking on. But assuming the principle for any human powered locomotion is the same (slow and monotonous), I’d have thought that breaking the journey down into smaller chunks, or stages, will be important, so as not to get disillusioned by the seeming lack of progress on a day to day basis. And the key to success will be connected to how adaptable you are to unforeseen circumstances; how ready you are to change plans and go in a completely different direction (metaphorically speaking) if need be. Preconceptions can be dangerous.

How are you earning a living now you are back from your traveling?
Being creative. Trying to write a book living as cheaply as possible.

What is it like to settle back down after traveling for so long?
Very hard. One of the problems about removing oneself for so many years from any one cultural base is the concept of ‘home’ becomes blurry. I don’t know where home is anymore. I have friends all over, but not in one physical location. I think everyone has a need for an anchor line to local community, and although family still live in the UK, I can’t really say that the UK feels local anymore. So I’m still working on that one.

I for one am looking forward to what he releases when he has finished writing it.   I hope you will check him out as well.  His website is www.expedition360.com

My new walking boots

If my walking boots still look pristine like this in 12 months then I will be ashamed, as I will obviously of not have walked far enough!

Finally got paid on Friday, after a very long wait.  Meaning that I could buy some new walking boots.  This is great news for me because now I can start walking for longer distances in the evenings and soon the weekends.  Which brings me to the other good news, I will soon only be working 5 days a week.  This opens up the weekends to start getting some longer walks in.  I hope to be able to start camping as well at the weekends with in the next 6 weeks.

Whilst on the theme of inspirational figures I would like to share with you Jason Lewis.  In 2007 he completed the first ever human powered circumnavigation of the earth, he used bicycles, in-line skates, kayaks, swimming, rowing, walking and a pedal boat to travel over 45,000 miles.  This is truly an astonishing feat.  I hope that I can have the pleasure of meeting him some day.

If you want to find out more about his project then you can visit:

www.expedition360.com

This guy has to be a real idol to me.  He is currently trekking along the Amazon river, from source to mouth.  Which I cannot describe to you how impossibly hard it must be.  Its truly incredible! If you haven’t heard of it then go on his website and support him anyway you can!

www.walkingtheamazon.com

I must try and meet him when he gets back and personally thank him for lighting a fire under my arse to get me started on my longer distance walking project.

Photographic

• Camera body
• Camera lens
• Tripod legs
• Tripod head
• Lens cleaner
• Lens cloth
• 3 camera batteries
• 3 memory cards
• Camera strap
• Tripod strap
• UV Filter
• Camera battery charger
• Paper pad
• Pencil/Pen
• Sealable plastic bags
• Duct tape

Travel

• Combats/shorts
• Waterproof trousers
• Rucksack
• Base layer (top)
• Insulation layer (top)
• Waterproof coat
• Walking socks
• Walking boots
• Bumbag w/ money
• Plastic bags

Sleeping

• Tent
• Sleeping bag
• Sleeping mat
• Sleeping socks
• Sleeping bottoms
• Sleeping top
• Lantern

Location

• Map
• Compass
• Whistle
• Mobile
• Mobile charger

Hygiene

• Trowel
• Toilet role
• Towel
• Soap bar
• Tooth brush
• Tooth paste
• Antihistamines
• Antiseptic wipes
• Plasters
• Thermal blanket
• Bandages
• Paracetamol

Nutrition (Trips in the UK wont have to worry too much about food and water.)

• Energy bars
• Lightweight food
• Waterpack
• Stove
• Gas
• Pan
• Spoon
• Survival matches
• Tool

I now have two jobs and I am working seven days a week now.  It is unlikely that I will get a day off for atleast 2 - 3 weeks.  I am going to hand my notice in for my weekend job but it is going to be a hard slog until I finish that job, after talking to my manager I have found that I will have to give 4 weeks notice.

Training wise I plan to walk an hour each day Monday to Friday as my week day job is office bound and I can see myself getting out of shape quite easily if I dont exercise at all.  At the weekends before my shift starts I will go for longer walks in the mornings.

Next update will hopefully be either an equipment list for my short to medium trips and a route planned out for the Cotwolds walk.

Currently I plan to walk:

1. Cotwolds (training trip*),
2. Norfolk Broads (training trip*),
3. Pembrokeshire Coast (training trip*),
4. Isle of Man (promotional trip**),
5. Ireland (First long distance trip***),
6. UK (Lands End to John O’Groats***).

All these trips are to raise awareness in sustainability issues through the use of photography, and the simple fact I will be walking such long distances.

* The training trips are aimed  to improve my knowledge of navigation, photography, camping and general survival skills.  I do of course have to plan these trips around work and after I have all my essential equipment.  I will release the images via the website for public viewing.

** The promotional trip is aimed at getting sponsors for the long distance walks I plan to undertake.  This time I will release the images in an ebook downloadable for free from the Step Green website.  This will serve as a sample for the possible publications I could produce from the long distance walks.

*** The long distance walks will hopefully start in 2009 after some considerable training and planning.  The fruits of these trips will be photographic books of each country I cross by foot.