May 4, 2016
In 1908 the adventurer, explorer, cartographer, fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and occasional spy, Perceval Harrison Fawcett, visited the great sandstone plateaus of the Franco […]
March 8, 2013
7 March 2013 Last updated at 21:51 By Paul Rincon Science editor, BBC News website Russian scientists have claimed the discovery of a new type of […]
March 7, 2013
Theory is based on analysis of several different pieces of footage U.F.O. watchers claim object seen close by could be a U.F.O. They suggest alien ‘guardian […]
March 5, 2013
Only one wild creature has ever been sighted at the South Pole, a Southern Petrel; an opportunistic bird that was most likely sifting through the rubbish […]
February 27, 2013
As often happens with binary predicaments there turns out to be a third option. In the morning a stiff westerly breeze (appx 125 mph) clears the […]
February 26, 2013
Tuesday (pretty early) – it is now shortly before the time I was scheduled to be home in London as a returning hero. Instead I am […]
February 23, 2013
In the morning we take an early zodiac from the ship in the face of a wind that could cut glass, to visit the ‘icebergs graveyard’, […]
February 22, 2013
To Detaille Island, home to an eight man team from the British Antarctic Survey between 1956 and 1959. Like many other survey huts, this has been […]
February 20, 2013
On Tuesday morning we get the chance to visit what is possibly the closest thing to a tourist attraction in Antarctica. Port Lockroy was (and still […]
February 19, 2013
64 degrees South – Cueverville Island. This morning we will visit the Penguin colony of Cuerverville Island (as nothing in Antarctica possesses a ‘native’ name […]
February 18, 2013
Today will be a better day. Yesterday we left Punta Arenas early to make our good weather window. Two hours later we arrive at Frei Airbase, […]
February 17, 2013
This morning I take a trip to the Punta Arenas cemetery to witness the Chilean way of death in all of its splendour. Mausoleums of the […]
February 16, 2013
Today Punta Arenas is my oyster. Capital of the Magallanes region of Chile it sits on the Magellan Straits, a natural fracture dividing the South American […]
February 15, 2013
A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of […]
February 14, 2013
Twenty seven hours of travelling later and I am approximately two thirds of the way to my destination having arrived in Santiago – much as I’d […]
February 13, 2013
I am ridiculously excited to learn that I will be in Antarctica at the same time as Sir Ranulph Fiennes as he sets out to attempt […]
February 11, 2013
In 1914, on the eve of the first world war, the great adventurer, leader and Irishman, Sir Ernest Shackleton left England to undertake the Imperial Trans-Antarctic […]
April 3, 2011
A week on and I am still being struck by the ironies – the worst toilet on a 5,500 mile journey was in the arrivals hall […]
March 28, 2011
The vastness of Beijing airport makes Heathrow Terminal 5 look like a provincial bus station. Inside I watch the check-in crew line up for their formal […]
March 27, 2011
“Can we take your picture please?” She is about seventeen and accompanied by three generations of her family. Standing in the queue for the cable car […]
March 25, 2011
I am a little stunned to arrive in Beijing; it is quite the largest city I have been in since I left home. I am not […]
March 25, 2011
My eighth and final train takes me from Ulan Bator to Beijing. It is by far the most modern and well equipped train I have been […]
March 24, 2011
My last day in the camp and we are invited to visit the nomadic home of Bachka who lives nearby (at least he does at the […]
March 23, 2011
22nd March There are not many guests in the camp; apart from our guides there is Kevin, a fuel technician who lives in Alaska and works […]
March 23, 2011
21st March In preparation for arrival at Ulan Bator I get up at 5.00am and do the Indiana Jones thing over the open tracks to get […]
March 19, 2011
I spend the day in Irkutsk before catching the train that takes me to Ulan Ude and then over the Mongolian border to Ulaan Baatur. Irkutsk […]
March 18, 2011
The dog sledging centre is based in the valley high above Listvyanka in the heart of the pine forest. The centre is run by Natasha and […]
March 17, 2011
I disembark from the train at 6:15am at Irkutsk. In the last 24 hours the cabin next to mine has been occupied by two police officers […]
March 16, 2011
Today is my last full day on board the #2 Moscow-Vladivostok train and there is a touch of cabin fever in the air. The carriage is […]
March 15, 2011
Sometime during the night we passed over the Ural mountains and through Ekaterinberg (famous for being the birthplace of Boris Yeltsin and where the Tsar and […]
March 14, 2011
Train number six takes me from Moscow to Irkutsk and is the longest single leg of the journey. As I will spend four days on this […]
March 12, 2011
It’s Saturday morning and I have roughly 24 hours to “do” Moscow. My guide is Lena, a Muscovite schoolteacher who works part time as a tour […]
March 11, 2011
At 1am we cross the border into Belarus. The train attendants wake us up and the border guards come on board to check passports. There is […]
March 10, 2011
I have decided I like trains. Not in a geeky sort of way; I am hopefully a long way from wanting to stand at the end […]
