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'Agile, wryly funny and wise' Robert Macfarlane A search for nearby nature and wildness After years of expeditions all over the world, adventurer Alastair Humphreys spends a year exploring the detailed local map around his home. Can this unassuming landscape, marked by the glow of city lights and the hum of busy roads, hold any surprises for the world traveller or satisfy his wanderlust? Could a single map provide a lifetime of exploration? Discovering more about the natural world than in all his years in remote environments, he learns the value of truly getting to know his neighbourhood. An ode to slowing down, Local is a celebration of curiosity and time spent outdoors, as well as a rallying cry to protect the wild places on our doorstep. Read more Continue reading Read less REVIEW "Agile, wryly funny and wise.
About the Author
Alastair Humphreys FRGS
Aged 8, Alastair completed the 26 mile Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge. At 13 he did the National 3 Peaks in 24 hours. At 14 he cycled off-road across England. After leaving school Alastair taught for a year in South Africa and travelled round the region.
Whilst at Edinburgh and Oxford Universities he undertook several expeditions, cycling from Pakistan to China (Karakoram Highway) , Land's End to John O'Groats, Turkey to Italy, Mexico to Panama and across South America. Alastair ran a charity project in the Philippines and the London marathon dressed as a rhino.
After Oxford Alastair cycled round the world for 4 years.
He has raced a yacht across the Atlantic Ocean and canoed 500 miles down the Yukon River as well as walking the length of the holy Kaveri river in India.
Alastair ran the Marathon des Sables, finishing as one of the ten fastest Brits despite breaking his foot during the race. He has rowed to France with Major Phil Packer, a soldier paralysed in Iraq.
To fight off the wanderlust back home Alastair managed a sub-3-hour marathon, had a miserable time during the Original Mountain Marathon, the Devizes to Westminster 120-mile canoe marathon and another one during Tough Guy. Travelling round the World Cup in a camper van was much more fun.
Alastair has published three books, with one more due by the end of 2009. (He has also written chapters for Lonely Planet's 'Flightless' anthology, the Adventure Cycling Handbook, Stanorama and The Traveller's Handbook) .
After spending a year teaching 10-year-old boys in a school's Special Needs department, Alastair is now training for the Bob Graham Round and preparing for SOUTH, the first unsupported return journey to the South Pole and the longest unsupported polar journey in history.
Alastair pays the bills through public speaking, fulfilling a long ambition in 2008 by speaking to a full house at the Royal Geographical Society.
