Adventure Travel Online

A vegan hiker is walking New Zealand’s longest trail - the Te Araroa – to prove that non-meat-eaters can be hardcore too.

Paul Goodsell, who’s 25, is throwing in the business shirt to walk the 3,000km trail, which he thinks will take five to six months to complete.

“I’m doing the walk to raise awareness of animal rights and veganism,” says Paul, who’s been vegan for about seven months and was vegetarian for 3.5 years before that. “I want to show the naysayers and the fence sitters that physically demanding activities are well within reach of those on a plant-based diet. And you can’t get much more ethical and socially conscious than walking 3,000km on a vegan diet.

Reader picture of the week is back, and what better way to get us in to the swing of things than this superb picture from the Isle of Rum, taken by 18-year-old James Trickey.

“I took the picture on a 25-day solo cycle trip from Cheltenham to the north of Scotland armed with a tent, exploring on the way the western islands of Arran, Mull and Rum,” says James. “I needed to escape and have some adventure for a month, after the rigours of exams!”

“Rum’s a really small island – about eight miles round the edge, but it has a wealth of different landscapes and fascinating geology. This picture is one of the islands two bothies - Guirdil Bothy on the west coast (the other is at Dibidil in the south of the island).

Doesn’t this look fun? It’s four soldiers on an army alpine mountaineering expedition, and the picture was taken by Damon Blackband who was leading the trip.

“The picture was taken on the Glacier du Tacul near Chamonix,” says Damon.

“The stars of the photo are Nath, Jim, Brian and Mav, who are all instructors at the infantry training centre in Catterick, North Yorkshire.”

Damon’s a bit good at all this photography – he won our comp recently with another jumping picture that you can see here. If you think you can do better than him, send your pictures to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . If we feature your photo you’ll win a free year’s subscription to Adventure Travel magazine. Reading in the bath will never be the same again.

A Yorkshireman who hasn’t ridden a bike since his paper-round days is embarking on a charity cycle ride to his childhood home in Rotherham from his new home in Gibraltar.

In a bid to raise money for cancer charities in both countries, IT worker Andrew Fitzgerald will start the 1,560-mile journey on 4 September.

“My friends think I’m insane,” says Andrew, whose Mum has recovered from breast cancer. “But my aim is just to prove that an average Joe like me can put himself in the saddle and go. I don’t have a physiotherapist, nutritionist, fitness instructor or guides – it’s just me and a bike.”

“Thanks to advances in technology, my mum is still here today and if my efforts can help further the research of cancer specialists, it would be wonderful,” he continues. “It will be very tough, but the researchers and the sufferers are the heroes. This cycle ride is nothing compared to what they do.”

Two doctors are cycling from London to Cape Town to raise awareness of the lack of health workers in Africa.

Dr Reza Noori and Dr Hannah Welstead are departing on the trip next month, when they will have both completed their second years of post-graduate training, and hope to be back within a year to continue their study when they get back.

“Cycling across the African continent will provide a unique access to remote areas and a close-up perspective on the reality of life in the countries crossed,” says Reza.

“It offers the additional benefit of being entirely ‘green’, and will hopefully make us more approachable as visitors.”

Hello and happy Friday. The suspense is unbearable. It’s the final round of ‘what’s in Bryn’s bag?’ (I know, it’s sad) – the almost-legendary quiz game where you stand a chance of winning £180-worth of Eagle Creek kit. The pressing question is, which two items am I going to put into the rucksack today? All will be revealed… after this ad break. Don’t go away.

‘What’s in Bryn’s bag?’ has been running for three weeks. The aim of the game is to record everything I put in my splendid Eagle Creek rucksack – it’s called a Twist 65L. It’s very nifty as it even has wheels.

I’m not going to tell you the first four items that have gone in (there will be six in total after today). That would be too easy. But I might give you a significant hint. If you click here, or maybe here, you might find the answer.

And so, welcome back. Glad you could join us. I can see you’re on the edge of your seats, Ladeez and Gents, as the first item is moving towards the bag. What could it be? Yep, someone in the front row got it right – it’s the Wallaby toiletry kit. Oooooh.

The Isle of Wight loves its festivals and a goodie coming up is the week-long cycling festival on 18-26 September.

The festival will offer around 50 guided bike rides across the island (over half of which is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, don’tcha know), ranging from ‘teddy bears picnic at the farm’ (under eights only) to the ‘cycle the Wight – 1’ – a 70-mile trip round the island’s cycle route. And everything in between.

The festival launch on Saturday 18 September will see stunt displays and coaching for the public if you want to have a crack at some acrobatics yourself, and the infamous Sink or Swim cycle race, where participants build floating bikes and attempt to cycle across the river.

Here at Adventure Travel HQ I spend most of my time deciding what I most want to do in the world ever, and then changing my mind. It’s because people always tell me about fun things. I’m like a kid watching adverts on the telly. Put it in front of me and I want it, or I want to do it.

When we were working on the May/June edition of Adventure Travel, for example, I knew the next place I was going to go was Patagonia. No questions. Finishing off July/August, my life-long ambition switched to climbing Kili. And now, and I never thought I’d say this, I want to go for a flying lesson.

It’s because the people at ExElement got in touch to tell me about their treats. ExElement is a company that offers all kinds of extreme sports courses and experiences, from zorbing to driving experiences, and one of them is flying lessons. Can you imagine the feeling of freedom? The terror of that first lift off the runway? Swooshing round the airy playground that’s the sky?

Er, actually, maybe I’d be no good with the terror. The thought of it’s making me go green. But I’m not one to disappoint. It would be wrong not to have a go at a flying lesson and report back to the readership. And that’s why, selflessly, I’ve delegated the task. To the work experience boy. He’ll be reporting on his 60-minute two-seater flying lesson in a couple of weeks.

Been to a festival this summer and in the mood for more? Beginning to think about your ski trip for next year? If you answered yes to one or both, the Big Snow Festival in Andorra may be the answer.

The Big Snow Festival made its debut in March 2010, featuring DJ sets in the snow from Pendulum, Calvin Harris and Judge Jules. Now tickets are on sale for next year's event, which will be from 13-20 March 2011.

“Arinsal is Andorra’s premier ski resort and in March it played host to hundreds of festival goers and seven solid days of mountainous music, snowboarding, fun and mayhem,” says Ian Kaye, the Big Snow Festival’s organiser.

“It’s proved to be a hit with festival goers and the resort alike, and we’re pleased to announce we’ll be back for years to come.”