Alastair Humphreys is an English adventurer, author and motivational speaker. Over a four-year period he bicycled around the

world In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

. He was a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year in 2012. He is responsible for the rise of the idea of the microadventure – short, local, accessible adventures.

Biography

Humphreys studied at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. He began his first expedition in August 2001 from his

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

home. Passing south through Europe and Africa, he crossed to South America by sea from

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

and proceeded up the west coast of the Americas, crossed from

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

to Magadan in Russia, Japan then westward across China and Central Asia to return to Europe. His journey included raising funds and awareness for a charity called Hope and Homes for Children. Humphreys arrived home in November 2005, having ridden over in four years and three months. He has written several books about his experiences, titled ''Moods of Future Joys'', ''Ten Lessons from the Road'', ''Thunder and Sunshine'' and a series of three children's books called ''The Boy Who Biked the World''. Humphreys also wrote a book about walking across India called ''There Are Other Rivers''. Humphreys currently works as a motivational speaker and author. The President of the Royal Geographical Society said, "With the possible exception of Sir David Attenborough, that was the best lecture, and the longest applause that I have heard in the past 15 years." In 2008, Humphreys competed in the

Marathon des Sables ''Marathon des Sables'', or MdS, (French for Marathon of the Sands, also known as Sahara Marathon) "Facing Africa NOMA : The Marathon des Sables", FacingAfrica.org, 2010, webpage: -->pages/mds/default.asp FA8. is a six-day, ultramaratho ...

, a run across the

Sahara desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

. He broke his foot during the race but still completed the event. He narrowly missed being in the top-100 finishers. In February 2009, Humphreys rowed across the English Channel with Major Phil Packer to raise £1 million for

Help for Heroes Help for Heroes (H4H) is a British charity which provides lifelong recovery support to British Armed Forces service personnel who have been wounded or injured in the line of duty, and to their families, originally only since 11 September 2001, th ...

. In spring 2009, Humphreys walked across India, and in 2010 he walked and

packraft Packraft and trail boat are colloquial terms for a small, portable inflatable boat designed for use in all bodies of water, including technical whitewater and ocean bays and fjords. A packraft is designed to be light enough to be carried for extend ...

ed across Iceland. His 2011 "Year of Microadventure" earned him the National Geographic accolade of "Adventurer of the Year". Humphreys pioneered the concept and coined the term " microadventure" which has since gained him a global following. "#microadventure" is now used as a popular hashtag on

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

sites. In 2012 he joined

Marin Medak Marin Medak (born 1987) is a Slovenian adventurer. Medak is one of the youngest ocean rowing expedition leader and the first Slovenian to row across the Atlantic Ocean. Medak lives in Piran and is a student at the Faculty of electrical enginee ...

, Simon Osborne and Steve Bowens to row unsupported across the Atlantic Ocean. The team successfully finished their journey in Barbados after 45 days and 15 hours at sea. He also walked across the Empty Quarter desert with Leon McCarron and undertook an expedition in Greenland. In 2013, Humphreys released his first documentary film, ''Into the Empty Quarter'', documenting his walk through the Empty Quarter desert with Leon McCarron The film premiered at the Royal Geographical Society, London, in November 2013. In 2020, Humphreys appeared on the podcast

Trees A Crowd ''Trees A Crowd'' is a natural history podcast presented by actor David Oakes. Creation and reception of the podcast Oakes, as an environmentalist and an ambassador for the Woodland Trust and The Wildlife Trusts, started ''Trees A Crowd'' as a ...

Publications

* Alastair Humphreys, 2007. ''Moods of Future Joys: Around the World by Bike – Part 1''. Eye Books. . * Alastair Humphreys, 2007. ''Thunder and Sunshine: Around the World by Bike – Part 2''. Eye Books. * Alastair Humphreys, 2009. ''Ten Lessons from the Road''. Eye Books. * Alastair Humphreys, 2011. ''The Boy Who Biked the World: On the Road to Africa''. Eye Books. * Alastair Humphreys, 2011. ''The Boy Who Biked the World: Part Two: Riding the Americas''. Eye Books. * Alastair Humphreys, 2011. ''The Boy Who Biked the World: Part Three: Riding Home Through Asia''. Eye Books. * Alastair Humphreys, 2011. ''There Are Other Rivers: On Foot Across India''. Self Published. * Alastair Humphreys, 2014. ''Microadventures''.

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

. * Alastair Humphreys, 2016. ''Grand Adventures''.

. * Alastair Humphreys, 2018. ''Alastair Humphreys' Great Adventurers''. Big Picture Press. * Alastair Humphreys, 2019. ''Around the World by Bike''. Blink Publishing. (an audiobook compilation of ''Moods of Future Joys'' and ''Thunder and Sunshine'') * Alastair Humphreys, 2019. ''My Midsummer Morning: Rediscovering a Life of Adventure''.

. * Alastair Humphreys, 2019. ''The Doorstep Mile: Live More Adventurously Every Day''. Self Published. * Alastair Humphreys, 2020. ''A Notebook for Adventures: The Doorstep Mile''. Self Published. * Alastair Humphreys, 2020. ''A Notebook for Living Adventurously: Questions and Answers''. Self Published. * Alastair Humphreys, 2021. ''Ask an Adventurer''. Eye Books.

References

External links

Alastair Humphreys' Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Humphreys, Alastair Living people English male cyclists English explorers English travel writers Male touring cyclists Ultra-distance cyclists Cycling writers English non-fiction writers English motivational speakers Place of birth missing (living people) English male non-fiction writers British male bloggers Year of birth missing (living people)

Biography

Publications

See also

References

External links