“A solid six hours’ sleep makes quite a difference. I feel human again. Yesterday’s ride was spoilt by just one thing—the most horrendous cross-winds that I have ever experienced. For much of the trip I had to hang on tightly and battle to keep the bike on the correct side of the road. In addition, the gusts kept forcing my head sideways, so, even today, the left side of my neck is aching. My arms also feel pretty sore.
The interesting thing about this is that I wouldn’t have it any other way (and neither, I expect, would Brigid)! We could easily have come by car, had an easier trip, arrived sooner, and felt far less damaged; but it still feels right. I guess this is a contingency of A SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE. I’m not sure that anyone in human history has ever embarked upon an adventure because they thought that it might be more comfortable than staying at home, planting lupins. Think of Andreas Hinterstoisser! Think of Francis Chichester! Think of Louis Blériot! None of them did what they did for comfort. There was always a challenge, a faith-step, and the hope of a worthwhile achievement.
I wonder, if Andreas Hinterstoisser* could have been interviewed post-mortem, if he would have expressed any regrets, other than at having pulled down the rope at the traverse that now bears his name. I think that he would still have chosen mountaineering over gardening.
In my rock climbing and mountain rescue days, I was fully aware that what I was doing was dangerous. I knew exactly what I needed to do in order to avoid the danger—stop; do something else, something safer, something like reading or darts. But I didn’t. I’ve always been a keen recreational reader, but, for me, that could never replace actually going out and doing stuff that was challenging”.
I get frustrated with people who confuse adventurous with foolhardy. They are two very different concepts. Adventurers do not have a death-wish! Adventure is conducted in the light of due consideration of the risks involved, taking steps to minimise danger, and planning how to survive if things go wrong. Sarah Outen—whose rowing boat foundered in a storm in the North Pacific last year, interrupting her human-powered journey round the world—was rescued, not because of luck, but because she had ensured that she had good equipment and that there were back-up and rescue teams on standby who knew where to find her if things went wrong. That’s not foolhardy! That’s responsible.
Long live mankind’s SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE!
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!
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*Andreas Hinterstoisser, with his three companions, died in July 1936 in an attempt to climb the Eiger Nordwand.