Quotes from Alastair Humphreys

Life is too brief and too rich to tiptoe through half-heartedly, rather than galloping at it with whooping excitement and ambition.

Sometimes all you need is to climb a simple hill, to spend time staring at an empty horizon, to jump into a cold river or sleep under the stars, or perhaps share a whisky at a small country inn in order to remind yourself what matters most to you in life.

See the opportunities for adventures, not the constraints that get in the way.

Adventure is a loose word that means different things to different people. It is a state of mind, a spirit of trying something new and leaving your comfort zone. Adventure is about enthusiasm, ambition, open-mindedness and curiosity. If this is true, then 'adventure' is not only crossing deserts and climbing mountains; adventure can be found everywhere, every day, and it is up to us to seek it out.

But whenever you think, 'this is an exciting idea' and immediately follow that by thinking, 'this is a very stupid idea' then you know you are on to a good thing and that you will regret it if you wimp out.

But that was good enough for me, because adventure doesn't always have to be about climbing K2. Just getting out there and doing something is sometimes good enough. In fact, you shouldn't even compare your trip with climbing K2. You should compare it with the realistic alternative that faces most people with busy lives and tight diaries, which is doing no adventure at all.

I am far more interested in being a beginner than in trying to become an expert. Life is difficult and complicated for everyone - but it's very, very short.

I am busy. That phrase is the curse of our time. We are all busy, of course, but it's regarded as a boast, a badge of honour to be busy "I'm so busy! I've got 300 emails! Admire me!" Busy, busy, busy, all the bloody time. Being busy makes it difficult to find time for adventure, difficult to find time for ourselves and for some fallow time in the wilderness.

In a busy city it is easy to forget that somewhere out there are fields and rivers and peace.

diary that night: 'Lessons learned today: Don't make big decisions when tired, lonely, hungry, frightened, ill or at night.

It is always worth making a little effort to find a special spot to sleep because the memories and the smug Instagram photo last long after you've got your breath back. Bivvying

Start small, do what you do with enthusiasm and do it very well. Stick to that and growth will come.

Patagonia, like Mr Kipling, really does make exceedingly good lakes.

I realise how pleasant life can be if I stop thinking about it. It is much simpler to exist than to live.

I have discovered that coming up with an interesting plan (and committing to making it happen) is virtually all you need to do to guarantee an interesting, challenging and rewarding experience.

Living adventurously is nothing more than an attitude you charge at life with.

It is normal nowadays to spend most of our lives inside, temperature-controlled, light-switched, water-softened, air-freshened and double-glazed. We have become like babies in incubators, unable to survive in the world. I only sense the sterility of this when my situation is reversed and I spend so much time outside that going in feels strange once more. I am more at peace with myself and the world when I spend an extended period outdoors.

There lives and there leaps in me A love of the lowly things of earth, And a passion to be free. To pitch my tent with no prosy plan, To range and to change at will, To mock at the mastership of man, To seek Adventure's thrill, Carefree to be, as a bird that sings, To go my own sweet way. Robert Service

And although, snug in your sleeping bag on a frosty night, the valley below may be bright with street lights and roads, the wind is as raw and fresh as ever, and a night beneath the stars remains magical and precious.

It is like a kayaker approaching a rapid. Once he reaches the point of no return he just has to go for it and trust himself to cope with whatever may be thrown at him. I am on my way. There is no point worrying anymore. I feel a surge of release and remember why I put myself through all these agonies. I love the thrill of beginning new projects. It is a feeling that makes me sing out loud and feel like the luckiest man alive.

Thankfully there is a tiny sliver of my brain that fights back. Without it I would never do anything interesting.

Ikigai is the overlap of what you want to do, what you ought to do, and what you have to do.

A day working hard on a project I care about is a day well spent. Find something you love. Do it well. Do it a lot.

It feels good to carry my world on my back. I smile in the sunlight. I could travel and live this lightly forever, I remember as I get into my stride.