Alastair Humphreys
About
Alastair Humphreys, a British adventurer and author, was chosen as one of National Geographic's Adventurers of the Year for 2012. He has traveled through more than 80 countries on foot, by boat, and by bicycle.
He achieved the 20-mile ‘Yorkshire Three Peaks’ challenge when he was nine years old. At age 13, he conquered the ‘National Three Peaks’ in 24 hours. He rode across England off-road at the age of 15.
Alastair studied at the University of Edinburgh and Oxford and taught in South Africa for a year after graduating from college. During his college, he cycled from Pakistan to China, Land’s End to John O’Groats, Turkey to Italy, Mexico to Panama and across South America.
He began his first expedition at the age of 24 in August 2001 from his Yorkshire home, travelled from Cape Town, South Africa, across Europe and Africa, across the Atlantic Ocean to South America, up the west coast of the Americas, across the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to Magadan, Russia, via Japan, and finally across China and Central Asia to reach Europe.
His journey included raising funds and awareness for a charity called Hope and Homes for Children.
He arrived home in November 2005, after 4 years of cycling around the world with 46,000 miles (74,000 km) through 60 countries and 5 continents.
More recently, Alastair has walked across southern India, rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, run six marathons through the Sahara desert, completed a crossing of Iceland, busked through Spain and participated in an expedition in the Arctic, close to the magnetic North Pole.
He has trekked 1000 miles across the Empty Quarter desert and 120 miles round the M25 – one of his pioneering microadventures - short, local, accessible adventures.
Alastair has focused on his microadventures, encouraging people to get out and experience more adventure in their hectic lives. He has worked with clients including National Geographic, Talisker, Peugeot, Skoda, easyJet, Cartier, Victorinox, Vodafone, GoPro and Adidas on this movement.
In 2013, Alastair released his first documentary film, ‘Into the Empty Quarter’, documenting his walk through the Empty Quarter desert with Leon McCarron which premiered at the Royal Geographical Society, London, in November 2013.
In 2020, Humphreys appeared on the podcast Trees A Crowd.
Alastair has published 12 books and he is a great photographer and videographer.
Awards and Accomplishments
Awards and Accomplishments
- In 2009, he rowed across the English Channel with Major Phil Packer to raise £1 million for Help for Heroes, a British charity.
- Winner of the ALCS Educational Writers’ Award – the UK’s only award for creative educational writing.
- Winner of the 2019 Ordnance Survey Children’s Travel Book of the Year.
- Long-listed for the Blue Peter Book Award 2019.
- Short-listed for the Teach Primary Book Awards 2019.
- Alastair’s book, Microadventures, was an Amazon UK Top 20 Bestseller for all books.
- Alastair’s book, Grand Adventures reached Number 8 for all books on Amazon UK.
- He is a patron of the charity Hope and Homes for Children, the Youth Adventure Trust, the Outdoor Swimming Society, and the Yorkshire Dales Society.
- He is a life member of the John Muir Trust, the Woodland Trust, the National Trust, a supporter of Trees for Cities, and donates at least 1% of his income to environmental charities.
Why Alastair Humphreys ?
Alastair has spent years tackling adventures that are simple but not easy and values the crucial difference between those two words. Though he tells stories and shares experience from all around the world, Alastair takes care to emphasise that he is a normal person; audiences therefore relate to him exceptionally well. Audiences are energised by Alastair’s stories and the room hums with the positive chatter of resolutions and determination to begin something new and audacious.
