Huge congratulations to Jason Lewis, who yesterday arrived back in Greenwich after completing the first human-powered circumnavigation of the world. Especial admiration because his ambition nearly came unstuck early on in the journey, when he was hit by a car while rollerblading across the US, necessitating a lengthy stay in hospital and a lot of ironmongery to stick his legs back together. To continue a venture after such a major setback - wow, that takes guts.
I have not had the honour of meeting Jason, although I have met two of the people who accompanied him on various stages of his journey. Stevie Smith (who I will be seeing again, in Devon, tomorrow evening) was Jason's original partner - the two of them pedalled (yes, pedalled, not paddled - their boat was propelled by a bicycle-type mechanism) across the Atlantic and the first stage of the Pacific. Stevie wrote a very entertaining and inspiring account of their journey in his book, Pedalling to Hawaii.
And Sher Dhillon, who pedalled the same boat, Moksha, across the Indian Ocean with Jason, now lives in San Francisco and helped me pack my provisions into my boat before my aborted Pacific attempt earlier this year.
So we have only one degree of separation, and hopefully I'll get to meet Jason at some point. It would be surprising if our paths do not cross, as it is one of the perks of my 'job' that I get to meet people who have done all kinds of interesting things.
In the meantime, well done Jason, on a magnificent and epic achievement.
P.S. An update on the bean sprouter... thank you very much to all who were frantically Googling to find the mysterious square sprouter. As luck would have it (and what are the odds on this?!) I went to visit my dear friend Romy who has just moved into a property in the wilds of Wales, near the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth. She was showing me around one of her various barns, stacked high with her boxes of possessions, and there, perched on top of one of the boxes, was a seed sprouter - the exact same one I had been looking for. Spooky! That one was the Bergs Bio-Salad Sprouter, made in Germany, but does look very similar to the Being Fare sprouter suggested by a few people. But it was just so surprising and serendipitous to see it sitting there in a barn in Wales...
[photo: Jason Lewis]
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Further to my last blog, a lot of people have been asking for more information on beansprouts (with the notable exception of my friend Reprobate George, who cooked a fab beef curry last night, but not a sprout in sight...).
I do not claim to be an expert, so will point you in the direction of my beansprout sponsors, Sproutpeople of San Francisco. They provided me with bags of their Beanie, San Francisco and Peasant mixes, and a beansprouter.
Speaking of beansprouters, I am trying to find one like Emma's - a system of square, stackable trays with narrow drainage slots in the base. But unfortunately there was no manufacturer's name on it, and I am rarely online while I am on the road so haven't had time to search the internet for it.
Any information much appreciated!
[photo: my old beansprouter, made by Biosnacky, on board Sedna in mid-Atlantic]
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My tour of Britain continues with a visit to an old friend and his fiancee near the beautiful city of Bath in SW England. I met Mike when he was with Creative, who were one of the sponsors for my Peruvian expedition in 2003.
Last night Mike and I brainstormed a strategy for my website content (which will lead to some subtle changes over the coming months) while Emma, a freediver and former filmmaker, produced a delicious and healthy dinner. She shares my fetish for sprouting seeds, so we compared notes on best sprouters and principles of healthy eating.
Tonight I return to Oxford for a meeting with a new recruit to my team, then a drink with Lord Butler, the master of my former Oxford college. Tomorrow I am off to Bristol to see my reprobate friend George of the Atlantic 4 crew that competed in the Atlantic Rowing Race 2005.
All good fun stuff - a happy combination of business and pleasure.
[photo: another pic from the West Highland Way in Scotland]
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While I am back in the UK for a few weeks I've been making the most of the opportunity to catch up with some old friends, including some members of the Oxford Lightweights Eight that raced against Cambridge in 1989 (which now sounds a frighteningly long time ago).
On Sunday night I stayed with Penny (bow seat) in Hathersage in the Peak District. We compared aches and pains - me after the West Highland Way, she after the Great North Run half marathon. On Monday (after an interview with the Observer Sports mag - taking the form of a one-hour hike (ow) and lunch) I drove south to Oxford to stay with Briony (number seven seat). Next week I hope to drop in on Natalie on the south coast (number three seat).
We're all a few pounds heavier than in our lightweight days - I'm still trying to shift the extra pounds I gained in anticipation of major weight loss on the Pacific. It's a lot harder to lose it on dry land, especially as all this socialising seems to involve eating and drinking, so I'm aiming to work it off through exercise instead. It's not easy, when I'm staying in a different place every night and running is out of the question for now post-WHW. But I have my portable gym - a skipping rope and a bungee cord - and this morning I indulged at the Esporta Club in Oxford.
Where there's a will there's a way, and while there's wobble there's a will...
[photo: Oxford Lightweights 1989. I'm in the stroke seat.]
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