Category: Quotes

Ode to the eccentric adventurer!

On By James HandlonIn QuotesLeave a comment

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“But there are men for whom the unattainable has a special attraction. Usually they are not experts: their ambitions and fantasies are strong enough to brush aside the doubts which more cautious men might have. Determination and faith are their strongest weapons. At best such men are regarded as eccentric; at worst, mad…” Legendary Mountaineer – Walt Unsworth

I can particularly relate to this quote of late having suffered from my own amateurism during a little microadventure during which having hiked 15km to my wild camp spot of choice in the mountains to only then realised that my tent had dislodged itself from my backpack and was nowhere to be seen! Not a good scenario when confronted with only one hour of daylight and temperatures of no higher than -4°C to -6°C predicted for the night ahead.

Having to bail after 5-6 hours of walking and embarrassingly have to hitch a lift back to my start point and then drive back home to London with my tail between my legs I understand very clearly where good old Walt is coming from with this snippet of wisdom.

But the ‘unattainable has a special attraction’ to me so I will return and hike the same route again and take a new tent with me, and get it right this time.

People think I’m mad and probably quite eccentric but I have ambitions and fantasies that are strong enough to brush aside the doubts which more cautious men might have.

All power to the eccentric amateur adventurer I say!

Something more important than fear!

On By James HandlonIn Quotes4 Comments

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” – Ambrose Redmoon

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The late great Fredrik Ericsson ascending Laila Peak
“The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all!”

Revelation, a Visual Poem

On By James HandlonIn QuotesLeave a comment

Instead of an adventurous quote this week I am going for a visual feast by way of sebastien montaz-rosset’s inspiring little film entitled ‘Revelation, a Visual Poem’ both written and narrated by Charlotte Davis.

It is not the critic who counts

On By James HandlonIn Quotes1 Comment

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt