Category Archives: Constructive Ranting

Ride Earth content round up

By Andy | Published: March 17, 2011
Thankyou everyone who has followed the journeys. Tom and I rode together from England to Georgia (07-08) and then I rode from the Georgia to India and across Nepal (08-09). In 2010 Tom and I brough the project to it’s logical conclusion and rode across Mongolia (2010). Now the journey has finished under the Ride [...]
Posted in Constructive Ranting | Leave a comment

New Blog – www.slowquest.co.uk

By Andy | Published: March 4, 2011
I’ve moved my blog to http://www.slowquest.co.uk. Cheers Andy
Posted in Constructive Ranting | Leave a comment

Guest Post – People 1 Government 0: The Great Forest Sell-Off Fiasco

By Andy | Published: March 1, 2011
Whilst we were all going about our daily lives, it transpires that a few over eager politicians were busy plotting a mass sell off of the UK’s state owned woodland. In doing so not only would they be placing the country’s woodland into the hands of private companies, who almost certainly wouldn’t have our best [...]
Posted in Constructive Ranting | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Connoisseurship & Criticism

By Andy | Published: February 26, 2011
More than ever recently I’ve been coming across the idea of connoisseurship which is, applied to western society, about rather than owning more stuff, becoming a critic of the quality of owned things & consumables. Education involves more than gaining and exercising technical knowledge and skills. It depends on us also cultivating a kind of [...]
Also posted in Expedition Journal | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Travel Photography

By Andy | Published: February 18, 2011
Whilst in Istanbul early on in the Ride Earth bike trip, I stayed with a German photographer. He told me a couple of things about photograpy. He said “you have to shoot something which is more than just something to show people at home.”  “You have to capture the idea behind the image”.
Posted in Constructive Ranting | Leave a comment

My interpretation of Goat’s email from Riding the Spine (America by Mountain bike)

By Andy | Published: February 14, 2011
I contacted Goat from the ridingthespine.com team because I am planning to do a similar trip in a couple of years time. Goat and two friends rode the Great Divide Mountain bike route from Alaska down to Mexico and then rode off road routes all the way down the mountains of South America. I haven’t [...]
Posted in Constructive Ranting | Tagged | 2 Comments

Pythagorean Wisdom

By Andy | Published: February 14, 2011
I often wrote down snippets of wisdoms in my diary if I came across them on my travels. This is one which I feel is particularly useful at the moment. From the Pythagoras verses. “Assess the days activities and reproach, rejoice them. Go through what one has done and assess the ethics, actions.”
Posted in Constructive Ranting | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Istanbul Markets

By Andy | Published: February 10, 2011
Everywhere you turn, Istanbul is a visual, auditory and olfactory feast. The waft of grilled meat, tobacco smoke, and the smell of roasting chestnuts. Children running and shouting, sellers touting their wares, men sitting, drinking tea and chain-smoking.
Also posted in Expedition Journal | 1 Comment

A to Z of Food in London – G is for Georgia

By Andy | Published: February 4, 2011
I recently received an email from the master of misguided, madcap adventures, Mr Al Humphreys to go and devour some delectable Georgian cuisine in a little known restaurant in North London as part of his and Tom the Hungry Cyclist’s A-Z of London food project. They had got to G, and lunch had been F [...]
Posted in Constructive Ranting | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Magnetic, Growth and Inspiring Experiences – The Couchsurfing Mission Statement

By Andy | Published: February 3, 2011
I was looking at the mission statement over at Couchsurfing and I think that it has some incredibly important messages: I quote from (http://www.couchsurfing.org/about.html/mission) “The Kinds of Experiences We Create In terms of our mission, there are a couple of basic types of experiences CouchSurfers can have. “Magnetic Experiences” help us attract the greatest number [...]
Posted in Constructive Ranting | Leave a comment

City Cycling

By Andy | Published: February 1, 2011
I am now a cyclist in the city of London. I regularly find myself zipping along the streets of concrete beside pavement walkers avoiding black taxis and people driving aggressively but I love to cycle in the city. There is a great sense of independence and freedom from winding through the mazes of the back [...]
Posted in Constructive Ranting | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Sustainment and naturalised technological instincts

By Andy | Published: January 31, 2011
Sustainability is the idea of saving the planet whilst maintaining the same everyday routine and pretty much keeping things as normal. Sustainability is about solving the problems of environmental catastrophe by reducing the environmental impact of industry, while keeping the same economic status quo which marches on with the impossible aim of infinite growth with [...]
Posted in Constructive Ranting | Leave a comment

On the RGS Stand at the Adventure Travel Live show this weekend

By Andy | Published: January 25, 2011
“Adventure Travel Live is the one stop shop for anyone planning an off-the-beaten-track travel adventure. The show is packed with inspiration and travel advice that will help you to uncover the journey of a lifetime, from small group adventures, wildlife encounters, trekking, family adventures, career breaks, safaris, overland expeditions, volunteering, gap years and much more.
Posted in Constructive Ranting | Tagged | 1 Comment

Future living

By Andy | Published: January 24, 2011
I am planning a project as part of my Goldsmiths MA Design Critical Practice course which will involve setting up an ‘experimental’ future-proof, environmentally no-impact dwelling space & everyday activities. I am provisionally looking to lay the foundations of this plan during the summer of this year as  it will give time to get an [...]
Posted in Constructive Ranting | Leave a comment

Chapters 1 – 10 of my Ride Earth book now available for reading on Autonomy

By Andy | Published: January 14, 2011
I’ve now posted chapters 1 to 10 on the website Autonomy (a community of book readers). I’m looking forward to your comments. So far I’ve received some very positive ones! Thank you! This is my first attempt at writing a book and it’s probably been the single largest, but one of the most natural feeling, [...]
Posted in Constructive Ranting | Leave a comment