Adventure without £££ $$$

[Galway Bay]

In a recent post I said my heart was still in the days when Wharrams were built simply quickly and cheaply. Three ways of saying the same thing really.  Here is a link to a voyage that I just love. I love these guys ! And the singing lady ! It is not all about Owning The Perfect Boat ? Across Europe in a paperboat Not a Wharram in sight but perhaps lots of wharram spirit ? We might collect a few more links here for inspiration or long evenings ?

[Shaun]

Hey guys,

Further to the underlaying ethos of this particular thread and especially this paragraph of the quote;

"The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed".

I would like to share with you all a small glimpse into the world of two people for whom I have the utmost respect, admiration, and a deep desire to live up to the benchmark they have set, for the most part unintentionally as they have simply lived their lives according to their beliefs and needs.

They are my Uncle and Aunty, Roger and Barbara, ever since I can recall they have adventured far and wide, on big white water rivers, true wilderness backpacking for weeks at a time, back country snow skiing for weeks at a time, walking/backpacking through places like the northern islands of Japan, again for weeks if not months at a time.

The first big journey I am aware off was when my grand parents came to Australia as ten pound Poms looking for a better life, my Uncle was about seventeen. When he reached the age of, I think around twenty one, he decided he would go home to Wales, however he had very little or no money, so he simply loaded the two panniers on the front forks, tied his tin cup to the handlebars and set off.

Australia to Singapore, ferry across to the Malay Peninsular and then cycled for two years all the way back to Wales U.K. Grew a bushy beard along the way and I have never seen him without it, looks a lot like a Continental Indian on the river Ganges. This took place somewhere near the 50,s I guess.

A week or so ago, they returned to Australia from a push bike journey around Europe somewhere, they were gone for about six months, they've been doing this roughly every five years or so. They were doing their usual remote camping, traveling on their tandem bicycle and simply living simply.

Big, big, big adventure without the need for a huge amount of cash.

They are both in the region of eighty to eighty five years of age!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we need to take to heart the words of the quote presented by Paul, we need to embrace the basic desire that drew us to the Wharram designs and design philosophy and we need to look around, find an empty horizon and chase it.

I can almost guarantee that if or when we reach our mid eighties and we look back at the horizons over which we travelled, we will smile and we will consider every mile, every bump, every challenge, the most rewarding of adventures.

If we don't chase that horizon, I can almost guarantee that if we make it to our eighties we will read of the adventures of others and cry for the fact we never knew it, we never did it, we never lived it.

We are collectively owning, building and dreaming of one of the worlds best designed, in my opinion, vessels to take us to those horizons, see you out there!

Cheers,
Shaun

[paul anderson]

What an inspirational story boyo, you have it in yer blood. I remember cycling thru England to Abergevenny in Wales. Those in the valleys said to watch out for those in the hills and vice versa ;-)

[dennis schneider]

Glenn Tieman said:

Hi Jake, I've been at Pohnpei in Micronesia for three years replacing manu lele's rotting crossbeams, platform and mizzen mast among other things. In only three weeks now I'm sailing for SE Asia though finally.

I had a thought on this discussion as well. The first piece about the paper boat was charming but not really without the $$$, considering its a motorboat trip, not a sail in sight. The foundation of attempting to be self- sufficient is getting rid of the internal combustion engine imho.