The Final Account

Since I arrived back from completing this epic journey, I've heard a great many people telling me that they couldn't do what I had just done. Before I started, I had my own doubts about my ability to complete it, but looking back, it really wasn't that difficult. What this challenge boiled down to was perseverence rather than power, speed, athleticism or voodoo. For this reason, I strongly believe that anybody who really wants to and is prepared to put in the planning and forethought that it takes to minimse the risks, can achieve what I did in a similar time or less. So if you find yourself thinking "that sounds like great fun, I wouldn't mind having a go", I suggest that you follow through and try it, you might surprise yourself...

Or maybe I misrepresent the people who think that they couldn't do it. Maybe what they are really saying is "why would I want to do this ?" This is a far more difficult question to answer but one that maybe lies at the heart of how we see ourselves.

So, why did I want to do it ? Sure, there was the charity, but I could have raised that money by doing it in a less autrocratic way. The answer was, that I did it because I wanted to feel alive. To leave behind everyday life and pare it back to the basics by giving myself an absorbing task to channel my energy into. Through that absorbtion I was able to leave worries, work, plans and prospects behind and look at who I am, what I am and what I stand for, from a neutral perspective. I was lucky, I liked what I saw and came to realise that what I had put into my life and this particular challenge, had repaid me. I also realised how I had now become my father, my mother and all of my ancestors: a giver rather than a taker. There-in lies my satisfaction.