Patrick Leigh Fermor: The man who walked

Catching up on Alastair Humphreys blog I was inspired to do a little reading up on Patrick Leigh Fermor and stumbled upon one of the best news paper articles I've read in a long time. It's long, well written and chuck full of interesting facts and details.

Patrick Leigh Fermor: The man who walked - Telegraph: "Patrick Leigh Fermor: The man who walked"

There is a great overview on Fermor on wikipedia, a good introduction, but most of the details come from the article anyway.

Sir Patrick 'Paddy' Michael Leigh Fermor DSO OBE (born 11 February 1915, London) is a British author, scholar and soldier, who played a prominent role behind the lines in the Battle of Crete during World War II. He is famous for his travel writing and is widely regarded as "Britain's greatest living travel writer".

His books

• The Traveller's Tree (1950)
• The Violins of Saint-Jacques (1953)
• A Time to Keep Silence (1957)
• Mani - Travels in the Southern Peloponnese (1958)
• Roumeli (1966)
• A Time of Gifts (1977)
• Between the Woods and the Water (1986)
• Three Letters from the Andes (1991)
• Words of Mercury (2003) edited by Artemis Cooper

The Thames Ring 250, the UK's longest non-stop running race

Via: Alastair Humphreys – The UK’s longest ever non-stop running race, the Thames Ring 250

The UK’s longest ever non-stop running race is the Thames Ring 250. 250 miles, to be completed within 100 hours. Nearly ten marathons in four-and-a-bit days…
In wonderfully understated British style, the Thames Ring doesn’t even have a website. You can see the route map here and some photos here from this magnificently understated, yet heroic challenge.
I went along to the start of the race in the unlikely surroundings of Streatley Village Hall in Berkshire. Here’s a 90-second video of what I found.