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Galicia Coast

Galicia, a mountainous region of Spain with a rugged coastline combining high cliffs (some of the highest in Europe) with beautiful sand beaches.

Great surfing and write up recommended here:

Away from the few populated areas you will find stretches of beach all to yourself, even in summer. Most breaks are beach/point breaks with a few reefs located in the N of Galicia and a good spot, Patos (close to Playa America) in the SW. Exploration will pay off whatever time of year. Climate can be frustrating in Winter especially with high winds and rainfall.

Earn the “Great Outdoors” badge. If this were karate, I’d be a black belt.

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Thriving on creative risk

Risk Management
Risk Management

A daring act starts with acknowledging risk, accepting the odds and managing a margin of error. Steve McQueen offers a unique trait to daring, namely how one noble decision to act can spur everyone else to follow his lead.

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Adventure Awaits

Bolivia

Stumbled upon a striking image on the Guardian site. It’s taken in Bolivia capturing the realism/fragility of a man women deep on a bike adventure. This kind of trip is the ultimate rite of passage. SEE: I’m green with envy —Charlie Boorman and Ewan McGregor style adventure.

The winning shot by Sheonagh Ravensdale: “A spot of bother on the main road between Uyuni and Oruro in Bolivia. A challenging ten hour ride that included 20km on this soft sandy road and several river crossings. But we made it – two women in our fifties on a 15,000 mile ride through South America.”

Caroline Hunter, deputy picture editor of Guardian weekend magazine, said: “I chose this as the winning image as to me it perfectly expresses a certain moment in time, which is what good photography is all about. It’s a candid behind-the-scenes reportage shot that reveals the realism and vulnerability involved in making a road trip when there is only oneself and the challenge of an open road ahead of you, until you reach that picture-perfect location that enticed you to make the trip in the first place.”

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James Marsh, Man on Wire

Don’t wobble when you reach the top. This new doc might well strike a chord for the audience, especially those desperately eager to establish ‘why’ and ‘how’ do you go about walking the wire across the 1970’s construction site of the Twin Towers. This was one of the most defining stunts every accomplished by a French climber.

Synopsis: August 7, 1974. A young French man named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire suspended between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. He danced on this wire for an hour with no safety net before he was arrested for what has become to be known as the “artistic crime of the century”.

“Man on Wire” is the perfect example of matching doc director to doc subject. French tightrope walker and juggler Philippe Petit became world-famous when he walked between the two World Trade Center towers, then under construction, on August 7, 1974 — a completely illegal if fantastic act that involved complex preparation and shook up New York City’s police department. (He had to cross back and forth several times to avoid the cops.) Petit had already achieved artistic notoriety for his feats at famous sites like Notre Dame in Paris, but to traverse the air space between what were then the world’s two tallest buildings? It’s not only his unbeatable skill, though, that makes Petit an ideal subject for a doc: He is a ball of fire, a fascinating egomaniac who engages you completely with his energy and confidence. Petit has written several books, including To Reach the Clouds, which recounts the feat in downtown Manhattan.

The full interview with British director James Marsh.

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K2 adventure

K2

“Exceptional natural intelligence and the incurable desire to climb the ladder are necessary.”

Reading this posting for some technology executive position I was pondering more on the lines of the climbing a ladder on some big rock/ice expedition. K2 straddles the border between China and Jammu and Kashmir in a territory currently claimed by Pakistan.

Its name is derived from the fact that it is the second peak (of 35) in the Karakorum Range of the western Himalayas. In 1861 the mountain gained its other well-known (though unofficial) name: Mount Godwin-Austen. Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen, a British soldier and topographer, was the second European to visit the area and research the mountain. Many local names are also used to identify the peak, including Chogori, Lambha Pahar, Dapsang, and Kechu (K2).