The Land of Lost Content

Biographies & Memoirs

Sanders, Sureshini

Historical

Crescent House

'I believe we so far forgot ourselves as to shake hands on it.' - H. W. Tilman, on reaching the summit of Nanda Devi.In 1934, after fifty years of trying, mountaineers finally gained access to the Nanda Devi Sanctuary in the Garhwal Himalaya. Two years later an expedition led by H.W. Tilman reached the summit of Nanda Devi. At over 25,000 feet, it was the highest mountain to be climbed until 1950.The Ascent of Nanda Devi, Tilman's account of the climb, has been widely hailed as a classic. Keenly observed, well informed and at times hilariously funny, it is as close to a 'conventional' mountaineering account as Tilman could manage.Beginning with the history of the mountain ('there was none') and the expedition's arrival in India, Tilman recounts the build-up and approach to the climb. Writing in his characteristic dry style, he tells how Sherpas are hired, provisions are gathered (including 'a mouth-blistering sauce containing 100 per cent chillies') and the climbers head into the hills, towards Nanda Devi.Superbly parodied in The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W.E. Bowman, The Ascent of Nanda Devi was among the earliest accounts of a climbing expedition to be published.Much imitated but rarely matched, it remains one of the best.

The Ascent of Nanda Devi: I Believe We So Far Forgot Ourselves as to Shake Hands on it (H.W. Tilman - The Collected Edition)

Tilman CBE DSO MC Bar, Major H. W.

Mischief Among the Penguins: Hand (Man) Wanted for Long Voyage in Small Boat. No Pay, No Prospects, Not Much Pleasure (H.W. Tilman - The Collected Edition)

Sports & Outdoors

'Only a man in the devil of a hurry would wish to fly to his mountains, forgoing the lingering pleasure and mounting excitement of a slow, arduous approach under his own exertions.' H.W. 'Bill' Tilman's mountain travel philosophy, rooted in Africa and the Himalaya and further developed in his early sailing adventures in the southern hemisphere, was honed to perfection with his discovery of Greenland as the perfect sailing destination. His Arctic voyages in the pilot cutter Mischief proved no less challenging than his earlier southern voyages. The shorter elapsed time made it rather easier to find a crew but the absence of warm tropical passages meant that similar levels of hardship were simply compressed into a shorter timescale. First published fifty years before political correctness became an accepted rule, Mischief in Greenland is a treasure trove of Tilman's observational wit. In this account of his first two West Greenland voyages, he pulls no punches with regard to the occasional failings, leaving the reader to seek out and discover the numerous achievements of these voyages. The highlight of the second voyage was the identification, surveying and successful first ascent of Mount Raleigh, first observed on the eastern coast of Baffin Island by the Elizabethan explorer John Davis in 1585. For the many sailors and climbers who have since followed his lead and ventured north into those waters, Tilman provides much practical advice, whether from his own observations or those of Davis and the inimitable Captain Lecky. Tilman's typical gift of understatement belies his position as one of the greatest explorers and adventurers of the twentieth century.

Mischief in Greenland: Only a man in the devil of a hurry would wish to fly to his mountains (H.W. Tilman - The Collected Edition)

Water Sports

'However many times it has been done, the act of casting off the warps and letting go one's last hold of the shore at the start of a voyage has about it something solemn and irrevocable, like marriage, for better or for worse.' Mostly Mischief's ordinary title belies four more extraordinary voyages made by H.W. 'Bill' Tilman covering almost 25,000 miles in both Arctic and Antarctic waters. The first sees the pilot cutter Mischief retracing the steps of Elizabethan explorer John Davis to the eastern entrance to the Northwest Passage. Tilman and a companion land on the north coast and make the hazardous crossing of Bylot Island while the remainder of the crew make the eventful passage to the southern shore to recover the climbing party. Back in England, Tilman refuses to accept the condemnation of Mischief's surveyor, undertaking costly repairs before heading back to sea for a first encounter with the East Greenland ice. Between June 1964 and September 1965, Tilman is at sea almost without a break. Two eventful voyages to East Greenland in Mischief provide the entertaining bookends to his account of the five-month voyage in the Southern Ocean as skipper of the schooner Patanela. Tilman had been hand-picked by the expedition leader as the navigator best able to land a team of Australian and New Zealand climbers and scientists on Heard Island, a tiny volcanic speck in the Furious Fifties devoid of safe anchorages and capped by an unclimbed glaciated peak. In a separate account of this successful voyage, Colin Putt describes the expedition as unique-the first ascent of a mountain to start below sea level.

Mostly Mischief: Including the first ascent of a mountain to start below sea level (H.W. Tilman - The Collected Edition)

Mischief goes South: Every herring should hang by its own tail (H.W. Tilman - The Collected Edition)

<p>A '2016 International Photography Awards' prize winning book! In 2014, a self-proclaimed 'relatively normal 50-year-old, overweight desk-jockey', took on the monumental task of attempting a 5,000-mile walk around the coast of mainland Britain in the name of two worthy charities.Developed and adapted from his award-winning blog, this is a journal documenting the highs and lows of his 42-week hike around Britain with only the support of his friends, family, the odd stranger or two and a trusty second-hand motorhome as a roving base camp. Peter Hill, the man behind the whimsical idea, never viewed the trek as a voyage of personal discovery and instead takes the reader on a truthful blisters-and-all journey with friendly enthusiasm, gentle humour, numerous trials, a few grumbles, the odd rant and many, many ice-creams. With added extracts from a driver's diary and fully illustrated with a selection of spectacular photographs, this book is only readable with a smile.</p>

I May be Gone for Some Time: One Man's Story of His 5,000 Mile Trek Around the British Mainland Coast

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Hill, Peter

Exercise & Fitness

<p>'I was very grateful for today's near perfect visibility and, despite the late hour, just had to sit down to take it all in.' On a late April morning, lover of landscapes and professional geologist John Sutcliffe , approaching his 70th birthday, sets out on a backpacking trek from Cape Cornwall in South West England to Cape Wrath on the north-westerly tip of Scotland: a breathtaking 1,250-mile-long walk . Starting out along the sea cliffs of Cornwall and heading inland across the remote moor country of Dartmoor , Exmoor and the marshy Somerset Levels , John crosses into Wales and follows the delightful Welsh border to Shropshire . Continuing into the limestone dales of Derbyshire , he then treads the Pennine Way for 250 miles to the Scottish Borders , often sharing his campsite with the creatures of the night, facing unforeseen challenges and making new friends along the way. After traversing the Southern Uplands of Scotland and the Pentland Hills - hidden gems that many walkers overlook - he then follows the West Highland Way to Fort William where he clocks up 1,000 miles and takes a brief pause for his mother's 100th birthday. Celebrations over, he sets out across the rugged and wonderfully remote North West Highlands of Ardgour , Knoydart , Torridon and Sutherland , exploring the bothy network along the Cape Wrath Trail and pitting himself against the elements with the onset of Hurricane Bertha . Whether wild camping with curlews or indulging in the occasional hot-shower luxury of a guest house en route, John furnishes his story with details of the cultural and political heritage and the geology underpinning the stunning landscapes encountered on his journey. Cape to Cape is an inspiring story of one man's celebration of the diverse British countryside.</p>

Cape to Cape: A 1,250-mile backpacking walk from Cornwall to Cape Wrath in Scotland

Sutcliffe, John

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