Wow! What a week it's been. On Monday I was stoked to be able to stand in front of a packed Ondaatje Theatre at the Royal Geographical Society and lecture regarding my walk across Iran. The interest was so great that unfortunately folk had to be turned away at the door (even after filling the overflow room)! I hope that I did the topic justice to those that were able to get in. A massive honour for me to speak for the second time at the RGS as part of the popular Monday Night lecture series.

Last night I was humbled to attend a reception at Buckingham Palace for those involved in adventure and exploration. A real "who's who" in our little world. The usual suspects; Fiennes, Bonnington, Mears, Knox-Johnston. The TV crowd; Parry, Fogle and Cracknell, Grylls, Boorman. Assorted ne'er-do-wells; Saunders, Stafford, Humphreys, Moss and me I suppose. Meeting the Queen and Prince Philip was kind of cool but surely the stand-out for me was seeing Reinhold Messner in attendance. Old grumpy himself. Awesome!

Right, Friday Stoke. With my website going down this week and being laid up for a couple of days ill, I know I can always rely on Seb Montaz to help me out when trolling through endless clips does not seem all that inviting. Of course he has done it again. Enjoy the below and if you like you can download the full film via his website for a just a few quid.

I have one other big gig happening this week but it is difficult to know exactly when this one will arrive. It was supposed to go down yesterday but as yet, nothing. It dwarfs the RGS and Palace by far!