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Humorous, adventurous, interesting and amazing stories from readers, our archives and famous adventures from around the world. If you'd like to share one of your own stories, please send an email (with your story attached) to stories@intrepid-optimist.com.
Northern Patagonia for wilderness adventure
A new route to Northern Patagonia has opened up and now, with an inexpensive three-day family rafting adventure scheduled, now would be a great time to make the trip.
By car, the new route begins an hour south of Puerto Montt in the village of Hornopiren, where you board a ferry for a four-hour journey along a beautiful fjord to a tiny place called Leptepu. Then drive a few kilometers to another ferry, which will take you to on Caleta Gonzalo and the entrance to Parque Pumalin, the vast nature reserve established by North Face founder Douglas Tompkins.
A Northern Ghost Story
The tiny village of Renwick possesses a small and uneventful church in which can be found an intriguing explanatory announcement that tells of a supernatural connection
James Grier explains how the Unlimited youth church begins to be seen in a new light
I was first appointed by the Diocese of Exeter to pioneer a youth church in the city and advise and encourage other expressions of youth church. Unlimited, which looks to reach young people who have no experience of church at all, tends to reach Sixth Form students - predominantly from Exeter College. It has been a far harder and slower task than I ever envisaged but I have been in post for four-and-a-half years now and it finally feels like we've made some headway.
In the Sinai Mountains
It is getting cool during the day and downright freezing at night. The Sinai mountains are at an altitude of over 2,400 m, with peaks covered with snow during the winter. Snow is good because it means water for the Bedouin gardens, but it also means less customers because nobody wants to spend a chilly night on a mountain and wake up to frozen pools of water.
'As a child the brutal cold was more terrifying than the war'
It was not Hitler that frightened me but the cold. From autumn to spring, the cold was everywhere. There was little escape, even when there was the rate chance the sit in front of a fire. As a child everyone had a right to the best and closest place to the fire before you did and so, you usually ended up in the place no-one-wanted-at the edges or at the back.
Eight years ago Laura Pollán was a schoolmarm
Eight years ago Laura Pollán was a schoolmarm who lived with her husband Héctor Maseda, leader of the illegal Cuban Liberal Party. Despite all the vicissitudes of living in a country where the freedom of assembly is penalized, the family tried to lead a normal life in its small house on Neptuno street. But early one morning several heavy knocks on the door heralded that their lives were about to change irreversibly. After an exhaustive search, Maseda was jailed and sentenced to a prison term of 20 years on charges of endangering national security.
The Welshman who gave his name to the world's highest mountain
2012 marks 160 years since scientists mapped and surveyed the mighty Himalayas. Sion Morgan looks back at the role of Welshman George Everest, whose name adorns the most famous peak of all
In 1852 a group of scientists completed a 50-year project which began at the foothills of the Himalayan mountains to map and survey Asia’s mammoth mountain range.
Among the pioneering researchers whose blood, sweat and tears were given to the cause was a man from Crickhowell called George Everest.
Irish woman survived snakes, sun in outback
A YOUNG Irish woman has learned the hard way that there are better places to cool off after an argument than the Australian outback.
Kelly Carty Eglington is lucky to be alive after spending half a day lost as the temperature soared above 35C and she suffered hallucinations, dehydration and severe sunburn before she was rescued.
Originally from Coolock on Dublin's northside, Kelly has been in Australia for the past four years, where she lives with her partner Damian Raudino, an Australian.
Yesterday, the 25-year-old spoke of her ordeal for the first time.