A Financial Times Summer Publication of 2019

Seasoned adventurer Alastair Humphreys pushes himself to his extremely limitations – busking his way across Spain having a violin he can hardly play.

In 1935 a young Englishman named Laurie Lee arrived in Spain. He had never been abroad; had hardly even left the calm village he grew up in. His idea was to walk through the united states, earning money for meals by playing his violin in pubs and plazas.

Nearly a hundred years on the subject of My Midsummer Morning: Rediscovering a Life of Adventure afterwards, the book Laurie Lee wrote – Simply because I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning – inspired Alastair Humphreys. It made him fall deeply in love with Spain – the landscapes and the spirit – and with Laurie’s style of travel. He travelled slow, lived just, slept on hilltops, relished spontaneity, and adored conversations with the various people he met along the hot and dusty street.

For 15 years, Alastair dreamed of retracing Laurie Lee’s footsteps, but could hardly ever see through the hurdle to be distinctly unmusical. This year, he decided to go anyway. The journey was his most terrifying yet, risking failure and humiliation each day, and finding himself truly vulnerable to the rhythms of the street and of his very own life. But on the way, he discovered humility, redemption and triumph. It was a good adventure.