Addicted to Adventure: Between Rocks and Cold Places

(Paperback)

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Bob Shepton is an ordained minister in the Church of England in his late 70s, but spends most of his time sailing into the Arctic and making first ascents of inaccessible mountains. No tea parties for this vicar. Opening with the disastrous fire that destroyed his yacht whilst he was ice-bound in Greenland, the book travels back to his childhood growing up on the rubber plantation his father managed in Malaysia, moving back to England after his father was shot by the Japanese during the war, boarding school, the Royal Marines, and the church. We then follow Bob as he sails around the world with a group of schoolboys, is dismasted off the Falklands, trapped in ice, and climbs mountains accessible only from iceberg-strewn water and with only sketchy maps available. Bob Shepton, winner of the 2013 Yachtsman of the Year Award, is an old-school adventurer, and this compelling book is in the spirit of sailing mountaineer HW Tilman, explorer Ranulph Fiennes, climber Chris Bonington and yachtsman Robin Knox-Johnston, all of whom have been either friends of Bobs or an inspiration for his own exploits. Derring do in a dog collar! Ranulph Fiennes: 'A wonderful true tale of adventure.' Bear Grylls: 'You are going to enjoy this...as a Commando, Bob is clearly made of the right stuff!'

Reviews

An entertaining story told by a genuine adventurer * Sailing Today *
You are going to enjoy this: a life, of adventure - surviving the war years on the far side of the world, sailing, climbing, ski mountaineering, in many different parts of the world. It is inspiring that a Reverend should stick his neck out in this way - battling Atlantic storms, losing a mast in Antarctica, sailing continually in the Arctic, making the first ascents of mountains, skiing across remote regions, climbing with world class climbers, and sailing through the North West Passage. As a Commando, Bob is clearly made of the right stuff! -- Bear Grylls
His expeditions have made over sixty first ascents of mountains and rock facesall previously unclimbed, and he has been called the modern Tilman. All this as well as being, and often in conjunction with being, a Reverend. Its an interesting and varied life; I commend it to you. -- Sir Chris Bonington * Foreword *
This is the uniquely interesting and colourful life of a Anglican clergyman turned adventurer. A wonderful true tale of adventure with a wide variety of people of all ages, in different parts of the world and over many years, stretching from the days of the British Empire to the present. A truly interesting book, which I definitely recommend. -- Sir Ranulph Fiennes * Foreword *

Author Bio

Bob Shepton has been a Royal Marines officer, a Reverend in Londons East End, a school chaplain, and is an ordained minister in the Church of England. He has made 14 Atlantic crossings and carried out some 60 first ascents of mountains in Greenland and Arctic Canada. He won the Yachtsman of the Year Award in 2014, and the Royal Cruising Clubs Tilman Medal twice (the only person to do so), the Cruising Club of Americas Blue Water Medal and the Piolet dOr (an annual mountaineering award given by the French magazine Montaigne).