Home to some of the fittest and most mentally resilient humans on the planet, it’s a sacred place for many of Britain’s bravest soldiers.

I did what any polite, travelling Englishman would do. I nodded when offered a second serving of psychedelic potion and thanked my hosts for their hospitality.

in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1998) Hillary was philosophical about his motivations and said, ‘It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.’

The most important thing for an athlete or adventurer to understand is impeccable pacing to avoid a biochemical imbalance in the body that impacts muscles fatigue, muscle integrity and the psychobiological model of fatigue.

As the initial surge of epinephrine subsides, the hypothalamus activates the second component of the stress response system, known as the HPA axis. This network consists of the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland and the adrenal glands. The HPA axis relies on a series of hormonal signals to keep the sympathetic nervous system – the ‘gas pedal’ –

To quote Epictetus again, ‘The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are

As a coping strategy the ‘Stockdale Paradox’ teaches us that we should never confuse faith that we will prevail in the end – which we can never afford to lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of our current reality, whatever they might be.

physiological (need for food, water, oxygen, sleep, for example); safety (security in the form of law, order and freedom from fear); belongingness and love (friendship, intimacy, trust and acceptance, receiving and giving affection); esteem (for dignity, achievement, status); and self-actualisation (realising personal potential, self-fulfilment).

I spent the next hour getting reacquainted with warmth and hygiene, two long-lost friends I hadn’t seen in over five months at sea.