I’m here! I have crossed an ocean, most of a hemisphere, and the equator; and at 5834 miles between Southampton and Guayaquil, Ecuador, I am the furthest from home that I have ever been. Xian, China to Bristol was a mere 5205 miles (what would we do without Google for the tough questions?)
Today’s long journey has seen me delve into the Voyage of the Beagle, and I discovered that it was the 11th September 1831 (186 years ago, today) that Darwin first visited the Beagle with Fitzroy. He set off from Woolwich on September 5th and took a short sea voyage to Plymouth, to check that he was not going to be troubled by sea sickness.
Clearly the trip was not the best example of what would come because Darwin hated being at sea. Between the start of the voyage on the 27th December 1831 and the 2nd October 1836, when the Beagle finally returned to Falmouth, Darwin had spent just 533 days at sea. The rest of the time was spent collecting, and exploring the ‘hinterlands’ of places like Patagonia and, of course, the Galapagos.
I gleaned this information from the excellent introduction (by Dr Michael Neve and Dr Janet Browne) to the Penguin Classics, Voyage of the Beagle.
In the time that Darwin spent on land he and Fitzroy managed to reside with many British figures, Governors and such like. Darwin even went to the Opera. I have taken a leaf out of his book, and tonight, after spending the night in Bogota airport last night, I have decided to take in the delights of the Holiday Inn, Guayaquil Airport. Tomorrow, I take a ‘600 mile’ jump into the Pacific, and will land on the Galapagos!
The Adventure starts here!
Origin of Species World Tour