Helen Lloyd's Biggest Adventure Yet: Shiplake College

20 October 2017

Yesterday, author and adventure writer Helen Lloyd visited Shiplake College to talk to our boys about pursuing their dreams and doing what will make them happy in life.

Yesterday afternoon The Lecture Theatre filled up with members of our Lower School and several Sixth Form pupils, as Helen Lloyd set up her tent and prepared to speak at her first ever school talk. Helen spoke to the boys about the importance of spending our lives doing what makes us happy. When at school, she was advised to study maths and become an accountant. She described herself as a ‘very shy, nervous, introverted kid’ when she applied for a travel grant while she was at school.

From there she found brochures and travel groups who she accompanied on an expedition to India, which Helen says ‘gave me the chance to be who I thought I was on the inside’. She went on to say ‘these people didn’t know me as a kid, so I had the chance to be exactly who I wanted to be’. For Helen, travel gave her the freedom to reinvent herself and pursue her dreams. She says ‘I’m still not very cool, but I don’t wear bum bags anymore!’

Since then Helen has cycled from the UK to Cape Town, South Africa where she came across lions, snakes and hippos, the most dangerous large land mammal in Africa. Helen has also cycled from Russia to Siberia in temperatures as low as -40°c. When she was there she told the boys ‘I did come across some rather large paw prints and I thought they might belong to bears; but I wasn’t going to hang around to find out!!’

While Helen was with us, she showed the boys some of the kit she took with her, some of which are specialised for extreme temperatures. She also presented a bicycle and tent, similar to what she would have taken with her on her expeditions. The boys were then asked to produce blog-style write-ups of trips they have taken themselves.

Thank you to Helen for coming and speaking to the Shiplake Lower School, we wish her all the best for the future and the best of luck on her future expeditions!