Achi news desk-
A man spent two weeks off the grid traveling without a phone and £600 – and made every decision using dice.
Travel expert Sebastian Harvas-Jones and his friend Luke Gabdama ditched technology and the internet for paper maps and the advice of strangers to guide them on a two-week adventure.
3
3
3
After making an agreement to travel the UK without their luxuries, the pair headed to northern Scotland with only a few pairs of socks, a change of clothes and a few books and notebooks as their resources.
Following the advice of a taxi driver to head as far north as possible, they hopped on a sleeper train from King’s Cross Station in London to Glasgow.
Every decision from there was based on the outcome of their 20-sided dice roll from the cult game Dungeons & Dragons, Sebastian told The Times.
This led to them getting on another train bound for Malaig, a village on the west coast 150 miles to the north.
Another roll of the dice then landed them in Fort William, a town in the western Scottish Highlands known as the gateway to Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest peak.
“In town, we went straight to the tourist information center, an essential resource for the tech-savvy adventurer,” Sebastian said.
“They suggested the four-hour walk to the Charles Inglis Clark rental cabin near Ben Nevis Head and gave us a map to find it.”
Battling strong winds and deep snow, and without a phone to direct them or call for help, the men found themselves in the heart of isolation.
The warm cabin was occupied when they arrived, so they headed back down to town to find a bunkhouse for the night.
The next day, they ran into writer Neil Ansel, who invited them on his quest to find a lost cave where a Bronze Age ax was once found.
Sebastian said: “Given that one of the main purposes of our trip was to discover wizards, it seemed obvious that we should join him.
“He pulled out a map with an X marking the place and we set off, walking, rocking, jumping fences – until we finally discovered the cave that had been hidden for a long time in a huge rhododendron bush.”
The hiker described it as a “casual encounter,” saying it set the tone for the rest of the trip.
They never waited more than five minutes for a ride and further conversations with strangers soon led them to the remote white sand beaches of Arisaig, the shores of Loch Moir and Loch Moidart.
Sebastian and Luke’s journey ended with them stranded on the beach opposite Britain’s most remote mainland community – Skye, in Inbury.
Located on the north side of Loch Nevis, the village is so isolated that the surrounding single carriageway network is not connected to the rest of the British road network.
Read more about the Scottish sun
Nevertheless, the men spent their remaining time at the village’s pristine camping beach, taking in the sights, sounds and smells.
Abandoning technology for dice and tips “served me well,” Sebastian concluded.
