Harrogate traveller's 'difficult situation' leads to hit book

Twentysomething Cory McLeod literary debut is a gripping and witty adventure story about his trek to Everest Base Camp with absolutely no planning, no sleeping bag, not to forget having to run back down due to being late for a wedding.

Called How NOT to Trek to Mount Everest, Cory says this lavishly-illustrated, fun and lighthearted read has already been more of a hit than he expected.

He said: "The book launched on Amazon. It has been doing quite well with the hard copies in the first week of going live and the kindle/e-book version has now become available.

"If the readers haven't been to Nepal or Mount Everest I wanted to make sure they really got a feel for what I experienced and the incredible views that I was blessed with.

"There are photos of the world's most dangerous airport, the local people and wildlife and some amazing shots of Everest Base Camp and the surrounding Himalayas."

A catering manager by profession who studied at Leeds Metropolitan University, Cory's poor parents have had to get used to his behaviour since he was a child.

Last year saw Cory run the world’s longest desert ultra-marathon in Dubai having never run before, raising money for positive mental health charity Mind, and producing his own docu-series on YouTube on it while doing so.

Cory blames his devil may care approach to travelling on his poor parents Ian and Karen back in Harrogate who, he says, gave him the travel bug before he was even old enough to walk.

He said: "I guess by now my mum and dad are used to the stress that follows by travelling to these dangerous places or environments.

"I was held at gunpoint in South America and they just replied saying "Oh, what happened?" rather than "OMG are you okay??" which says it all.

"They took me backpacking from the north of Chile all the way down to Patagonia in the south when I was 16 months old, so it's their fault I have a passion for travelling."

When he first set off on his spontaneous trek to Mount Everest Base Camp, Cory had no intention of turning the story into a book.

That just sort of happened, too.

Cory said: "What started as just a few notes at the end of each day during the trek turned into a blog, released in eight parts.

"People seemed to enjoy it, so that's when I got the idea to develop it into a book.

"But I had no idea how long it would take. It was a lot of hours writing and even more hours editing it and working on the book covers.

"When lockdown began and I had no work, it allowed me much more time to focus on it and get it finished.

"I owe a lot of thanks to David Ayre, a local author from Knaresborough who was a huge help with formatting the book and getting it ready to be published."

The intrepid writer and adventurer does not advise everyone to take his approach to life and travel. He just loves it himself.

Cory said: "I have a history of booking last-minute trips.

"I like the uncertainty of what will happen, what I will experience and how I will get out of difficult situations.

"I maybe took it a bit too far this time, but it definitely made the journey all the more fun!"

While the dust jackets of most books boast quotes about what a brilliant it is, How NOT to Trek to Mount Everest has one from Cory's mother Karen saying "Please don't buy this book. I don't want him to get any more ideas for an unprepared adventure."

Cory is confident his debut book has turned out well and intends to carry on with his global adventures.

He said: "I'm really pleased with it and I hope everyone enjoys it as a fun, lighthearted read.

"The book is, of course, how 'not' to travel, but in a way I do really enjoy and recommend going off into the unknown and travelling with no concrete plans."

The young man is now working on a screenplay for a travel film, as well as some further travel stories about his recent adventures, including racing a tuk-tuk 4000km across India, climbing Mount Fuji with a broken rib and visiting dark tourist spots such as Chernobyl.

If you would like to follow Cory McLeod's exploits...

Instagram - @clodblog

Twitter - @clodblog1

Cory McLeod's book How NOT to Trek to Mount Everest is available at:

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1710964928/

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