Once upon a time, adventuring was an elite pastime. Only a minor fraction of the Earth?s population went jumping the rapids?just for pleasure, just to get the adrenaline going. Creatures like Columbus and Faxian were the exceptions. Recounting such enterprises as those of Odysseus huddled in huts was the closest most people came to such pleasure. Tales of Tom Sawyer and Ahab and others followed in this tradition. Increase in leisure time and disposable incomes, not to mention cheaper air travel, has changed all that of course. Adventure travel is an increasingly popular activity, growing faster in the East that in the West?in the US, the likelihood of 20-somethings even moving to another state has shrunk over 40% since the 1980s. But information helps, inspiration impels. We watch travel shows, read travel literature. Sometimes they are just a substitute for action. Sometimes they kick-start something real.

Ben Fogle?s The Accidental Adventurer inspires. It doesn?t boast the literary weight of Bruce Chatwin or Paul Theroux, but could they carry TV communion as convincingly as Fogle? In India, BBC Entertainment has been screening the Lonely Planet?s five-part series Year of Adventures, which wraps up at 7pm this evening. Inspired by a travel book of the same name, it features Fogle in exotic action like diving to the centre of the Earth in Iceland, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet! The book itself, with over 250 entries, makes the point that while the the word ?adventure? often conjures up images of superhuman feats, it is in sync with many ability levels and passions. For example, Indian entries range from walking to motorcycling, wildlife watching to white-water rafting. For me, watching Fogle over the last few weekends has prompted more vigorous weeding in the backyard, a very gratifying trip to Bharatpur, a phone call to a taeekwondo instructor, and an unexecuted (alas!) resolution to renew running in the morning.

Fogle?s relationship to running makes sense to me. ?Social in every other aspect of my life, running for me has always been my me time. I look forward to a run for the solitude as much as the endorphins.? But he doesn?t whitewash the psychical state of solo travelling. When in Nicaragua, for example, he mentions dipping into a small depression. ?I was no longer sure why I was there, or indeed what I was going to do with my life.? About being in Papua New Guinea, which he calls the best place he has ever visited because it?s the only country where he genuinely felt like he had stepped back in time, he says being in a new environment can hinder as much as help. ?I have seen so many instances of people trying to escape their demons by going overseas. The truth of the matter is that you can never escape yourself. It?s like burying your head in the sand or closing your eyes and pretending no one can see you. Just because you are in a new environment doesn?t solve the issue; it merely travels with you. You might be able to block out your problems temporarily, but at some stage you have to face reality.?

Part of Fogle?s reality is that it?s dangerous. Like the time he was arrested in Ecuador, fearing he could be transferred to a secret prison where he would languish forgotten for the rest of his life. Or the time when he was stabbed in the ribs in a dark alley in Costa Rica. Or when he was capsized while rowing the Atlantic. Another part of his reality is that it?s often full of humiliations. Son of an incredibly successful actress, he applied to 12 drama schools in the UK, and got rejected by them all. During the Silver Jubilee World Worm Charming Championship in Cheshire, he was beaten by just about everyone, including the grandfatherly Richard Curtis?of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones?s Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually, Mr Bean and The Vicar of Dibley fame. The shame.

But risk is something that resonates with him. Why else would he have volunteered to be a guinea pig marooned on a treeless, windswept island with a bunch of strangers? We are talking about BBC?s Castaway, which was somewhat like Survivor, except nobody from the latter went on to craft the kind of career Fogle has. One of his fellow castaways read Fogle a William Arthur Ward poem that he has believed since. ?The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, But he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or live. Chained by his servitude he is a slave who has forfeited all freedom. Only a person who risks is free. The pessimist complains about the wind; The optimist expects it to change; And the realist adjusts the sails.?

Safety resonates equally strongly. When following the polar footsteps of Captain Scott and Ernest Shackleton, Fogle remembers how, after reaching within a 100 miles of the South Pole, Shackleton turned back due to lack of provisions while Scott?s team of course perished on the return journey?from starvation and extreme cold. Shackleton explained: ?A live donkey is better than a dead lion, isn?t it??