Explorer reaches seven 'Poles of Inaccessibility'

Chris Brown reached the Northern Pole of Inaccessibility on 18 September

A man from Harrogate has become the first person to tick off seven of the eight "Poles of Inaccessibility" after reaching the Arctic pole.

Explorer Chris Brown arrived at the Northern Pole of Inaccessibility, which is about 400 miles from the North Pole, on 18 September after travelling on icebreaker vessel Le Commandant Charcot.

When he made it home on Monday he said the first thing he did was order a curry.

"It's been a bit of a shock coming back because going across the top of the world, really, you're away from people, noises, lights, everything," he said.

"So when you come back into civilisation, it's a bit overwhelming. There's stuff going on everywhere. There's noises, lights, colours, people wanting things, phones ringing, all sorts going on that you just you haven't been used to.

"So it takes a few days to acclimatise back into what we call regular life."

Chris Brown travelled to the North Pole on an icebreaker ship

Mr Brown, 63, said he saw polar bears, humpback whales and Arctic fox on his adventure, which included visits to the geographic North Pole and geomagnetic North Pole.

He explained: "You go to the top of Europe and keep going. We went first to the North Pole, traditional geographic North Pole, 90 degrees north. Then we went off to the geomagnetic North Pole. That's where all your compasses point north to."

In 2019 Mr Brown first attempted to get to the Northern Pole of Inaccessibility by going to Svalbard in Norway where he hoped to fly onto the ice sheet before walking across the Arctic.

However the Russian invasion of Ukraine meant he was unable to fly the Ukrainian-owned plane on to Russian-owned ice sheets.

"Ordinarily I've arranged everything and done all of the logistics, hired the boat, got the cars, brought the helicopters, walked through the jungle, hacked my way through the jungle," he said.

"On this occasion, there was an icebreaker going up to the North Pole anyway, and I managed to persuade the captain, a very nice captain, to redirect towards the Northern Pole of Inaccessibility."

The Poles of Inaccessibility are the points on Earth farthest away from either water or land.

They are: North America (Allen, South Dakota), South America (Matto Grosso in western Brazil, Africa (south east of Central African Republic), Eurasia (north west China), Australia (Alice Springs in the Australian Northern Territory), Southern (Antarctica), Northern (Arctic) and Point Nemo.

Mr Brown reached Point Nemo in April 2024, where he was attacked by an albatross.

Chris Brown has had many wild animal encounters during his explorations

Mr Brown, who sold his marketing business to fund his travels, said he would fly to his eighth Pole of Inaccessibility, the Eurasian point in north west China, tomorrow if the permissions were granted.

He said: "If somebody turned around and said, 'Look, we've got a permit, but it only lasts a week', I'd be on the next plane."

He added: "The challenge there is getting permission. Each one of these poles has had a different challenge.

"Africa was human danger, Antarctica, environmental danger, Nemo just the sheer remoteness of it. Eurasia is going to be a bureaucratic difficulty, because you've got to get permission to go into China."

The Eurasian pole is located in the region where Uyghur Muslims live, which is "particularly sensitive", said Mr Brown,

He said: "It's difficult enough to get permissions to go off the beaten track anywhere, but this is a particularly sensitive area. So I'm tall, red hair, I'm not going to fit in as a local, so I can't just wing it and ask for forgiveness."

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.