Customer Reviews

High Endeavours: The Extraordinary Life and Adventures of Miles & Beryl Smeeton

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I saw High Endeavors first recommended by a couple of sailing magazines and picked up a copy.

The book goes far beyond a sailing adventure, which is a component of this couple's lives but by no means the whole story.

Miles Clark, the author, is the stepson of Miles and Beryl Smeeton, the subjects of the book. He has told this story with as much accuracy as records and personal experience would provide, along with the affection of a loving son who knew this story had to be told.

It's really about Beryl. She walks/trains/hitches across India, through the Middle East, Europe and back t the UK. In the 30's!

Later she decides that she has to ride horseback through Patagonia, by herself.

During WW II they served separately in Asia, ending up together in Burhma.

It is only after Miles retires from the Army that they bought a sailboat and set out for British Columbia.

Just an amazing story and it's true!

The subtitle of this book really sums it up: The Extraordinary Life and Adventures of Miles and Beryl Smeeton. Beryl was born in 1905. Miles was born in 1906. Their early lives were straight out of Rudyard Kipling. They both followed family tradition and were part of the British overseas military life. Beryl was not a shrinking violet. Her brother is quoted in the book as saying "she always regretted that she hadn't been born a man, and that was really what she was trying to make up for all her life. In everything she did- sports, riding, steeple-chasing- her motto was 'Anything you can do, I can do better.' She had this tremendous urge to surpass... She was quite fearless and would never rest or relax." Early in life she married a British officer and travelled with him to India. Beryl had many daring adventures in spite of the expectations of the time. She met and started an affair with Miles, a very tall and handsome younger officer, and her first husband let her go to pursue the life of adventure which she was destined for. Together, Beryl and Miles saw the end of the old British colonial system. The book contains fascinating stories of the "Lancers", which evolved to a tank corps. Miles learned to drive a tank and fly an airplane before he learned to drive an automobile. Beryl travelled extensively, often hiking up mountains in exotic locales, even after she gave birth to her daughter. The baby was lugged around by lackeys and natives, and often left behind to survive as best she could. Part of the more amusing stories in the book are about how cavalier a mother and how horribly bad a cook Beryl was. After Miles left the military, the two set out to explore the world on a sailing vessle, a whole new chapter to their life of adventure. Even in old age, the two continued to live remarkable lives. This book is really just riveting. It is one of the most exciting adventures I have ever read.

Loved this book. Beryl Smeeton was a truly amazing and strong woman. What a life she had. You will enjoy reading about her adventures with and without her husband.

This well-written and engaging book traces the 20th century lives of two unstoppable adventurers and free spirits, Miles and Beryl Smeeton. They are amazing and compelling figures, and the book floats easily along on their numerous outlandish accomplishments, portraying their lives in the British Army in India, their meritorious service in WWII, hiking, mountain-climbing, Beryl's remarkably independent backpacker-style trans-continental travels, their path-breaking years as ocean sailors, their struggles renovating a house and farming on Saltspring Island, British Columbia, and finally starting a wildlife center in Alberta. Any one of these parts of their lives would be a complete adventurous life for most mortals, so the totality of their achievements is really remarkable, and enjoyably well told in this thorough and fascinating account.

This book is excellent. I have read it before and enjoyed it so much I decided to own it. It's worth a reread!!

If you have read any of my other posts you know that thanks to the author of A Passage to Juneau I became curious about a couple named Miles and Beryl Smeeton. I followed up be reading 3 of Miles Smeeton's books about their travels together. They were all fascinating but they left me wanting to know more about the Miles and Beryl themselves.

As the author of those books Miles Smeeton was always self-deprecating when describing himself or his actions while he often wrote of his wife Beryl as the real hero in their stories. Also because his books most often described single voyages they were not helpful in understanding how these people came to be who they became. Thankfully Miles Clark tries to do that very thing in his book "High Endeavors, The Extraordinary life and adventures of Miles and Beryl Smeeton."

Penned in 1991 it is a deeply researched and compelling look at one of the most interesting couples of the 20th century. Miles Clark was born in England in 1960 and his Godfather was Miles Smeeton. Since the Smeetons were either traveling or in Canada most of the time the relationship between Godfather and Godson was mostly via the letters they exchanged. This did not prevent them from developing a lasting appreciation and respect for each other and this radiates throughout Clark's book.

As an adventure book it does not have the flavor of an "Into Thin Air" or even Smeeton's own "Once is Enough." It represents the entire story of these two interesting people from their childhoods until their deaths. Fortunately for we adventure book fanatics they spent their entire lives, whether alone or together, doing the most amazing things. As an example Beryl Smeeton undertook solo journeys on foot, on donkeys, in trains, and ships in China, Burma, Russia, India, Persia, Turkey and freaking Patagonia! (And may I just add that when forced to use the convenience of a train or ship she always paid the lowest possible fare so she could sit in the dirt with the rest of the poor people.)

So Miles Clark has plenty of material to work with and he makes the most of it. When he touches on their idiosyncrasies it is in a loving and respecting manner. Descriptions of Beryl's cooking being an area where he was incredibly gentle. Clark manages to capture the essence of the Smeeton's relationship so that the reader understands the glue that holds them together. He helps us in some way imagine what it might be like to live your life with the single goal of being together while experiencing the world.

Reading this book lets you inside the relationship of these two fascinating people and also takes you on a journey of the world as it was when the Smeeton's were young. From Miles in the war in Africa for the British in the 1930's while Beryl traveled the remote corners of the world to finishing their lives in the Canadian Rockies attempting to save endangered species their lives do not have a dull moment. We are lucky that Miles Clark took the time to write it all down for us. Miles Clark died in 1993 at age 32 just six years after Miles Smeeton passed in Canada.

Think free spirits, think Miles & Beryl Smeeton. The ageless 'Can-Do' Couple. They inspired my dad in the 1950's with their seafaring adventures, and he gave me this book in 1999 with an inscription to follow my heart and dreams.

This is one of my favorite books of all time, as an inspiration to what can be achieved if you dare to think outside the box and never say "Never".

Fun read, heart-warming story about honest, pure, intelligent kindred spirits with a love for adventure on land and sea.

The book describes the interesting lives of Miles and Beryl Smeeton who spent their lives travelling across several continents, fighting in wars, sailing around the world and protecting endangered species in Canada. This is not a book to be missed. The biggest problem with the book is that you will begin to feel that you haven't really lived a full existence!

Highly recommended- I wasn't sure this book would take my fancy, I had read travelogues before, but this novel and the adventures of the principal characters are so awe-inspiring and humor filled that the book is a must read. The quality of the travels, combined with the history that was being made during this period make the book informative and gripping. As amazing as it is- along with the 2nd world war, circumnavigation, and treks through all of the worlds continents, there is a lovely romance that is not contrived or annoying in the slighest. "Joie de Vivre!"