I loved this book - the storytelling is magical the images and environments it paints so vividly are beautiful. To fund for the adventure Toby applied to the Winston Churchill memorial trust and all background and reasons were shared with the reader as the application form was filled out…genius. What an amazing adventurer Toby Carr was and what an incredible achievement that his sister Katie has done by putting together his notes to create this book. They chapters about the kayaking were interesting, particularly in terms of the people he met along the way, but for me, the most interesting chapters were at the beginning and end.

Written by Toby's sister Katie from his extensive notes and recordings after his untimely death, Moderate Becoming Good Later is both an epic adventure - sometimes choppy, constantly moving - and a personal voyage of discovery that includes old friends and new, plenty of wildlife, and the ever-present sea.Whilst he knew his would not get to live as long as he should, he just got on with it and made things happen. Especially when it struck a personal chord - Toby visited my hometown and "his experience" was worth half a page of flat text. A guide and companion for us all, whether we are embarking on voyages of our choosing or dealing with waves and storms dealt to us. Lots to learn and some amazing places visited and it has definitely spurred me to want to see more of the world once more and live for the moment. The adventure continues on to the Faroe Islands, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France and Spain, he faces dangerous seas often and instead of backing down or taking risks he uses a sensible head and constantly makes the right decisions, an incredible ability to read the sea.

Moderate Becoming Good Later is a wonderfully salty adventure, a quixotic odyssey driven by equal parts grit and good humour around the stormy shores of western Europe. The sort of adventure I've often dreamed of late at night, with additional layers of poignancy and love.

This is a must-read book not just for sea kayakers, but for anyone looking for inspiration to make the most out of life. On a journey that took him to the harshest and most tranquil stretches of our sea, Toby found the real people, places and stories behind the familiar names and imagined environments of the well-loved BBC broadcast. Throughout, Katie Carr has imbued Toby’s account with a natural charm, which combined with sublimely evocative descriptions, effortlessly transports the reader deep into the maritime environment. Toby's story of seizing life's opportunities despite obstacles should inspire all of us to not let life pass us by. A mesmerising and poignant story that shares how the sea can bring together people, places and purpose.

The reason for 3 stars is I found the first and last thirds enjoyable but the middle 100 pages ish I found repetitive in their descriptions and sometimes lost where we were, how he got there, where the car suddenly appears from, even which year it is. His story is inspirational and very moving and as he described his adventures I felt like I was with him.This is an amazing book, so well crafted by Katie from his notes, audio recordings, blogs and messages and it was a pleasure to have had a chance to have read it and join Toby on this adventure. She does such a brilliant job of it, using his notes/voice recordings, etc, that you wouldn't know at which point she had taken over the writing.

Obviously, I understand how hard it must have been to finish writing a book someone else started when Katie didn't even experience what her brother lived through but at the very least, maybe it would've been worth it for her to go to the places he went and try and picture what he felt by being there, instead of looking at photos on Google. For those not familiar this is a radio broadcast of weather conditions for those on the sea but has become over time a rather calming British institution that people listen to even if they aren't near the sea.I will also admit to being drawn to the book because it was written following the death of Toby Carr - had it not been for that, I probably wouldn’t have looked at it. And I say "armchair" because I was very happy to just read this one, with all its thrills and spills, without feeling the need to go and do it myself. Toby was lucky enough to see incredible places and even though you can *feel* what it was like to be on the kayak, it also feels like you're kayaking in a void. Thrilling and moving in equal parts, it should inspire us all to get out into the world and embrace its beauty. But what really elevates this above other travellers' tales is the astonishing and moving story of the book's completion - a remarkable collaboration across the ultimate gulf.