Miles Herbert’s straight line missioning journey took him across Wales, sparking a viral challenge that has inspired others to traverse rugged terrain in pursuit of the impossible goal.
The Straight Line Mission: A Journey Through Wales
Miles Herbert’s foray into straight line missioning, a feat made famous by YouTuber Tom Davies (GeoWizard), left him hooked despite the absurdity of it all. This challenge involves traversing vast distances in a perfectly straight line, often with hilarious results.
The Origins of Straight Line Missioning
Tom Davies, a self-proclaimed inventor of this impossible challenge, created a video that showcased his attempt to cross Wales in one unbending route. The video quickly went viral, inspiring others to take on the same quest. GeoWizard’s creation sparked a wave of copycats who traversed rugged terrain for days on end.
A World of Obstacles
In straight line missioning, there are no dangers only obstacles to complete. Jumping over thorny hedgerows, scrambling over mountains, and skirting the edges of cliffs prove no problem at all. Angry landowners become non-playable characters (NPCs) – to be studied and skirted. This game-like approach brings order to chaos.
A Cultural Phenomenon
Straight line missioning is mostly innocuous, pointless, even inane; at its best, it feels transgressive in a cultural moment where masculinity is often blatantly harmful. On Reddit, there are stories of fathers and sons spending the weekend together completing their own challenge. The friendship and care shared by two New Zealand teenagers during their straight line mission reminded me of my own banal misadventures with friends from my youth.
Located in the southern hemisphere, New Zealand is an island country with a diverse geography.
It comprises two main islands: the North Island and the South Island.
The capital city is Wellington, while Auckland is the largest urban area.
New Zealand has a population of approximately 4.9 million people.
The country is known for its stunning natural beauty, including fjords, geothermal wonders, and rugged coastlines.
Its unique culture is influenced by Maori heritage and British colonial history.
A Political Purpose?
While traversing private land is technically against the law, GeoWizard views this as a form of transgression. By ‘missioning’ across England, he has successfully highlighted the inequity in land ownership, where less than 1% of the population owns most of the landmass. The Fieldhouse Boys were the first to take a perfectly direct route across Scotland, where land ownership is the most inequitable in the western world.
Reconnecting with Nature
The natural world appears nothing more than a vast wasteland when viewed from afar. However, it’s only when we walk through it that its complex ecology comes into focus. Straight line missioners may be encouraging us to reconnect with lands overruled by private owners and garish wealth. Perhaps this is one of the few internet phenomena that has inspired people to touch grass.
Nature encompasses all living and non-living elements that surround us, including ecosystems, landscapes, and the atmosphere.
It is a complex system that supports life on Earth, providing essential resources such as water, air, and food.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, 68% of global biodiversity is found in forests, followed by coral reefs at 15%.
Human activities have significantly impacted nature, leading to climate change, deforestation, and species extinction.
A Newfound Sense of Adventure
Miles Herbert’s foray into straight line missioning left him hooked despite the absurdity of it all. This challenge brings back memories of my own youth, with friends whom I lost touch with long ago. The friendship and care shared by two New Zealand teenagers during their straight line mission is a testament to the power of this internet phenomenon.
The world may be tumultuous and hostile, but nature is no different. By applying the internet’s gamified principles to the natural environment, we can bring order to chaos. In straight line missioning, there is only one objective – complete the route without interruption. If you fall, the worst thing that happens is the game restarting.
