Always Another Adventure

In the Spring of 2023 Jamie Aarons set a new record for a self-propelled round of The Munros, Scotland's 282 mountains over 3,000ft in elevation.  Here she talks about her background, discovering hill-running, the community that helped her complete the challenge and the problems she overcame along the way.

Jamie's Just Giving page   Jamie's Website

Part 2.  Former British Mountain Bike champion, Active Nation Commission for Scotland, and now author of an excellent memoir (sort of memoir) Other Ways to Win we'll hear from the inspiring Lee Craigie.  Lee and I take a short ride together, chatting about the book and some of its deeper themes.  Lee reads passages from the book and these act as springboards for our conversation. 

There are too many adventure stories for one podcast, so part two comes soon.  I spoke to Lee about many of these adventures a couple of years ago, and that podcast will be re-released to tie into this publication.

There's also a video of part of our conversation - it's in a longer video telling the story of my own two-day cycle ride to visit her, called Other Ways to Lee.

Buy Other Ways To Win on Amazon.

Former British Mountain Bike champion, Active Nation Commission for Scotland, and now author of an excellent memoir (sort of memoir) Other Ways to Win we'll hear from the inspiring Lee Craigie.  Lee and I take a short ride together, chatting about the book and some of its deeper themes.  Lee reads passages from the book and these act as springboards for our conversation. 

There are too many adventure stories for one podcast, so part two comes soon.  I spoke to Lee about many of these adventures a couple of years ago, and that podcast will be re-released to tie into this publication.

There's also a video of part of our conversation - it's in a longer video telling the story of my own two-day cycle ride to visit her, called Other Ways to Lee.

Buy Other Ways To Win on Amazon.

Single-speed round-the-world cyclist Markus Stitz has written another book Bikepacking Scotland.  He runs the website of the same name and I met Markus in his home in Edinburgh.

Buy Bikepacking Scotland on Amazon (affiliate link)
Bikepacking Scotland.com

The parallels between solo ocean racing and other ultra endurance sports are not immediately obvious.  But as I listened to Pip Hare talk about her goal to complete the Vendee Globe - solo around the world race - for the second time, age 50, I heard striking and surprising parallels between this multi-million euro sport and simple ultra running or cycling.  At which Pip also excels.  She is part of the only team - a pair - to ever complete the running, cycling and sailing stages of the Three Peaks Yacht Race. 

So is it the hardest world's endurance event?  She'll be racing flat out, constantly looking to maximise speed relative to weather conditions, never truly able to sleep, for almost three months.  So it's tough.

Pip Hare Ocean Racing Website  Facebook  Twitter  Instagram   YouTube         
   

If you, a friend or a family member has an accident in the outdoors or elsewhere, would you know what to do?  Many lives have been lost because people wait for trained help to arrive rather than carrying out simple first aid.  I took a two-day first aid course with the First Aid Training Cooperative, part-owned by Cory Jones.  He talks us through the thinking behind outdoor first aid, and you'll hear clips from the training and my reaction to the pressure of realistic scenarios.

Cory also recorded a podcast about canoeing the Canadian Wilderness.

The First Aid Training Cooperative        Highland Experiences

If you enjoy this podcast, please support the hosting costs by buying me a virtual coffee at www.ko-fi.com/sunartmedia

Check out our YouTube channel and website 

Better known as a mountain and trail runner, when Donnie Campbell took up gravel cycling he started winning races and smashing FKTs.   Donnie has been on the podcast twice, talking about the wild places he runs (Ep. 2) and setting a new record for the fastest self-propelled round of Scotland's "Munro" mountains (Ep. 35). 

Now he explains his very different approach to bikepacking races - he doesn't sleep!  Well OK, that's not strictly true, but he doesn't sleep much, even on the 2000km off-road French Divide, reckoned to be the hardest bikepacking race in Europe.  We chatted in his kitchen.

Donnie's coaching website - Get Active Running    Instagram   Facebook

   

He’s one of America’s great hikers and the man who devised and created the Pacific Northwest Trail.  Ron Strickland has lived what he calls a "vagabondish" lifestyle, either on the USA’s trails or in Washington DC campaigning for his own. 

His memoir Pathfinder - the title is his trail-name - is a journey through a life spent outdoors, albeit with a few surprises.  “It was not emotionally cost free” he says at one point, and I try to find out the price he paid for such freedom.  We spoke the day after Ron’s eightieth birthday from his home in Hawaii.

Ron’s website      Pacific Northwest Trail Organization website

Buy Pathfinder by Ron Strickland on Amazon

Multi-part, 2022 PNT documentary
Older PNT video

As the fastest woman around the world on a bicycle releases the book of her journey and embarks on a UK speaking tour, this is an updated version of an interview we recorded three years ago.

Buy Jenny's Book (amazon affiliate link)
Jenny's website   Instagram    and speaking tour dates

lAdventures come in all shapes and forms.  The more complicated ones are often the most interesting.  Bella & Steve Molloy quit corporate jobs in their native Australia to set up a travel advisory business in the French Pyrenees.  Along the way, Bella got into ultra cycling and as recently started a podcast.

Seek Travel Ride website      Seek Travel ride podcast  YouTube   Facebook  Instagram

If you enjoy this podcast, please support the hosting costs by buying me a virtual coffee at www.ko-fi.com/sunartmedia

Check out our YouTube channel and website