The Outdoors Station

This podcast is an extract from the video interview I did recently with our European correspondent Roman Ackl and his impressions from Outdoor by Ispo the outdoor trade fair which has moved from Friedrichshafen to Munich in 2019.

If you want more information about the products please see the video on the website and YouTube.

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The world is a community and finding the right one for you can make a big difference in confidence as well as your future outlook. In this podcast I welcome several people to my community before speaking with Emma Frampton regarding Adventure Queens, a non for profit community specifically created to delicately smash down the barriers that prevent women from heading off on adventures.

They provide practical information, tips and advice on all things wild camping and the great outdoors. Little by little, bit by bit, Adventure Queens is helping women from the UK and beyond have the confidence to get out there and get WILD.

So this podcast is dedicated to community and how it can help women in particular who need support get the joy and pleasures many of us may take for granted, from the outdoors.

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It doesn’t seem too much to ask does it? One hour, to yourself, outside, taking stock, breathing in, getting some exercise on a daily basis?

But how many of us actually do this? Do you, like me perhaps, tell yourself that one hour in the garden doing tasks is the same thing. Or one hour cleaning the car, doing some DIY, cutting the hedges, cutting the lawns, rushing to the station is actually one hours worth of quality time?

Zoe Holmes of Spodzblogz has started this great simple idea in small steps for everyone to improve their life, by spending one hours worth of quality time outside. However the real challenge is to make that happen each day. Not just the weekend when you can squeeze it

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I spoke with Carl and Ellie last in September 2018 when they had 7 trails left to complete on their epic personal challenge of being the first people to walk every Waymarked Trail in the Republic of Ireland.

At the time they were tired and almost broke, but still determined to complete the task.

They took on Patreon as a way of getting financial support, something they felt uncomfortable doing, but it gave them the financial and emotional boost they needed to set about the rest of the trails without too much stress.

I'm please to say that in July this year they finally passed through the final stone gateway on the Wicklow Way to be greeted by an enthusiastic crown of family, friends and supporters who wanted to wish them well.

Continued on website

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This is a 30 minute extract from our world premier and the first video interview we’ve done on The Outdoors Station. After 15 years of producing audio podcasts for the self powered traveller who better to begin our new video series with than Katie Jane Endurance and her 2019 Iceland Traverse.

Katie undertook the 600km South to North Iceland Traverse in June 2019 as self supported lightweight hiking adventure. It wasn’t a race or a speed challenge, but more a trip into the remote wilds of Iceland to experience the remote wilderness this lava encrusted lunar landscape could offer the long distance hiker.

In total it took her 15 days to cover the 600kms where she covered more than a marathon a day carrying everything she needed in a 23kg pack.

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This is part two continuing my fascinating conversation with Jenny Wordsworth and concluding the Antarctic story which came to a sudden end when she had been Medivaced and received treatment which ultimately saved her life. See Podcast No 489.

We talk of training and commitment where Jenny quite rightly states that she doesn’t see it as sacrifice, more the ability to make time for the things in life you are passionate about. Which is an interesting way of looking at it. However she also explains how much commitment it took and that her social life and friends all felt that to see her or spend time with her, they too would have to pull a tyre around Hampstead Heath on cold wet, windy days.

Her approach to the sled and the contents will not come as a surprise to many outdoors folk who follow a ‘lighter ethos’ when it comes to gear. Many of us who do this evaluate the item concerned for its features and the parts which have use to us, and therefore the cutting off and stripping down of extraneous parts becomes natural.

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You may recall a news story at the beginning of the year when Jenny Wordsworth (Nee Davis) was emergency air lifted from her solo, unsupported and unassisted Antarctic land ski speed attempt from the South Pole. This may have been the first time you heard her name or became aware of this extraordinary endurance athlete.

Sadly she had two uncontrollable events which brought this attempt to an end. Firstly a Bowel infection and Peritonitis which came out of nowhere and secondly incredible bad weather which struck not only her but others too in the worst ’Summer Storms’ Antarctic had ever experienced.

In this first podcast of a two part interview we talk about the preparation and planning which goes into attempting something like this and the eye watering costs involved. Towards the end you’ll hear the moment it came to an end and the fortunate decision the Medivac team made which ultimately saved her life.

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This podcast features the effervescent artist Katie Tunn. Katie has a thing about islands and has just embarked on a challenge to bivvy camp on 82 of them around the UK. To explore the character of each location and use it as a platform to educate visitors and campers alike on Leave No Trace and to promote interaction with local businesses. We talk of many things, her acting debut, clearing up human waste at a Skye beauty spot, being a support crew for a recent LEJOG record and life as an artist on the Isle of Skye. Tune and download you will love it!

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This podcast is an interview with Beth Wickes. Someone who has given up her home and possessions to walk around the coast of the UK for the benefit of three very important outdoor based organisations.

Beth wouldn’t describe herself as a mountaineer, more an average rambler and this is the first time she has attempted anything more than a day walk. She has chosen to give up her comfortable life and hit the road carrying all she may need for the 2 winters she expects the trip to take, on her back.

She isn’t camping, she can’t carry the weight, but she is trying to live out of her bag for 12 months. She has no support vehicle, friends to send items ahead to, or emergency opt out. She can’t even return home if things take a turn for the worse.

Everything she is doing and has done, has been by herself. The whole process of planning the journey and trying to get some PR done in aid of the charities, the social media, and the daily attempts to get accommodation and support from the communities and the RNLI stations she passes through.

As we record this interview she is in Lancaster, looking north up past the Lake District to Glasgow, across the Edinburgh before heading down the East coast. She is currently finding the holiday season has made it very difficult to find accommodation so I am hoping supportive listeners in the area and in Scotland, will be able to offer some advise or assistance in some small way to help.

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In this podcast we catch up with Dermot Cosgrove who we spoke to back in Podcast No 482 as he was completing his prep in 40C heat of North Africa before walking the 620km trek though Iceland.

His route was sorted, his gear was checked, the weather was looking good and as a result of all the tough training he had been doing in the weeks prior to the trip, he was ready too.

However just a few days into it, something unexpected occurred which sadly brought the trip to sudden end. In this podcast you’ll hear what went wrong?

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