The Outdoors Station

Time to escape and join Warren and Esther Sanders on a four year cycle trip. Wouldn't that be great, to pack up your life, cycle away from work and push off into the night? Just how easy is it? How much does it cost? What sacrifices have to be made in your life and, well, is it any fun? We join them in Jan 2012 as they rest up for Winter in Germany, after a year of cycling around New Zealand and the USA. In part one we discuss the setting off and New Zealand, and part two touches on the USA and some of many and varied people they have met so far on route. So sit back, log into 'The Sports Wool Diaries' and dream your next few hours away as think about your ideal big trip!

It's my first podcast of the year, which is perhaps slightly later than desired, however I do share with you all the reasons for the delay and hopefully it'll make up for it. We discuss the new 100% UK made wood burning stoves currently being released by backpackinglight.co.uk and share some of the technical dilemmas such an ambitious project entails. The new Outdoors Station website is now up and running in fine form and there's a brief introduction to that for those who haven't visited for a while. My MP3 player is slowly gathering new and interesting material from various sources, which I think may be of interest to fellow listeners and Andy Howell interviews the warden at Glen Affric Youth Hostel, as to his plans and preparations for the 2012 season, which will be of interest to TGO Challengers I'm sure. All in all, a feast for the ears. Enjoy!!

This is the second part of our 'Christmas within Tent', where Andy and I complete the final course of a traditional three course meal which was cooked during a storm in the worst weather of the winter so far, near Crickhowell, Brecon in the heart of Wales in 2011. Naturally an evening of fine dining wouldn't be complete without a wide ranging topic of discussion, and so we touch on manufacturing in the outdoors and various other related aspects of enjoyment and business in the UK outdoor industry. We head to bed early, holding onto the tent pole for most of the night, until we rise to a much calmer almost balmy morning of fine Autumnal sunshine and, more importantly, no rain. Breakfast is another real meal affair, and this time fresh, thick, juicy Pancakes are rustled up to set us up for the days walking ahead. Finally like all good days out, we complete our journey in a pub in Hay on Wye, and we all hear Andy agree to plan, prepare and cook something interesting, somewhere exciting, for our next big bay out! Stay tuned for that one!!

Is it possible to cook a ‘real’ three course Christmas meal under a shelter, in a storm, in December, in Wales? Well the answer is an emphatic ‘yes’! Truthfully, there were a few extra influences which I hadn’t really considered as I planned with military precision, my cooking techniques while sitting in a nice warm office. Namely that the weather conditions on that particular night, in that particular place could just be the worst of the year. 60 mph winds, heavy rain throughout the night and sub zero temperatures were forecast as the day drew near. Of course, if you are going to be doing any wild camping and cooking during December in Wales, you would have thought I would have taken that into account, like any sensible person? Well I did, I just didn’t expect to be cooking with one hand, as the other was occupied holding the tent down most of the evening! So how did this come about? Andy Howell, my friend and trusty part time contributor to the Podcasts called me a few weeks ago and said that we hadn’t had our promised Big Day Out trip during 2011 and it was about time we did something. Conversation flowed and looking back on i, ideas got expanded far too quickly. Before I knew it I had suggested that it was only right and proper that we should have our Christmas party, wild camping in Wales and cook a three course meal in the process. Follow the full story and pictures on the website www.theoutdoorsstation.co.uk

This is part two of the Cambodia ‘backpacking on a shoestring’ trip where Beth and her friend Claire took 3 weeks to travel around Cambodia in the early part of 2011. As they moved around on public transport, they had plenty of time on their hands and so recorded conversations with locals and other travelers on route. Full of atmosphere and ideas which will make you think, that maybe something away from the package trip could be much more rewarding in the long term.

As the Autumnal weather takes hold and the chill starts to reach the bones once again, it is easy to day dream about backpacking somewhere warm, exotic and ideally, cheap. Beth spent 3 weeks in Cambodia in the early part of 2011, with her friend Claire and a shoestring budget. They wanted to record and share their experience about the travel, accommodation and people they met on route to encourage others to consider independent travel as a cost effective alternative, in these financially austere times. This is part one of a two part series, where you get to travel for free with two twenty something women, living life to the ‘cost effective’ full, getting the most from Cambodia and all it has to offer.

This is the second part of the interview with David Lintern who recently completed a 500 mile journey along the border of France and Spain, using the high mountain routes of the Pyrenees, mostly the HRP, wild camping on the way, including a week's detour into Spain and the Ordesa Canyon during the 60 days trip. In the first part he talked about his preparations and the gradual changes which came over him as his left his normal urban world behind. Here we begin to get into the nitty gritty of the trip, the people and the equipment needed. Plus of course the commitment and costs of taking 60 days off work. Please view his blog while you listen to this, which is www.selfpowered.net as it is full of images from the trip, and there plenty of eloquent, amusing and interesting observations of the people he met and the places he traveled through. We continue where David starts to describe some of the people he walked with and the strangers he met on route, who soon became good friends.

You may remember the series of interviews with Chris Townsend which I released earlier on this year, where Chris was joined by David Lintern up in the Cairngorms for a series of interviews discussing conservation, writing and the art of long distance backpacking. No 321 to 323 if you're interested. Well the interviewer David Lintern himself has recently completed a 500 mile journey along the border of France and Spain, using the high mountain routes of the Pyrenees, mostly the HRP, wild camping on the way, including a week's detour into Spain and the Ordesa Canyon during the 60 days trip. This is the first part of a two part interview where he talks about the walk, his preparation, emotions and practicalities of taking 60 days off work. Please view his blog while you listen to this, which is www.selfpowered.net as it is full of images from the trip, and there plenty of eloquent, amusing and interesting observations of the people he met and the places he traveled through. In this part he describes the route and how he came, as a recent convert to lightweight backpacking, to undertake such a committed walk and the changes in emotions and approach which gradually took over.

After a bit of a delay here's our latest offering which gives you a round up of recent commercial news from the outdoors trade, a look at some new products due in 2012 and a discussion regarding blogging and the increasing influences of outdoor PR companies. Of course we also update you on some of the general outdoor gossip regarding GoYomp, Inov-8 and Golite. Small decisions which may effect your purchase opportunities in 2012!

The Channel Island Way Pt 6. Having witnessed the numerous German fortifications dotted around the islands, the evacuation history as told by John and Peggy Laine brings the whole episode to life and makes the emotion of those times much more real. However, an early start for us and a short flight transports us to Alderney where we complete the circuit of the island before chatting with Joanna Parmentier about island life and some of the key moments it has played in history. Lastly we conclude our trip with a delightful trip out on a Sea Kayak in the company of Anthony Ford-Parker. Useful links; www.visitguernsey.com - www.vaugratcampsite.com - www.auringy.com - www.alderney.gov.gg - www.outdoorguernsey.co.uk