Adventure She magazine, Issue 12, December 2020

Adventure She Empower Educate Entertain

Featuring Summiting Mount Everest Mountain Gorillas Eco-Diving Malaysia Crossing China Coping With Mental Health Reflections of an Ultra Runner and lots more

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Adventure She magazine, Issue 12, December 2020

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Welcome From Our Editor rather than some other life. She very kindly gave me a very frank interview and well, I was totally inspired by her. It really is true, if we are not living the life we want to live, then what are we prepared to change, so we can work towards our dreams?

Welcome to the December 2020, the 12th issue of Adventure She magazine.

Well despite the year we’ve had, with all its up and downs, we’ve made it to the holiday season. With a year of such magnitude now almost behind us, it’s a good time to reflect on what’s been, not just this last year, but throughout.

For Zoe Pye, she’s been working on her running and is currently living the dream.

Ok, not quite the dream as there’s Covid 19 all around. But she’s making the most of life, doing her city job from Chamoinx in the French Alps. As for her annual leave, well this year she spent some of that exploring various Alpine trails. The mountains can of course be unforgiving, only a few weeks ago top Swiss ultra-runner Andrea Huser tragically died during an accident on a training run. Zoe doesn’t just share her journey with us, she also shares some of her thoughts on risk, risk assessment and risk management.

So in this issue we’re reflecting on themes raised in our previous issues. Some previous authors return, and there’s new ones too.

Bea Meitiner writes about strategies she’s used for dealing with her mental health issues, which was the theme of our first issue. Our second issue had lots of articles on travelling with children. What better way to share the experiences of an under 18, than by having a minor write the story themselves? Enter Agata Stepinska who writes about her travels in Indonesia when aged 13 and written when 14.

Issue 6 of Adventure She was full of stories about women who had doubted, or who were refusing to give in to doubts, and who had gone on to conquer. Guess what, whilst many of our authors this time around might have faced challenges, or risks, or uncertainties, doubt wasn’t a feeling that really came to mind. We’re thrilled about that. Hopefully we’re all learning that rather than doubting ourselves, instead let’s focus on identifying our goals, then ascertaining what steps we need to undertake to reach our goals. Yes, let’s seize the moment to achieve our goals. Kate Lews shares how after having two children, and whilst working, she seized the moment to take up rowing. There’s a second seize the moment article too, this one’s about Cuba and how both Caroline Powell and myself separately seized the moment to explore Cuba by bike.

One barrier to appreciating our world and to making the most of our life, is fear. Fear can impact us by stopping us from doing things like climbing, or by crippling us so we under perform in an exam, or even from going for a new job. Another type of fear is fear of the changes that are happening to our planet. So, how would Nuraini Arsad deal with her fears for the planet and her fear of whether she could pass the tests to become a qualified eco-diver?

Fear of change is actually what holds many of us back. Not so our cover person Nadhira Alharthy, who embraced change she of could a so lifetime bodylive the life of her dreams, 2

Adventure She magazine, Issue 12, December 2020

It’s fine to talk about goals and seizing the moment, but how do we react when faced with obstacles, challenges that really try to stop us. Caroline Bramwell faced a real health crisis. Her resilience and fortitude is amazing. Last time around we reviewed her book, but this time around Caroline has very kindly shared more of her story with us. I think we can all learn something from her.

What Caroline did involved getting out of her comfort zone. Justine Hall did the same too, but in a very different way, by travelling across China on train, not in first of second class, but in hard sleeper (kind of third class). She may not have been rowing an ocean or cycling across a continent, but we certainly think her trip counts as an adventure. Her trip was in 2016. She makes some very interesting observations, on issues that are increasing appearing in the press, about the situation in Western China. Her article also illustrates that we can all get out there and do stuff, whether or not we are super fit or otherwise, that adventure doesn’t have to comprise some physical feat.

This year Covid 19 has turned almost everyone’s life upside down. Some of you may have lost loved ones. To you, we extend our heartfelt condolences. Others amongst you may still be suffering the after effects of Covid 19 or might be ill right now.

Still more of you might be in lockdown, as I am (ok technically it’s tier 4, but may as well be called lockdown). All too often in

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the past I have seen the glass as half empty, never half full. Working on Adventure She though has really helped me change my focus. Now it’s about being grateful for what I do have, rather than focusing on what I have lost, or would like but don’t have. Don’t worry, the article on gratitude, isn’t by me, but is a collaboration, Rhiannon Swannell’s story as told by her to Tracey Ashford. Rhiannon reflects with gratitude on her time with the mountain gorillas of the then Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Last time around Adventure She looked at leadership. We hope you like our articles on leadership, for Louise Kennedy writes about setting up a club for women who want to climb and mountaineer.

Leadership is also why Sabrina Verjee is our December 2020 What A Woman. What she did this last summer, is a testament to her values.

This issue extends to 145 pages, so probably our biggest issue to date. Given the articles by Zoe and Louise on the Alps, we’ve therefore held over the last part of our UTMB reports. Not ideal, but something had to go, or else the magazine would be too big to go on our website. I wish you all the best holiday season possible in the circumstances and if you are in a covid 19 free zone, enjoy it to the maximum, for none of us ever know when life might throw us a curve ball.

Jane

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Adventure She is published by TNA Consulting Services Ltd, the address of the registered of which can be obtained from Companies House. The entire contents are protected by copyright and all rights are reserved. Reproduction without prior permission is forbidden. Every care is taken in compiling the contents of the magazine, but the publishers assume no responsibility in the effect arising therefrom, Readers are advised to seek professional advice before acting on any information which is contained in the magazine. Neither TNA Consulting Services Ltd nor Adventure She magazine accept any liability for 3 TNA Consulting Services Ltd. All Rights Reserved. andexpressed, pictures used, or claims made. Copyright © 2020 views

From The

Adventure She magazine, Issue 12, December 2020

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Topics In This Issue Of Adventure She Magazine

Page 6 – Mental Health

Page 16 – Adventure With Children in Indonesia

Page 22 Dealing With Fear in Malaysia

Page 32 – Implementing Change in Oman and on Mount Everest

Page 46 Book Review

Page 66 – Tips On Applying For A Fulbright Scholarship

Page 48 – Risk Assessment and Management in the Alps

Page 76 – Book Reviews

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Page 58 – Seizing the moment through rowing

Page 68 – Seizing The Moment – Exploring Cuba

Page 86 – Resilience, Ileostomy and Triathlon

Page 94 – Getting Out of the Comfort Zone in China

Page 114 – Leadership and What A Woman

Page 118 – Gratitude and East Africa’s Mountain Gorillas

Page 140 Seasons Greetings and Coping

Page 126 – Leadership and the Mountains

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Dogs, Horses, Adventure and Mental Health By Bea Meitiner What lurks beneath our skin? What turmoil lies there? What secrets do we hide? Mental health now receives more coverage than in used to. which is good, for it needs to be destigmatized. But what causes it and how to we deal with it? The causes are wide and varied and can be internal, external or both. How we deal with it, also differs. Here Bea Meitiner shares her four coping strategies.

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Four Key Elements

T

here is something rather special about being nuzzled by a horse. As a child, whenever life got too much, whenever I felt the stress building up inside me, I’d always find solace by sitting in my pony’s manger. The rhythmic sound of him munching hay, the occasional ruffle of my hair; that was all that was needed to calm me down.

1. Animals When you go through childhood abuse, it is not surprising that you grow up with a warped sense of right and wrong, of good and bad, of evil and friendly. Although I was seemingly a happy child there was a storm building up inside me. A storm made of shame, hatred, confusion, sadness, love. My moral compass was never set straight and my emotions were out of control.

Of course, life isn’t quite so easy when you grow up. Society has set expectations of how we should act and feel; expectations that can be hard to meet when you have your own internal battles going on. Battles that we are often scared to share for fear that they will be held against us.

I reckon had I not been surrounded by animals I would very easily have fallen in with the wrong crowd (and there were plenty of those where I grew up). Instead my “gang” consisted of horses, goats, sheep, dogs, cats, cattle, rabbits, pigs, guinea pigs, turkeys, chickens, peacocks, ducks and even emus!

Those two nights a week I spent on my mum’s farm in the middle of nowhere, were the happy days, that was my haven, my safe place!.

I had a turbulent childhood, one that left me scarred. Invisible scars that I will wear for the rest of my life. Scars that surface at the most inappropriate moments, that drag me down when life is good. Scars that cause me irrational fear and sadness, that threaten to tip the balance of life. However, scars that I have learnt to use to push me forward, to help me achieve, to be better and do better.

Scars that I have embraced, that I work with rather than against.

The animals gave me a coping mechanism that would shape the rest of my life to date: a sense of adventure. I spent hours exploring the local countryside. The dogs joined me wherever I went, and the locals laughed at “young Bea and her pack of dogs”. It must have been quite a sight, a young kid running along with anywhere up to 5 dogs at any

I am a great believer that we shouldn’t be victims of our mental health, but instead we should embrace it and work with it and be successful in spite of it. Mine is a story of success; of overcoming childhood sexual, physical and mental abuse and still managing to lead a happy and balanced life. It hasn’t been an easy journey and there have been many ups and downs. I’m sure there will be more to come, however I have certainly broken away from the mould that was laid out for me whilst growing up.

My recovery has been shaped by four key stages in my life: animals, challenges, travel and helping others.

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behaviour, as behaviour is the only characteristic determining who you are.

“I learned to pick myself up when I fell down, to dust myself off and try again. Those lessons have been invaluable, after all, life has a habit of tripping you up!”

Billy the pony was another great teacher. It took some years for him to stop bucking me off. I think I walked home more times than I rode home for the first couple of years! Let’s just say he had a sense of humour! He definitely taught me determination and perseverance, two traits that I very much still possess today! I learned to pick myself up when I fell down, to dust myself off and try again. Those lessons have been invaluable, after all, life has a habit of tripping you up!

time. If heading up the hill (and it was a very steep hill!!) I’d put leads on a couple of the dogs and let them pull me up. Other times we lay down, curled up together and took a nap.

He also taught me ingenuity. There were a couple of apple trees in his field which he couldn’t reach. I could of course climb the tree and shake the branches, but I couldn’t reach them all. I could, however, stand on his back and shake the whole tree! My mum never did understand why there were never any apples on that tree!

Those dogs, they (taught me what unconditional love is. They taught me everyone deserves to be loved, no matter who they are or what they do. They taught me the only thing you should ever judge, is

Malito 1999 - Who went on to win Spanish Championship

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But more than anything he taught me trust. A horse is naturally a flighty animal, and therefore relies heavily on the reassurance of the rider that they are safe. However, as a rider you are never truly in control, there is no amount of strength that will prevent a horse from doing what they want, if they really want to.

About Student Riding Student Riding is a great team sport for riders which doesn’t require you having your own horse.

It is when that bond of trust is created between horse and rider that a true partnership is formed. It’s the kind of partnership that will enable both of you to do things you would otherwise not do alone. I remember this one time that we had got lost on our hack. Night was settling in and the woods around got darker and darker until they were pitch black. I no longer knew where we were, so I dropped the reins and let Billy guide us home. We made it back safely!

Whether at regional, national or international level, the format is the same. Teams are made up 4 riders.

The host provides the horses: 4 for dressage and 4 for jumping. Each horse is ridden by 4 people, one from each team. Each rider gets 5 minutes warm up on the unknown horse for dressage, and 5 minutes for jumping with a maximum of 2 practice fences.

You are scored only against the other riders on that horse, meaning the quality or ability of the horse is uniform.

2. Competitiveness For as long as I remember I have always been competitive. In fact, that competitiveness, and the thirst for success, was the coping mechanism that I developed to help me through the turmoil that was going on inside. We could spend a long time analysing why I developed that particular coping strategy, but the reality of it is that I’m glad I did. It’s what drove me to always give 110%, to seek out ways to improve and to learn, and to essentially be the best version of me that I could.

At national and international level there are 4 rounds. The best person on each horse going through to the next round. Whereas you may not be expected to do much more than a Novice dressage test and jump 1 metre course on the first round, you can expect to be doing Prix St George (really tough requiring an extremely high level of horsemanship by the rider and an experienced and superbly trained horse) dressage tests and jumping up to 1,40m in the final rounds! And don’t forget, you will only have sat on the horse for a maximum of 5 minutes and two jumps!

The problem with having developed a coping mechanism that requires you to be the best, is that it becomes incredibly hard when despite your best efforts you are not, and when the only thing that is holding you together is winning, when you don’t win the lows can be unbearable. Losing in my mind equalled rejection, shame, guilt, embarrassment. It didn’t matter if the loss was a big championship or a game of pool, I couldn’t help but feel these incredibly strong emotions which I struggled to control. When your sole coping mechanism is winning, and

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you lose, it feels like your world is tumbling out of control.

This inability to lose had both a negative and a positive impact. It meant I worked incredibly hard to ensure I succeeded. I spent every hour I could at the yard, riding any pony that came my way, joining every lesson I could, watching and questioning the professionals.

Despite not having the money to buy expensive ponies, in fact, we got them off the mountain, I broke them in and then brought them on to sell, I still managed to win a gold and a bronze medal at the 1999 Spanish pony Championships at the age of 13. A succession of other regional and national wins followed, always on a “mountain” pony.

SRNC Germany, on route to a gold

At university I was lucky enough to not only join the team, but also be part of the GB student riding team where I competed alongside now world champion Rosalind Canter.

The same determination to do my best meant that despite not being half as good as rider as the rest, I left every nations cup with a medal, including two individual golds in Germany.

SRNC Germany

However, my fear of failure meant I never turned up to the world try outs. I had been short listed to represent GB at the Student Riding World Championships. The fear of failing, of not being selected, was too much. 4 hours into my journey to try outs, whilst sitting in a traffic jam, I decided to turn around, throwing away a once in a lifetime chance. My fear of failure also meant I wouldn’t try new things. I couldn’t cope with the notion of being the worst at something. I wonder how many offers I declined just so I could avoid making a fool of myself if I wasn’t any good?

SRNC Germany, final round

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3. Personal Challenges Winning Isn’t Everything

clocking up the miles and finding hills to climb. I even took up running and worked on my strength so I could carry and lift my bike as needed. For many adventurers, the West Highland Way is likely not a big deal. For an overweight, unfit, scaredy cat on a bike, it was a huge deal. Getting to the start line alone involved far more sweat, blood and tears (and epic bruises) than I would have liked. Yet, those 6 months were the best months for my mental health. I was focused, I was determined, and I was happy.

The challenge itself was great. The West Highland Way is beautiful, and we were blessed with nice weather. It did involve a lot more pushing and carrying than I would have

Luckily, I have learnt that winning isn’t everything. That there is a difference between being the best and trying your best. And if you have done everything you possible can, and it wasn’t enough, then you have nothing to be ashamed of. I know that now, although I do sometimes have to remind myself. It has been, however, one of the toughest lessons to learn!

One of the ways I put this new way of thinking to the test is through physical challenges, ones where I’m only competing against myself and the task at hand. I find setting myself a goal that will stretch me, that will push me outside of my comfort zone, that will involve learning something new, and that will take everything out of me, is one of the best ways to help me maintain a clearer perspective on life.

“Luckily, I have learnt that winning isn’t everything… between being the best and trying your best. And if you have done everything you possible can, and it wasn’t enough, then you have nothing to be ashamed of…”

It helps me rebalance and it enables me to channel that thirst for success into something physical, where winning equals persevering; as opposed to a competitive challenge, or an intellectual one, or a work related one, where winning is simply not guaranteed because I’d be comparing myself to someone else.

The first proper challenge I set myself was biking the West Highland Way. At the time of setting this challenge I had only been mountain biking once and hated it! I didn’t like going up or down and unless the surface was flat the likelihood is, I was pushing! Yet, I decided that within 6 months of that first ride I would tackle the West Highland Way, 154 km of the finest Scottish countryside with over 4,400 metres of elevation. A route designed to be walked, not biked, yet I had read a few people had managed it, so I figured I could too!

liked, and I regret not having learnt to bunny hop on the bike to get over the huge drainage ditches that ruined all the fun downhills, but the feeling of exhaustion at the end of every day was magical. I may have lost all feeling in my bum, and by the end I may have been unable to lift my leg to get on the bike, but the exhilaration of having completed something that I thought I would be incapable of completing was thrilling.

I started biking every weekend, I joined a beginner’s course, and then an intermediate course. I got comfortable on blue routes, and then red routes, and then off piste. I started 11

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4. Travel Travel broadens the mind. It gives you perspective and understanding, and in my case gave me a kick up the backside to make me realise I was the lucky one.

I have always enjoyed travelling. I’m a curious individual and I love learning new things and meeting new people (despite being highly unsociable). It wasn’t really until I met my husband that I got the opportunity to travel “properly”. Our first “out of our comfort zone” trip was China, a country that truly shocked our senses. I was fascinated by the country, the food, the people, the culture and the history. It was during that trip that I truly fell in love with travel and since then we have enjoyed many great trips: Thailand, Argentina, Brazil, Poland, Romania, Chernobyl, Iceland, US, Morocco, Vietnam…. the list is long.

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I’ve written about Cambodia before (September 2020 issue 11, Adventure She magazine), but it’s impact upon me is so profound, it’s worth reiterating , that what I learned during my trip to Cambodia, has been one of the biggest catalysts for change in my life and to my mental health.

Before visiting the country, I knew little to nothing about the Khmer Rouge regime. I was astonished to find out the atrocities that had taken place a mere 40 years ago. A quarter of the population killed, hundreds of thousands of others kept in concentrations camps, all within the lifetime of the majority of adults we came across. There wouldn’t have been a single person we interacted with, that had not been affected by the Khmer Rouge, if not them, then definitely their parents.

Yet despite the tragedy that had taken place and the fact that more than 4.5 million people still live below the poverty line, we were met with nothing but warmth and generosity. As we explored the country it dawned on me 13

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how lucky I was. I would not wish certain aspects of my childhood on even my worse enemies, but what happened to me pales in comparison to what happened during the Khmer Rouge regime, to what happens every day in war torn countries.

to be more than just about my travel stories, I wanted it to make a difference. But how?

That is when I decided that I’d focus at least one of my trips a year (ideally all but my husband isn’t as adventurous as me) on visiting a developing country that could benefit from the income sustainable tourism could provide. There are so many amazing places in the world that get completely overlooked. Not just countries, but even regions within specific countries. Could I bring a focus to the communities that were ready to welcome tourists by visiting them, learning about them, and then writing my story so that other intrepid travellers would be inspired to follow my footsteps?

I at least had food, access to clean water, a great education, and the opportunity to become whoever I wanted to be as an adult.

Yes, things that should never happen happened, but so did great things too. I had a choice, I could remain bitter for ever about it, or I could accept it was a part of my past and move on. And that was when I realised, I wanted to start doing some good in the world.

Do good for others, not for you.

That journey is only just beginning, so my answer to that question is “I hope so”. My first “off the beaten path” adventure was going to be Sierra Leone, where I should have been during May 2020. I was travelling to Sierra

When I returned from Cambodia I knew I wanted to have a bigger positive impact on the world and for my travel and challenges to become more meaningful. I wanted my blog

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Leone with Street Child, a charity that works in the most impoverished countries in the world ensuring all kids get access to an education. I feel very strongly about the opportunities that are uncovered through education, giving communities the opportunities to step out of poverty.

postponed, I have decided to upgrade my run to a marathon.

The next chapter The path to recovery is a long, undulating path, with plenty of hairpin bends that threaten to knock you off course. However, what I have learnt is that we are in control of our destiny, and we do have the power to decide whether we become victims of our mental health or not. The past is the past, nothing you do or say will ever change it. You have the choice to either fight it or accept it.

Once you are able to make your peace with it though, that is when you can truly begin to grow. I don’t know what the next chapter in my life will bring, but I am certainly excited to find out.

As well as spending a week visiting the various projects Street Child is involved in, I had also set myself the challenge of running a half marathon whilst I was there. Like with my previous challenges, running is not something I would normally do. In fact, at the start of my journey in January I was 3 stone overweight and a self-described couch potato, giving me 5 months to get half marathon fit.

Sadly, COVID-19 has for now put a stop to my Sierra Leone trip, so the next chapter of my recovery story is yet to be written.

However, because the event has been

About Bea Meitiner Now calls herself a survivor after years of struggling with the events of the past. Her determination to succeed through her riding and academia, and later through her challenges, has she says, enabled her to avoid a path of self-destruction and instead, to settle on a path of learning, passion and kindness.. Bea now aims to combine her love for travel and adventure with her passion for helping others. She hopes to be able to share her experiences, particularly with kids and teenagers, to empower them to believe in themselves and to choose a path that will provide them happiness. Bea still rides, although her competitive days are long gone. Her focus now is on bringing on young horses that others can then enjoy riding.

How to Follow Bea on Social Media Website:

https://bea-adventurous.com/

Instagram: @bea_adventurous_ Facebook: Bea Adventurous

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Exploring Indonesia at 13 By Agata Stepinska

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In our second issue we included several stories about adventuring with children. We’ve also included stories by under 18’s on some of their favourite activities like hiking, swimming and kayaking. If you have an adventurous daughter, niece or granddaughter, why not suggest she sends us a story. You never know, it too might get publishes.

Agata Stepinska who is Polish and lives in Poland, was 14 when she wrote this article on Indonesia. We very much hope her writing might inspire other 14 year olds and their parents to explore the world, when it is once again safe to do so.

About Indonesia Indonesia is a big country located in Southeastern Asia. With population above 250 million people it has 14th biggest surface in the world.

It contains thousands of islands and has beautiful coral reefs.

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Nature Indonesia is known for coral reefs. There are many of them along the shores of islands. There are plenty of trips by motorboats to small islands or colorful beaches. Snorkeling is very funny – you are wearing a mask and a little tube to breath normally. Because of that the person who is just under the water can admire sea life. Another island that we visited was Flores. It is near Komodo National Park. From there we made a few boat trips. One was to beaches in three colors - pink, yellow and black.

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Animals Another trip from Flores was to see Komodo dragons. They are big creatures up to 3 meters long. Strange fact about them that they need to hide on trees, not to be eaten by older generations, for up to 4 years. Small Komodo dragon is going down only when it's thirsty (twice a week)

Food One of the most important things to be done was to attempt a cooking lesson (our lasted four 4 hours). It was very useful because we knew what we can eat afterwards. The main meal usually consists of rice and curry (vegetables sometimes with tofu or meat in curry sauce), satai (chicken or tuna grilled on banana leaf), tempeh (fermented soya beans sometimes in sweat soya sauce) and smashed chicken with spices in banana leaf. As a sauce Indonesians use smashed peanuts with spices and sweet soya sauce. As a dessert we made Pandam pancakes with natural pigment from Pandam flower with coconut and palm sugar filling.

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Temples There are many Buddhist temples on Bali and they serve three different purposes.

First are public, everyone can come inside but only wearing sarong (big shawl twisted around legs).

Second belong to villages, you can access them with person living in a village.

The last kind is built near house on the eastern side.

There is a tradition that the first raised building must be a temple.

Around Jogjakarta there are the biggest Buddhist and Hindu temples Borobudur and Prambananan. There is also the Chicken Church [Editor’s note, yes seriously, that is not a typo] serving the followers of Christian, Muslim and Buddhist religion.

About Agata Stepinska As Agata is under 18, sorry, but we’re not providing any more information here.

If you should wish to get in touch, please do so through us and we’ll endeavour to pass on your message through her mother.

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Fear and Qualifying as a Reef Check Volunteer Scuba Diver By Nuraini Arsad 22

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Five years after receiving her scuba diving certification, and 3 years since she first met the people from Reef Check Malaysia in the country’s Perhentian Islands, Nuraini Arsad decided to herself try and qualify as a certified eco diver.

But would she pass the strict buouancy test and would she pass the identificiation tests? With Covid 19 having hit the world, would she even be able to do the course and take the test?

If we allow fear of failure to hold us back, what would we every achieve? None of us know for sure that we’ll pass our driving test? None of us know whether we’ll pass any exams we might be studying for. None of us know ever know if our current adventure might result in a deathly accident. But if we live our life in fear, then what life are we living, the life we really want, or some half life?

So how would Nuraini Arsad deal with her fears in respect of whether she had the ability to qualify as an eco diver?

H

eadquartered in California, Reef Check Foundation is a non-profit with a mission to promote community stewardship for sustainable reefs. The Reef Check Eco Diver certification program is one of their citizen science programmes. It enables volunteers to join in reef surveys, which allows more reefs to be surveyed every year.

Reef Check Malaysia is the local chapter in Malaysia. It is also the main partner of Malaysia’s Marine Parks Department, assisting park authorities with data

collection and cultivating island community stewardship.

The value of tropical coral reefs The coral reef is a critical ecosystem for humans, particularly for archipelago and island communities.

Despite covering only 1% of the ocean, they are home to a quarter of marine species, due to the complex reef structures provided by the calcareous skeletons of corals.

According to the World Economic Forum, this abundant biodiversity

provides food for a billion people around the world and generates $172 billion in revenue through industries such as tourism.

In Malaysia, more than half a million tourists visit Marine Parks every year.

Pressures Reef ecosystems worldwide have come under increasing pressure.

Sewage and surface runoff from land interrupt the balance of nutrients in the coral ecosystem, encouraging smothering of corals by algae growth.

Over-harvesting of reef fish that graze on the algae further worsen the problem.

Photo opposite, Tioman Staghorn_Acropora with a school of damselfish ,All photographs courtesy of Nuraini Arsad @tejaonthehorizon 23

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On top of that, global warming has led to a continual increase in sea temperatures, taking it above the tolerance level of most coral species. This stress, results in the coral expelling its symbiotic zooxanthellae, leading to a starvation period since zooxanthellae produce most of the food the coral needs to survive. The process is called a ‘bleaching’, because the absence of zooxanthellae reveals the white calcium skeleton of the coral, and the colourful tropical reef turns ghostly white. If the stress is prolonged, the coral will then die.

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Besides pressure on the coral itself, other marine life within the parks face additional threats. For example, turtle populations are at risk from plastic pollution that is reaching critical levels, boat strikes, as well as illegal egg harvesting.

Challenges in Malaysia In Malaysia, our reefs face all of these risks, but some are more difficult to resolve than others. The islands with fringing reefs are beautiful, perfect for tourism.

Braching coral Tioman_Acropora

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But, the past tourism trend has focused on increasing visitor numbers, leading to ever more accommodation space built on tiny islands.

Few islands have upgraded sewerage and drainage infrastructure to match the increased density. And on little Tioman Island, there have been two attempts to build a second airstrip, so that high capacity planes can land right into the Marine Park.

With large numbers of short term tourists, come large amounts of waste, much of it plastic. Even islands with regular waste transports to the mainland are at capacity, the barges overloaded during peak

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periods. Some islands do not have such services at all. Glass can be crushed into sand, food waste can be composted. But there’s nothing much you can do with plastic on an island.

Further out on the reef, increased rates of fishing in the South China Sea have resulted in more ghost nets being found on our reefs.

These are nets which are discarded from fishing boats, floating in the water until they snag on coral reefs, continuing to snare and kill marine life all along the way. There are simply so many threats to these reef ecosystems that we rely on, for so much.

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You can’t manage what you don’t measure We tend to be most familiar with initiatives that try to improve this situation. But what underlies everything, from identification of the problem to evaluating which initiatives are working (or not working), is consistent environmental monitoring.

That’s where the Eco Diver survey expeditions come in.

Eco Divers are experienced scuba divers who are trained by Reef Check in their survey methodology so that we can volunteer as additional manpower to help

carry out this important work. As a scientist myself, the idea of diving to help conservation efforts and data collection appealed to me. Moreover, I could get the opportunity to visit islands that I may not visit on my own. As a sustainable traveller looking to increase the regenerative value of my travels, it was a great option.

How to quality as an Eco Diver There are three important things you need to become an Eco Diver.

Tioman pink Acropora

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First, in order to sign up, you have to be a reasonably experienced diver. Reef Check requires at least 25 dives, and this is because Eco survey dives are working dives. So you have to already be able to look after yourself.

Eco Divers dive close to delicate reef ecosystems,coming closer than a recreational diver should. Eco Divers also sometimes need to stay place for a while,in order to correctly identify species. So the second skill Eco-Divers must have is good buoyancy. Just because you’re an experienced diver, doesn’t mean you have good buoyancy, that’s why the first screening to becoming an Eco Diver, is to test a person’s buoyancy skills. This takes place in a swimming pool, nowhere near a coral reef!

Thirdly, you have to be able to identify the indicator species a survey is looking for. So, after passing the buoyance test, you have to study! This takes place over 3 days on an island, during which you’re taught how to distinguish between species in a classroom setting as well as underwater.

Identification tasks on a Reef Check survey dive deal with fish, invertebrate and substrate. It’s possible to qualify for only one, and still join a Reef Check survey.

However, it means that you can only do the task that you qualified for. I wanted to qualify for all of them.

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My journey to getting certified as an Eco Diver Although I had wanted to sign up for a while, I didn’t get around to it until 2019.

That was mainly because I was going through a phase where I pushed the boundaries of learning how I could travel in new ways.

Those travels took me around the world, and when I was done, I felt ready. I felt it was time for me to shift into regenerative travel. I put my name up for the next

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Eco Diver intake in Malaysia.

I was thankful that when I did my Advanced PADI certification, it was with a conservationist, who had made it mandatory for one of the modules to be Peak Performance Buoyancy!

The Eco Diver buoyancy screening is similar to the PADI module, and happily even though the byouancy test is tough, I passed.

Work kept me busy in the later part of 2019, so I booked a mid-2020 slot to complete my certification on

Nudibranch

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Tioman. I planned to combine it with a semivacation scuba holiday beforehand, to refresh my dive skills and contribute to the island economy. But then, 2020 happened.

Malaysia was one of the first countries reporting Covid19 cases, and as the world was thrown into confusion over how to fight this novel disease, we went into nationwide lockdown in March. No one knew knew how long it would take to flatten the curve of contagion and no one knew

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when domestic tourism would reopen.

Miraculously, in June Malaysia got its first wave under control. Movement restrictions were eased, and do mestic tourism was allowed to re-open by the end of June. My training in Tioman was scheduled for the first week of July. I began to wonder, could it be that I would be able to do it after all?

Ferry services resumed.

Some hotels and resorts opened for bookings again.

Covid19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) were issued for dive centres. It was a go!

Because of the upheaval due to the pandemic, only one other student was there with me on Tioman Georgia, an expat based in Kuala Lumpur, who had remained in the country. As an introvert, that suited me just fine. Both of us made the sensible decision to stay at the Swiss Garden, where Tioman Dive Centre is located. We did all of our training dives with their equipment support.

Survey training on Tioman Island Our Reef Check trainer was Shahir, who is based on the island. The Reef Check office on the island was in the centre of Tekek village waterfront. We spent the mornings learning species identification theory for

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corals, as well as indicator fish and invertebrates.

After the class sessions we went on training dives, where Shahir tested our ability to use our newfound knowledge to correctly identify the surveyed species. Georgia and I took turns to be tested; we were free to look around when it was not our turn.

I thought I would find fish identification the most difficult, since they move around a lot, and I’m easily distractible. But surprisingly, I did pretty well with fish ID on a dive compared to photos. I guess, in real life, the way the fish moves and interacts with the reef is additional information I must have learned without realising, across all of my previous snorkelling and diving. It was the invertebrates that I found really hard!

But identification was not the only thing we were trained to do. Eco Dive surveys collect data for scientific purposes, so we were also taught the survey methodology to obtain representative and comparable ‘samples’.

Taking a sample involves laying a transect line, and knowing where you would make your observations for the different identification tasks (and when not to record any data). For example, for fish, you’d swim to either side of the transect line and count 29

indicator species within 2.5m from the line, and 5m above. But you would stay along the line for substrate, and take a reading every half metre.

We tried this out on land first. Our trainer laid the line on the beach, and we pretended to carry out each survey task, at the pace and intervals required. The mock survey dive was last of all, which is when we buddied up as if we were doing it for real.

It sounds easy, but it’s not as straightforward when you’re in the water! It’s astonishingly easy to find yourself out of the survey zone while counting sea urchins, and then have to remember what count you were on before you got carried away! Not to mention, I discovered that maintaining buoyancy for recreational diving is easier than when you’re trying to concentrate on actual work.

I was in envy of Shahir’s effortless stillness.

“You get more precise with experience,” said Shahir assuringly.

The Exam Georgia had the initiative to talk Shahir into giving the exam at the balcony of her chalet. I was glad for it. It was certainly a more pleasant location than an air-conditioned office room.

We were given a slideshow of images for each

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identification task, and had to score at least 90% to pass (it’s a high bar!).

I resigned myself to qualifying for fish, and maybe substrate. At least one, I hoped! We graded each other’s papers as Shahir called out the answers afterwards. We passed fish. And then we passed invertebrate. Could we…?

We could! We passed substrate! And we didn’t just pass either - we scored the highest scores logged for Reef Check Malaysia Eco Divers!

What that means is, I am now allowed to participate in Reef Check’s monitoring surveys in the Indo-Pacific region, collecting data that helps reef managers monitor the health of coral reefs.

Hopefully as a qualified Eco Diver, I can join other EcoDivers and play my part in protecting reefs for the future.

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About Nuraini Arsad Nuraini Arsad, or Teja as she is known, is an environmental scientist from Malaysia with a love for nature, travel and discovery.

In our September 2019 issue, she wrote about the Mah Meri aboriginal people of Malaysia.

You can follow Teja on the following social media channels: Website: hhtps://www.tejaonthehorizon.com Facebook: @Teja.on.the.Horizon Instagram: @tejaonthehorizon Pinterest:

@tejaonthehorizon

Eco Diver survey training in Malaysia Courses booked directly with Reef Check Malaysia, have their survey methodology and identification training on Tioman island. However, if you happen to be on some of the other islands in Malaysia, such as Perhentian or Mabul, there are dive centres certified to run Eco Diver courses.

You can find more details about these partners at: https://www.reefcheck.org.my/partners) In case you are wondering, according to its website, Reef Check’s mission is to empower “people to save our reefs and oceans.” It encourages people to “work together to create a sustainable future through education, research, and conservation.” Please note, whilst we have provided Reef Check’s details here, we have no knowledge of their courses and mentioning them is not an endorsement. We emphasis readers should always do their own research and checks prior to booking with any organisations that happen to be mentioned in Adventure She magazine.

Photo opposite Anemone fish

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The Big Interview Nadhira Alharthy Oman, Change, Training and Climbing Mount Everest With Jane Harries

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Training for Mount Everest

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What drives people to set a goal of summiting Mount Everest, of climbing into the death zone, where if things go wrong, rescue is nigh on impossible.

Of course for professional mountaineers, sponsorship deals might necessity an Everest summit, even though other mountains such as the world’s second highest mountain - Pakistan’s K2 - is a much tougher climb.

But what about other people? What drives them to seek to stand on the highest point on earth and how do they prepare for such a challenge?

Meet Nadhira Al Harthy, the second ever Omani and first ever woman from Oman, who summited Mount Everest in 2019, who shares with us not only how she came to climb Mount Everest, but also how she evolved whilst preparing for her mission.

In case you’re wondering, Oman is a sultanate in the south east of the Arabian peninsula. It borders Yemen - a country so often in the news for the wrong reasons like war, kidnappings and famine, Saudi Arabia - a country that is so far off the tourist trail, little is truly known about it in Western society, and the United Arab Emirates with its mega cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

I hope you don’t mind my asking, but what is it like for a woman in Oman, her role in society and how she dresses?

Here in Oman we have choices about what we want to wear. It is about respecting our community and our religion. We have

Muslim women who wearing hijab or not wearing hijab. That is because in Oman we have diversities from people who came from many places, because we have a long history of relations between Oman and other places. That means we have different cultures in Oman, but we are all Omani.

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We have women who are ambassadors, ministers, and higher level positions in numerous fields including the economy, sport, education, police, and the health sector.

Are women allowed to meet with men without a chaperone?

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Yes, we are working together, can walk at the beach together, nobody would stop and ask if the man is her brother, father, or husband, it was more a matter of respect, not doing anything out of line. It is normal to see men and women together at coffee shops, in restaurants, driving the car together.

How did you get into sport and climbing?

I started doing sports when I was 25 because I was overweight. So this is years back. I decided to lose weight, to be in better shape, to have a healthier lifestyle. I introduced myself to the gym. I think in my close family, I am the first woman who has been at the

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gym. So it was still even like, to go to the gym, was still something new for my family.

After losing the weight I continued with my sport. I was obsessed about not getting overweight again.

Then in 2015, because of my role as the country coordinator of the Globe Program, which is a NASA sponsored program that teaches students to collect data from nature and then use it for research, I got to take students and teachers to Mount Kilimanjaro. One of the activities of the expedition was to collect data through their climbing.

For me this was also a very, very unique opportunity, to

take students from Oman, boys and girls together, plus their teachers, to Kilimanjaro. Many people, they told me “you will be responsible about them if anything happened�. But I was very excited for this idea.

Kilimanjaro was my first mountain, even though I didn’t summit it, because I stayed with some of the students who were tired.

After that trip in 2015 I felt the best. I felt there was something about me and mountains, that there was something in my heart, it touched me when I was there. I started following mountaineers on Instagram.

But I didn't do anything.

The trek to Base Camp

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A training exercise on Ama Dablam

Then in 2017, I met the first Omani man, the only Omani, to have climbed Mount Everest. I wrote his story for students, because we were doing a project to share stories about different Omanis who had achieved success, as we wanted to give the students positive vibes and good examples of people who have achievements in different fields.

When I met him, Khalid Bin Sulaiman Al Siyabi, I was inspired by him. I told him when we finished our meeting, “I want to climb Everest”. And he said, “yes, you can”. And I think his answer, it was very important at that time,

because that's what encouraged me to continue, because I think if he had said to me at that time, no, you cannot or it needs something, or it needs different people, then I think I will never have continued dreaming about Everest.

At that time, I didn't have any idea what's climbing Everest needed. I was happy and proud about my training at the gym and I thought that would be enough to climb any mountain in the world.

After a week of our meeting I texted him. I told him I was serious about climbing Everest. He said, “okay, let's see how you are

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training now and what you need”. And I told him, “I'm going to the gym every day”, and I was happy like I'm ready to climb Everest.

He laughed and he said “no, Everest, this needs a different type of training.”

From that day, he was my coach, my friend, my mentor.

How did your training develop?

I started hiking, I started climbing, doing canyons, caving, running, swimming, many, many types of sports, I had never done before.

I always attended my training. I saw that at the end, it's my Everest, and I

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Nadhira with Ama Dablam in the background

have to do it and I have to be ready for it. So from 2017 until 2019 it was like I was on a mission, like, as if I was in the army and I was training for a very serious mission.

But I didn't say to anyone that I started training because of Everest.

know why I was doing all of this, why all these races, why I'm following everything in sports and mountains and climbing. 2017 to 2019 was a happy time, but it was also a lonely time, because of the time I had to spent training and being away so much from my friends and my family.

I was very strict with myself, with my schedule. I put my training schedule as number one, and I switched everything else on my list.

Even my family, it was not number one at that time, because I knew they will be again number one on my list. So I was not attending all meetings with the family.

Of course they were upset about that. They didn't

My lifestyle changed then. I didn't go to the malls like before, I didn't buy things. I didn't go to coffee shops and restaurants like other people. I was training alone, running alone, hiking alone, swimming alone. If some ladies started talking to me at the pool, and I was ready to start swimming, I jumped in the water. It's like I didn't want to talk to 37

people because I didn’t want to waste even one second of my training, because all of the time was counting. So I was avoiding anyone who would waste my time. But I also met some very good people during my training, and we still are friends.

I had heard of people who had a passion and who followed their passion. Until I started training for Everest, I didn’t have that feeling, that passion. When I started going hiking and climbing, I noticed how I felt when I'm in the mountains, how I felt much stronger, how I had more confidence in myself and how I felt happy, at peace.

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The Dream of Everest team

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Training near Everest Base Camp before heading to the ice fall

When did you tell people about your plan to summit Mount Everest?

During all of this time I didn’t tell people I was going to Everest, I only told my family two months before. Of course they were very surprised. It’s a dangerous mountain and it’s a very dangerous sport.

So they were very worried about my safety there. I tried to convince them I would be safe.

At that time they were not happy, but they respected what I wanted to do. They saw how I was very committed with my training and they now understood that's why I had worked hard in the previous years.

Descending to Everest Base Camp during an acclimitisation hike on Everest

To climb Everest I needed to take two months off. I had saved my vacations days, my holiday, so I had the time, but I needed to obtain the permission of the department’s minister, the Minister of Education. I was working with her at her office. She's a very understanding person and she encouraged me and supported me.

years ago. So then she said, “If you feel you are ready, go, I support you and I will help if there is anything you need”.

How did you choose your rote and who to go with?

About one month before I needed to leave for Everest I asked her to accept my application for a holiday of two months. She asked me “Are you sure you are ready for this?” I told her “Yes”.

At the beginning, I chose a Russian company with very good reviews from climbers and arranged to climb with them from Tibet. Then I think one month or even less before going to Everest, I was told it was not allowed for Arab people to climb from Tibet.

She knew Khalid Bin Sulaiman Al Siyabi and asked me to contact him for advice. I explained I had already contacted him two

At this time, I was following on Instagram many many mountaineers who have done Everest. I often saw the name Elia Saikaly I

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started chatting to him on Instagram and I asked him if he was going to Everest that year. He said, “maybe yes, he's going”. And I said, “oh nice.” I didn't say I was going, as I didn't want to tell people that I was going, still I was keeping it my secret.

So I told him “maybe I go this year”. He said, “oh nice because there is many Arab girls going this year.” I said, “oh really I don't know that”.

He said “yes”. And then we start talking.

He said he was a filmmaker in high altitude mountains, and he would be making a documentary about the other Arab girls. He asked me to be with them and to be in their movie. And I said no, no, no, thank you, I

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don’t want. Because I didn’t know him, I only knew him through Instagram.

I went back and told my coach. He had more experience than me and he advised me to go with Elia.

When a coach gives order, you have to do what the coach says.

But I didn’t want any pressure on me and was concerned of people filming me when I was climbing.

My coach explained I wouldn’t be able to take pictures of myself all the time on Everest, it's good to have somebody to document your climb, I would in fact be lucky to find someone to film me, and here was Elia a filmmaker

who would take good pictures.

Elia and I met in Dubai. We talked about the documentary and then I said okay, I will be with you.

He then introduced me to the other girls and explained it would be better if we were all with the one company, so he could follow all of us. So I transferred from the Russian company to the company they were going with, a US company, Madison mountaineering.

Then he introduced me to the others, one from Saudi Arabia and two from Lebanon. Now me and Elia, we are very good friends.

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What was it like on the mountain and did you all summit?

Yes all four of us we summit, and it was it was amazing. Because many people, they thought maybe we could not climb, because we have less experience than others. And for me I have like the least experience of everybody there on the mountain and the team, because I did not submit any mountain before Everest. So Everest is my first summit.

So it was not easy for me because I saw it in their eyes, like they are saying to me you will not make it.

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Line of climbers in the Khumbu ice fall But I ignore all this negativity. I said I think a friend’s social okay, I want to focus, and I media account. I called want to be a friend with my them because I was very mind. With the time they angry. I hadn’t allowed came to respect what I am them to do this, to write any trying to do because. It was article. They said what I like I didn’t have another was doing was an choice than climb Everest. achievement. I told them.

“For me, it's not What was it like dealing achievement until I summit Everest, so I don't want with the press? anyone to write anything about me at this time”.

I started to be asked for interviews. But I refused. I From Base Camp I was told them I don't want to do posting on my Instagram or anything until I summit and my friends’ Instagram. am safely back from Oman is small, and the Everest. I remember when I sporting circle is small. was at Everest Base Camp News spreads. So it was one newspaper in Oman now everywhere that I, wrote an article about me and they took pictures from

Nadhira living her dream on Mount Everest

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Nadhira Alharthy, the first Omani woman to summit Mount Everest, on top of the summit

Nadhira was trying to climb Everest.

When I went back they told me, people were saying “no, she cannot do it. She will not do it”. Then they said, “yes she will”.

Before I went to Everest no one knew me. When I arrived back in Oman there were people at the airport and outside the house and there were flowers and everything. It was everywhere. I couldn't control it. It was not easy for me. The news, newspapers, everywhere on social media, calls and messages from people.

For me my whole Everest journey had been very personal, something

nobody but Khalid Bin Sulaiman Al Siyabi knew about it. But he was dead now, he had passed away when I was at base camp.

So at Everest I was a bit depressed. It was very hard for me that the person who had stood next to me, even gave me his gear, advised me and had coached me for the last two years, was suddenly not there. I missed not being able to talk to him, to go to him for his help and advice when I returned to Oman.

When I summited, it was 9 years after he had summitted. So there is 9 years between the first Omani man who climbed Everest and first Omani woman, and the good thing 42

is the first Omani man he taught the first Omani woman. So that was very nice. On the summit I held his name and I felt for his memory, I was saying thank you to him.

After summiting, I wish I could have had time for myself alone, until I realized what happened. It had been two years of hard working and two months, 60 days there at the mountain.

There was a lot to process.

At first I couldn’t be with wave of interest in me.

My friends though they advised me to just go with this wave, to enjoy it.

I stopped doing sports at this time as I didn't have

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time my schedule. And then later I could go back to my normal life, to my sport and to set a new goal, of course nothing like Everest.

Reflecting back on Everest, what did you learn?

Pursuing my dream to climb Mount Everest has taught

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me many lessons. I feel like I have learned many, many things.

How to be more calm, more committed to achieving goals, more productive with my time - even with my work and my family.

That knowledge is very important. It is good to

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share and passing information, but it's not enough to learn just from the experiences of others, because that was their experience. As well as learning from others, it is important to read, to research for ourselves. We also need to learn from our experiences, to create something new for

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ourselves, we have to create our own life.

inside, it needs to be something from our heart.

The best things, the good things in our life, comes with how we feel, not through buying expensive things, less is more. Now I buy what I need, and only what I need. Before I was looking to have expensive brands and a nice car or whatever, now I'm not like before. For many people, they say we as a woman, if we go shopping and buy something, this will make us happy, that shopping is like meditation. But for happiness to depend on buying things, that will be a very short happiness. Long term happiness comes from

Sometimes we learn things, but we are not using our new knowledge in our life, instead we go back to our bad habits or bad values we used to follow. Now I try to stay focused and to use all the good things I learned from my journey.

When I am tired, I just continue doing. On Everest I was feeling tired all the time from the beginning until the end. But feeling tired doesn't mean to stop.

It means you need to change your strategy. It means to slow down. It means to do something

different but not to stop what you are doing.

What is your life like now?

I'm working at the ministry. I don't have the same strict schedule for exercise, but still after working, I go for training.

Sometimes when I now going hiking with people they think I shouldn't breathe like them. They are surprised, they think I should breathe differently because I climbed Everest.

Maybe next month, if things go well and depending on Coronavirus, I will go to

Mona Shahab of Saudi Arabia, Joyce Azzam and Nelly Attar of Lebanon with Nadhira Alharthy of Oman

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Nepal to climb one of the mountains there. At the moment plans keep having to be cancel but I wish this one will happen.

When you reflect back, what do you think and feel?

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That time, 2017 to 2019, training for Everest, I think it was my happiest time in my life. I was working hard, I was not all the time happy, but I was happy that I had this bigger dream, and I was pursuing my dream. It was you know, it pushed me all the time in a nice and

happy way to continue doing what I was doing, because I felt that it's like a gift. I was giving myself a gift. I was fulfilling my passion.

A huge thank you and recognition to Nadhira Alharthy Far too often the media contains negative stories about cultures that’s not the dominant culture where that media organisation is based.

Here at Adventure She magazine, we think it's so important for people to learn and to understand more about other people, other cultures and other places. So whilst we are now based in rural Wales (and previously in London), we want to bring readers stories of hope and empowerment from around the world. Thank you so much Nadhira for sharing your story, and for giving all of us a glimpse into your life, and life in Oman.

Surely to those stories of successful Omanis which were written for students in 2015, another successful Omani can now be added, namely your story, the story of Nadhira Alharthy. For you have shown us how far we can go, provided we are prepared to set a goal for which we have a passion, and work towards that goal diligently, without giving up. You really are a very empowering, motivating and inspiring person.

A huge thank you to Elia Saikaly The photographs for this article and our front cover were included courtesy of Canadian adventurer and filmmaker Elia Saikaly. His film of the expedition ‘The Dream of Everest’ journeys from the desert dunes of Saudi Arabia to the notorious death zone on Mt. Everest and chronicles this expedition which comprised of Joyce Azzam and Nelly Attar of Lebanon, Mona Shahab of Saudi Arabia and Nadhira Alharthy of Oman and which were of course supported by an amazing team, including a fabulous and indispensable group of Sherpas.

Let’s all support Elia and other filmmakers like him, filmmakers who put themselves on the line to bring us the story of women as strong and amazing as Nadhira Alharthy and her fellow climbers, You can follow Elia on these social media channels: Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/Eliasaikaly

Twitter:

https://www.twitter.com/EliaSaikaly

Website:

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Books Reviews Queens of the Kingdom

By Nicola Sutcliff Reviewed by Jane Harries What a fascinating book. Like many if not most people, my knowledge of Saudi Arabia is extremely limited. Thanks to this book, I now know so much more, about its history, culture and people. Previously I had no idea as to why the Wahhābī version of Sunni Islam is practiced in Saudi Arabia, no idea why women all wore black, and no idea how the role and treatment of women has changed in the last one hundred years.

Nicola Sutcliff spent ….. years living in Saudi Arabia. Her conversations with several women ranging from a grandmother brought up in a very different time, to a journalist, to a princess, and many others, have truly opened my eyes to this rather ‘closed’ society.

The book itself is predominantly written through the voices of the women ….

Interviewed, which I love. For that enabled me to dip in and out, read multiple interviews in one go, or just one at a time. It’s also makes it easy to reread the stories of some of the women.

All in all a fascinating and illuminating book on Saudi Arabia and its women. I definitely recommend it to everyone who has an interest in that part of the world, or in history, or in culture, as well as of course to anyone who has an interest in the role of women in our world.

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Uncoiling Ropes

By Clare Sheridan Reviewed by Victoria Nicholls

Before I go any further let me first state that I’m not a climber myself and, outside of a couple of wobbly charity abseils and some childhood scrambling while holidaying at Brimham Rocks in 1980s Yorkshire, I have no experience at all. It’s a testament to Clare Sheridan that her Memoirs absorbed me to the depth they did and allowed me, for a brief time, to live vicariously through her experiences. The whole book oozes with her passion for the sport.

From what would nowadays be considered her repressive childhood (although with a much more open-minded family than many), the mountains drew her on, offering an opportunity for freedom that might otherwise have been lacking.

As you read, you are drawn in with her. Not only do you journey from Irish cliffs and mountains to the Alps, Himalayas and beyond, you also journey through changing cultural attitudes, and Clare's own changing views too – from how to herself, to how she fit into such a male dominated world, and to climbing itself. But with the freedom in the journey comes the danger, and her shared experiences of loss and injury are scattered through her story. A stark reminder of our fragility. However, it’s never enough to dampen her joy of the climb and, reaching the end of the book I now look to the Pembrokeshire cliffs of my home in a new light, and am tempted to uncoil the ropes myself.

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Risk and Reflection The Alpine Adventures of an Ultra-Marathoner

By Zoe Pye

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What constitutes success? What constitutes failure? If we aim to climb a mountain, run an ultra marathon, or hike a tough trail, is it a failure, if we return home without having attained our goal? Or, on reflection, can such an adventure still constitute a success? Zoe Pye explores this question and the impact of risks, by reflecting on her summer of 2020.

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W

hen I ran my first marathon, training was a means to an end. When the marathon was completed, the running stopped.

But over the years, participating in many different races, meant more time training. I found the more time I spend running, the more I loved the training aspect and consequently, the more I loved the journey running takes me on. I am particularly lucky to have found a type of running I truly love – mountainous ultra-marathons – as each time I embark on a mountain ultra-marathon, I find it takes me on an adventure into the unknown. This type of running definitely requires training!

I was originally drawn to running ultras in the mountains, by the feeling of invincibility and endless possibilities that seemed to flood me after finishing a hugely challenging race. It was like, if I can finish this race, I can accomplish anything.

This year though, with all races cancelled, the sense of accomplishment and endorphins I get from finishing a race would be missing. I had a choice, I could skip a year of such moments, or I could look elsewhere for those feelings, by challenging myself in other ways.

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Tour du Mont Blanc I was incredibly fortunate to spend lockdown and the following months working from home, with home for the duration being in Chamonix, France. Every morning provided me with an opportunity to improve my strength, by virtue of running the same route whilst focusing on different aspects of technique. The weekends though were for fun, or in other words, exploring.

Once the snow had melted enough, with lockdown over and the mountain huts open again, I headed off on my first challenge of the year, the Tour du Mont Blanc.

The trail goes around Mont Blanc, Western Europe’s highest mountain, and is around 170 kms with 10,000m of climbing. I’d raced the route in 2019, taking 45 hours and 18 minutes to complete the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc race. This time I had four days.

As I ran and hiked the trail, I learned to truly embrace and love the freedom of solo adventures, just me and my backpack. The feeling of having so little, but at the same time having everything I needed was special - there’s nothing like climbing a mountain to rid you of your ego!

I found that the more I pushed my limits, the more comfortable I felt in my 50

surroundings. I was able to forget the mundane aspects of normal life and the weight of possessions and instead discover me, in my purest form. I love spending quality time alone when I’m in this state.

There were a couple of guys biking the same route as me each day. They seemed to start earlier but took a long break at the first mountain hut. I would see them there, collect some water, have a quick chat in the sunshine and then head on my way, not seeing them again for the rest of the day. That brief morning ritual with folk like me, others testing their bodies in a similar way, was a highlight – small talk about nothing much, but in one of the world’s most beautiful places.

“Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place” Paulo Coelho

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Zermatt to Chamonix After completing Tour du Mont Blanc, I found going from an experience so extraordinary, back to a normal life, was challenging.

I needed something new to look forward to, so I set my sights on something bigger - Zermatt to Chamonix around 200kms with 15,000m of climbing over 6 days.

In addition to being further with more ascent and descent, the terrain on the Haute Route is more challenging than the TMB, with precipitous drop offs in places.

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Most people do this route in the opposite direction and that’s how the guidebooks are written. But I chose to do it in reverse, as I wanted to run towards my home in Chamonix, where I could celebrate finishing with all my home comforts, rather than having to ride a train for several hours in dirty, stinky, sweaty running kit.

It had been a glorious summer, but now on this my birthday weekend, it changed. I caught the train to Zermatt feeling pretty exposed, with barely more than a change of clothes, the maps on my phone and a few snacks.

Day one was brutal - a never ending climb and often, with insufficient

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water. At that point I wasn’t sure if I was physically prepared for this kind of trip.

Still I was glad to be in my own company, with only the route to focus on. Time became irrelevant, hours passed without realisation.

On the downside by sunset, I was hungry, thirsty and tired. On the upside I felt a part of something amazing, for the mountains were so huge, they dwarfed me.

Day two, seemed like déjà vu!

For some reason I was convinced I had to descent at some point, but the way forward really was up, up, up! I felt a distinct sense of apprehension – on the one hand, surrounded by some of the world’s most beautiful

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scenery, on the other, a dread that I would never reach the day’s end point.

Coming up that first climb, I met Lizzy Hawker (five times Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc winner) with a running group she was leading. I had been out to dinner with the group in Chamonix before they started their journey from Chamonix to Zermatt. It was nice to see some familiar faces – similar to seeing the two guys biking when I was on the Tour du Mont Blanc.

During our brief encounter, one of the guys in Lizzy’s group, asked where I was going? When he heard the response, he looked at me with pity, "do you really want to go there? It's 40km away”. It’s not often that an ultra-runner looks at you

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with such pity – I will never forget that moment.

situation no sane person would choose to be in.

Day 3 was cold and wet, with an intense fog that blocked all views – it led me to ask myself – “why was I doing this”? Still I kept going.

People say that through pain, you test your limits and find yourself, but sometimes you just learn that running in the cold and rain isn’t fun. My body temperature had definitely dipped by the time I finally reached my hotel for the night. However, after a long hot shower, eating Rosti (a traditional Swiss dish made of coarsely grated potato) washed down by local beer and messaging my Grandpa (who was doing the trip virtually with me), I found all was restored to its beautiful self.

Later as I approached one of the summits, there was zero visibility, the winds were so strong I struggled to walk, and the chill so sharp it would have sent shivers down the spine of a polar bear. Yet that’s where I saw two other people doing the same crazy stunt as myself. It was no mirage; they were truly there.

We could do nothing but laugh, perhaps part genuine laughter, part hysterical laughter, for it was a 52

Whoever would have thought having grown up in a small town in Australia, that I would have end up relaxing here, in an grand

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old Swiss hotel (oh the stories it could tell!) after running over mountains in temperatures so low they stung.

Day 4 is the day I reached my limit so far as risk is concerned.

The morning began with a picture that looked like something out of a fairy tale scene, courtesy of the mountains having been given a dusting of snow overnight.

The higher I went, the more snow lay on the ground.

Then it started snowing.

When I packed my bag for the trip, I purposefully packed light. I knew there would be a couple of days of bad weather, but I hadn’t considered the possibility of snow in early August. I was wearing shorts, a long t-

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shirt and a light waterproof jacket. I got to a point where I couldn’t see the trail because the snow was too deep. For an hour, I tried to look for signs, but it was all in vain.

At this point, I knew I was too far out of my comfort zone. It was no longer about testing my limits, it was about being sensible.

For most of the day I was going to be at an altitude above 2,700m, I was dressed inappropriately, there were no points along the route where I could leave easily, and I didn’t want to be a ‘local legend’ for the wrong reasons (Headline - ‘Idiot Wearing Shorts Rescued from Snow’).

I have no problem calling it a day when things don’t look good and on this particular day I stopped for

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the right reasons – I wasn’t equipped with skills to navigate in the snow nor was I wearing the right clothes.

I left the trail and found a cafe to get warm. It was here I met a lovely couple who gave me a lift to the train station from where I boarded a train to that day’s end point. Lizzy, having seen the weather report, sent me a message to see if I was okay. It was so nice to know that someone (and someone I idolise) was watching out for me.

When day 5 dawned, given I’d had a ‘rest day’ due to the snow, I decided to compress the final 2 days into one.

There was nothing spiritual or relaxing about this final day, I really pushed myself to finish the more than

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“We don’t learn

from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.”

John Dewey

60kms, despite not knowing most of the route at all.

Zermatt to Chamonix – Take Two

Over the 12 hours of running, hiking and walking, I learned just how much my body and mind is able to endure and how easy it is to quiet my brain and let time pass. Then again this, my first attempt at Zermatt to Chamonix, was about testing my limits – and it didn’t fail.

That window came sooner than I’d thought, so a few weeks later I was back on the trail. Now knowing most of the route, I decided to attempt it in four days rather than six.

It turned out that doing it in four days was a hard slog.

I may have ‘failed’ in the sense that I didn’t complete the whole trail, but the adventure was a success.

It showed me I still have much to learn about solo adventures, the importance of planning ahead and how one must NEVER underestimate the power of mother nature.

The trip also left me with a version of myself that I was incredibly proud of. I had known when to push on and I had known when the risk level was too high, meaning I should detour. It also left me wanting more. I knew that as soon as there was a window of opportunity, I was going to try again.

As for the section I‘d aborted due to snow, that was an unbelievable highlight, being the most picturesque day of the trip. I was so happy I hadn’t attempted the section in bad weather, with poor visibility, and missed the beauty. I was also happy from a safety perspective, as even in good weather the terrain was tough to navigate and from a technical perspective, right at the edge of my comfort zone, especially given that at one point I accidently took an alpine route.

Sometimes, pivotal moments like these are the ones we look back on, the moments that we treasure.

Scrambling over rocks in the most magnificent

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scenery, completing something that had previously defeated me gave me a special feeling, a feeling of ‘yeah, go me!’

Learning through reflection There have been really hard moments in all of my adventures this summer.

Ultimately though one doesn’t remember the pain, the cold or the endless climbing. Months of black toenails (4 fell off) is a small price to pay for such incomparable memories.

Some might judge my first attempt at Zermatt to Chamonix as a failure. But isn’t failure an attempt at achieving?. Besides, doesn’t initial failure ultimately make eventual success so much sweeter?

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About Zoe Pye Zoe considers herself so fortunate to be able to use the mountains as her playground. She claims adventures have taught her that happiness isn’t necessarily found in material things – but that for her, it’s a backpack, a sunny day and a body that can get her from start to finish, whether that finish is a race, a personal challenge, or a training session. For unlike younger road marathoner Zoe, mountain ultra marathoner Zoe has learned how training itself can be a happy place, a place where she can feel a sense of peace in the moment .

From Our Editor - Reflections Whilst Zoe travelled very light during her multiday runs in the Swiss and French Alps, she is an experienced mountain runner who also does mountaineering. She is also very aware of her limits and says she has no problem in turning back or in making a detour, when the situation looks like it could become too much. Note how she assessed the situation as she was going and didn’t wait for the conditions to become too much for her ability. As soon as her analysis of the situation identified a risk that ‘could’ potentially become too much for her, she took action.

If you are wondering about her choice of minimal kit, we asked Zoe about this. She explained she doesn’t enjoy carrying a heavy pack and prefers to travel light, so she chooses to focus on doing adventurers that allow for that. Weather and other conditions (like avalance risks) depending, fast swathes of Europe are great in that respect, with many mountain trails allowing people to stay in hostels or hotels that provide not just a warm shelter, but food and bedding too, thereby enabling lighter packs and faster travel of the type Zoe prefers. Of course, one still needs to carry the essentials and in case you’re wondering, yes Zoe did have her rain gear In any event, whether heading to the mountains, sea, desert, jungle, cliffs, caves, or to any other potentially tricky situation, please do assess the risks prior to leaving home and only embark on the journey if you have the skills to deal with both the environment, and the challenge which you have set yourself. This isn’t about being a kill joy. We really want to encourage people to get our there and adventure, but we also urge everyone to do so safely. If you already have all of the skills, great. If not, then why not make 2021 the year to upskill yourself?

Back to Zoe’s first experience of Zermatt to Chamonix, whilst out there in the snow, she reflected on her situation, she analysed the risk factors, the weather, the trail, her equipment and her knowledge, and she decided the risk wasn’t worth it. She made the call. She detoured. Who knows, perhaps that call might possibly have saved her life? As for Zoe calling it a failure, rubbish. For doesn’t FAIL stand for First Attempt In Learning and as we all know, she returned when the conditions were better, having learned from her first attempt and she triumphed.

If you are interested in discovering how reflection can help you with your adventures, do let us know, as we’ll be holding a session on this during one or more of our 2021 Zoom sessions.

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Seizing the Moment in Middle Age

By Kate Lewis During her university years Kate Lewis tried and hated rowing. Shouted at in an intimidating manner by the cox, this was no fun, so she walked away.

Given that early set back, would age hamper Kate’s return to rowing over 20 years later and this time in a Cornish gig?

Many thanks to the author, beardy@smileandturn.co.uk and various members of the Bristol Gig Rowing club, for providing photographs to accompany this article.

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S

omewhere in my mid-forties I surfaced for air amidst a sea of school plays and scout trips. Life had changed, the house was no longer full of tumbling children.

Teenagers slipped in and out, the only sign of their presence a random pile of shoes in the hallway, used dishes in the sink and no milk in the fridge. It was time to break out, to do something for myself, to turn my hands to something new. I took in a breath and looked around. What to do?

drive at race pace and that was the feeling that hooked me , the rhythmic power surge , poise and flow , white noise of the blades cutting through the water , stilling the outside world .

As a crew you work together, switching into race rhythm and pace and achieve 'flow' through the water. Each crew member needs to play their part to make that machine work.

I'd always been reasonably fit, though admittedly commuting and long hours at the screen had taken their toll, with my quads and forearms looking like I'd spent six months in space.

That summer during a trip to Cornwall, I leant over a sea wall and watched with interest as a group of six women lifted a beautiful long wooden boat over the shingle and onto the slipway.

Reasonably fit was not going to be enough.

Instead I needed my body to achieve a surge of power and hold it there for twenty minutes, full on. If I was going to row with the club, I needed to build some muscles and serious stamina. With little time to lose, it was time for a new me.

Over 20 years earlier, way back in 1989, I’d tried rowing whilst at university. Sixty minutes in a lightweight rowing eight, sixty minutes of absorbing the ire of an illtempered coxswain, left me not with selfdoubt, but with a certainty, the certainty I would never go near a racing shell again.

Rocky Balboa emerged one morning and set off round Chew Lake for a muddy run. Last time I'd done this was in 1984, so no problem at all. I had Dizzy Rascal in my headphones for company. Bonkers, was definitely how I felt. It had the right rhythm, even if my thighs were screaming and I felt like throwing up. I walked and ran, staggered, groaned and ran again, startling ducks into the sky. I cycled furiously up and down the Mendip hills and lifted weights so that I could pick my oar up without toppling sideways.

But on that Sunday afternoon in Cornwall, there was something about these women that captured me, they looked like they'd seen a bit of action and I fancied some of it. How inconvenient I lived in Bristol some hundred miles away.

Soon I learnt that there was a new club in the city, started by a small group of enthusiasts with a big vision. They were training in the Bristol docks between the Suspension Bridge to Temple Meads station and on weekends headed south to race at sea. Their boats had been built by a local boat builder along the traditional lines of late 17th century lifeboats and pilot gigs, originally used to take pilots out to tall ships off the Atlantic coast.

I stuck at it, got stronger and gradually it became easier. With a new summer coming we headed down the M5 in shared cars, full of Tupperware breakfasts, club gossip and pre-race wringing of hands. There was many a night of midsummer camping, lying on the grass, laughing at the stars, eating crab claws and singing sea shanties.

They welcomed me to a trial session. As the oar engaged and I pushed my body back against the water, neural networks shimmered into life from my youth in Wales, rowing my brother's boat out to sea because we could never get the engine to start . But this was different, these girls could really

By the autumn I was ready to be in a crew and we raced at the County Championships at Newquay. You never know what to expect in early September. Over the course of the two day event, you can race in mirror like 'Bristol water' or be thrown into the real deal 59

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WAVES. And on the North Coast of Cornwall, they know how to do waves.

“I stuck at it, got stronger and gradually it became easier”.

Sitting at the start line, with the sea rearing like a mountain behind the cox, all previous fears and obstacles pale into insignificance.

Not only do you have to row forwards and backwards in time, but you have to cope with moving side to side and up and down, and let's not forget catching some water with your oar, all in all a bit of a steep learning curve.

The main event of the year is the Isles of Scilly World Championship. It's held on the first bank holiday of May. For my novice year I was lucky to be in a crew with some brilliant, experienced women in a boat called Slippen borrowed from the St Mary's club. She was built in Napoleonic days and weighed a tonne, with enormous oars. Despite that, due to the experience of my crew members, we won our race. Depending on the sea conditions, even if a boat is heavy, once she gets going, the stability due to the weight can be an advantage.

Beginners have been known to cry. Bleeding knuckles from bashing your hands against the seat in front are the norm, and there is of course the 'Psycho' moment in the shower afterwards. Ask any gig rower, it's called 'gig arse'.

Photos on opposite page: Top - training in the early days at Bristol Bottom – happy times, as part of a mixed crew, after finishing the Thames River race, 21.6 miles from London’s Docklands to Ham in Surrey.

Photo credits Jane Harries

Time past, during which I improved. My protein intake went up to feed my growing muscles. Work colleagues would have to put up with my mackerel and noodle lunches. At 61

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night I would trot down to the kitchen in search of rice pudding. Over the years I got promoted too, until I found myself as part of Bristol’s A crew for the Isles of Scilly World Championship.

“Beginners have been known to cry. Bleeding knuckles from bashing your hands against the seat in front are the norm, and there is of course the 'Psycho' moment in the shower afterwards.”

We trained at night in the Bristol docks illuminated by streetlights and offices. We would meet hunched up at frosty dawn in woolly hats and a thousand merino layer.

Our fingers never warmed up. We trained on the water five times a week and off the water at kettle bell or spin classes. At home I would cook and stretch and catch up with my family.

My children only knew me balancing upside down in the ironing board position (think hamstrings!).

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of doing exactly the same thing, at the same time, every time. Months of being in the same boat with five other women was another challenge, having to cope with frustrations as they arose, whether hormonal or simply due to exhaustion. We drew on our office working days to transform tension into power, jollying each other along through our WhatsApp group, committing to turn up to every session, whatever the weather, however we felt.

We emerged blinking into the spring sunshine after months of training, southbound again.

dousing, getting drenched as your gig charges like a bucking bronco through the open sea. Surrounded by a hundred and fifty other crews ploughing forward to the finish line at St. Mary’s, calamities can happen.

Seats have been known to collapse, with the rower completing a whole race sitting on the bottom of their boat. Whether your seat collapses or your oar gets stuck in a wave (it's called catching a crab), you keep rowing.

Anything goes, as long as you make it to the end.

Scilly is where you really meet the force of the Atlantic. Twenty eight miles off the coast of Cornwall, it takes two and three quarter hours to get there together with your gig in a flat bottomed ferry, dosed up and giddy on sea sickness tablets.

This first race on the Friday night is the longest race, about 1.6 nautical miles, and also the seeding event, sorting crews into groups of twelve to race in heats over the Saturday and Sunday morning. It's a feat of determination and fortitude to pace yourself though those second and third races, saving something for the final on the Sunday afternoon.

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And then finals day comes, and everyone is just SO ready for the afterparty. Months of training and tensions have brought the crews to this moment.

disgorge from golf buggies, scrubbed and dressed up for a night out. The Dutch crews are to be seen walking the streets in clogs, and everyone squeezes into the Scillonian Club.

At the finals start line - Nut Rock – if you're lucky, the sea is calm, and the other crews are singing shanties whilst waiting their turn.

If not, then it's bitterly cold and you're battling seasickness and nerves.

After catching up with old friends from places far and wide and singing more sea shanties, the elders stagger home, whilst the youths drunkenly embrace and sway on jam packed dance floors at the Mermaid Inn.

As you hear the drumbeat of the oars from other crews setting off, your cox circles you round and round to help keep you warm from the wind and the rain, edging you closer to the start line as the time for your race approaches.

Meanwhile outside Poseidon roars, but we're cosy inside, and the sea can do its worst tonight, the gigs are packed away secure under their covers. To quote Winnie the Pooh, 'we didn't realise we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun.

At the very last moment you undress down to racing vests, hearts pounding. And then the word is given from the umpire boat and you're off, an enormous, combined effort at the start then settling into a sustained rhythm, trying not to over breathe, digging deep for something more at the halfway mark, bracing against the waves, the cox urging you on like a crazed midwife.

Sometimes it's hard to see how you're doing against the other boats in your race, but the tone of the cox towards the end lets you know. When he shouts “come on you beauties, you're doing it” three times over, it’s the sweetest feeling in the world. All those months of training, turning up in the cold, trying to imagine why you're doing this.

Coming past the harbour wall into the sound of the roaring of the waiting crowd at St. Mary’s Harbour, is simply the best. There with the gigs rafted up, crews crack open bottles of rum and bubbly. When the time comes, each crew stands up, oars vertical, to honour the best crews as these phenomenal athletes race for the finish line and the title of world champions.

“To quote Winnie the Pooh, 'we didn't realise we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun”.

And so to the afterparty on the Sunday night, the streets of St. Mary’s thronged with revelling rowers, released after months of moderation. 'Toots taxis' busily ferry people from place to place, whole crews merrily 66

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The author celebrating once racing was over

About Kate Lewis Kate Lewis doesn’t do much with social media. If you would like to get in touch with her, please contact us using the contact page on our website.

Thank you and additional information Many thanks to the various member of the British Gig Club, including Beardy@smileandturn.co.uk who kindly provided some of the photographs to accompany this article. If you are in the Bristol area, why not contact them via their website www.bristolgigclub.co.uk The Cornish Pilot Gig Association is the governing body for Cornish pilot gig rowing.

According to its website which is at www.cpga.co.uk “We are a friendly international rowing community of 82 clubs and over 8,000 active gig rowers.”

Gigs are 32 foot long, are have six rowers plus a cox (for an event like the Thames River race, some crews might have substitute rowers on board). Gigs were originally a real work horse and were used for pilot work, guiding larger ships into harbour. They were also used as lifeboats.

If you have access to the coastline, why not check out if there’s a rowing club near you, whether it uses a Cornish pilot gig, or a Pembrokeshire long boat, or something else.

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Seizing The Moment In Cuba

By Jane Harries and Caroline Powell

Photographs by Caroline Powell and Jane Harries

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Caroline Powell loves her cycling and exploring in equal measure. So only a few short years after Cuba finally opened up to visitors, Caroline seized the moment to explore Cuba as it was then, before hordes of visitors started to change it, possibly forever.

Jane Harries is our founder and editor and loves to immerse herself in the history and culture of places she explores, whether by bike, horse, foot.

Here they share their experiences of Cuba and what makes it so special.

Why Cuba is so Unique - Jane

After General Fulgencio Batista, the then Cuban president, fled Cuba on New Year’s Eve 1958, Fidel Castro seized the initiative.

Cuba, what does that name conjure up in your mind? Perhaps music, perhaps 1970s Cadillacs, perhaps it’s history. One joy of being in my 50’s, is I was travelling in the 1980s and 1990s. During that time I’d seen the impact we visitors have had on places, as they became increasingly popular on the backpacker route.

Castro initially called himself a Cuban nationalist. However, after the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 by Cuban exiles (and supported by the USA), Castro officially aligned himself with the USSR calling himself Marxist-Leninist.

Castro’s hatred of the USA became so intense, that Castro was allegedly furious at the USSR’s president - Khrushchev – for agreeing a deal with US President Kennedy – as part of which the USSR’s missiles were removed from Cuba. The deal brought about the end of the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis which had very nearly brought about a nuclear war. But that did not matter to Castro.

To placate Castro, Khrushchev personally invited him to the USSR. Castro accepted, visiting for 40 days in 1963, during which time he toured and was much feted.

As the late 1980s turned into the early 1990s, the once all powerful USSR, started to lose control, power and influence over the Eastern bloc. By 1991 Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were once again fully independent nations with their own representatives at the United Nations.

As I travelled to work on the London Underground in the mid-1990s, I’d see adverts for cheap, dirt cheap, flights to places like Prague, Budapest and Warsaw. Some people claimed it was cheaper for them to fly to, stay, and party in those former Eastern bloc capitals, than it was to stay in London for the weekend!

During the next 30 years, whilst both the USA and the USSR had multiple presidents, Cuba had one, Castro. In 1991 the USSR splintered into several countries, the largest of which was Russia Whilst former Soviet bloc countries like Hungary, Poland and

Cuba was different though. Then again, Cuba had Fidel Castro.

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Romania were in the mid-1990s looking towards the west, Castro did not.

Photographs on this page, clockwise from top left:

Even Russia, led by President Boris Yeltsin (who incidentally appeared to have an almost revolving door policy for the role of prime minister, until a former KGB officer called Vladimir Putin was appointed, yes he who later became president), was now supposedly pro west.

Hard to believe, but this is the only picture I saw of Fidel Castro, that I could photograph. Havana.

Che Guevara, Argentinian born revolutionary, who sailed to Cuba with Fidel and Raul Castro on a boat called Granma. Rose to being Castro’s second in command. His picture is almost everywhere in Cuba. He left Cuba in 1965 to fight for other revolutionary causes including in Bolivia, where he was captured and ultimately shot dead.

Where Cuba was concerned, Yeltsin’s Russia (which had its own financial problems), didn’t step into the USSR’s shoes. Cuba struggled economically, the huge subsides it had previously received for its main crop - sugar cane - were gone. Guaranteed markets in the Eastern bloc, gone. Cheap imports including petroleum from the USSR, also gone.

Che Guevara’s mausoleum with a poster of Hugo Chavez on prominent display outside. Santa Clara.

Revolutionary motivational signs dot the Cuban countryside. died in Bolivia,

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Without a petroleum rich kindred ally, (which ultimately came in the form of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, though he wasn’t elected until 1998), Cuba found itself in dire straits. The country referred to those years as the ‘Special Period’. There was widespread rationing.

With petroleum imports slashed, animals once again became more widely used in agricultural production.

On the upside, food shortages and the need for more physical labour, saw falls diabetes, cardiovascular disease and strokes1 On the downside, food was at times so scare, domestic pets such as cats and dogs often ended up being eaten by their starving, desperate, guilt ridden owners and cases of malnutrition were also seen in small children.

The 60 foot cabin cruiser Grandma, which brought Castro and his followers to Cuba from Mexico, is widely lauded in Cuba. The remains of the original are behind glass in the Museum of the Revolution in Havana.

American Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 166, Issue 12, 15 December 2007, Pages 1374– 1380, https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwm226

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Impact of Energy Intake, Physical Activity, and Population-wide Weight Loss on Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes Mortality in Cuba, 1980–2005. Manuel Franco, Pedro Orduñez, Benjamín Caballero, José A. Tapia Granados, Mariana Lazo, José Luís Bernal, Eliseo Guallar, Richard S. Cooper

Published: 19 September 2007

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Cuba needed money and it needed money fast. What to do? The Cuban tourist industry, which had been so thriving prior to 1959, was reborn.

Cycling Cuba in 1999 – Caroline A friend (Rob) and I (Caroline) were keen cyclists. It was 1999 and we wanted to cycle Cuba, whilst others still hesitated to visit. We definitely didn’t do package holidays. Yet our research showed us, that the only cheap way into Cuba, was to take a package holiday.

Arriving in Cuba with two bike boxes, the look on the holiday rep’s face said it all. I don’t think he’d ever greeted cyclists before.

After checking in, during the brief journey to the room, we discovered our porter was a fully qualified doctor! It turned out he’d earn the same amount, whether he worked as a doctor or a porter. Why do the more responsible stressful job in that scenario?

Why not be a porter with the possibility of earning tips supplementing one’s income?

Another Che Guevara sign, this time in 1999 Havana.

Notice the tourist free streets.

Photo credit Caroline Powell.

Our few days in Havana did not disappoint, it certainly lived up to its legendary status. I seem to recall even seeing Che Guevara’s blood soaked clothes in the capital’s museum. Then there was live music on every street corner. But there were differences too, to other places I’d travelled, for I noticed the cars didn’t use headlights at night. Why was that? Were bulbs really that scare or expensive that once gone, they couldn’t be replaced? This place, it was certainly different.

Opposite page, Santiago o 2013 Photo credit Jane Harries

neighbouring fields. It could not have been more different to the purpose built hotels on some of Cuba’s beaches, where tourists lay by swimming pools or the sea, enjoying the climate but experiencing nothing of the real Cuba.

A few days later we packed up the panniers and cycled deserted, undulating, rural roads west through the limestone ‘karst’ landscape of rocky promontories and lush vegetation to the green forested area of Viñales, which later in that year was designated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We returned briefly to our package hotel in Havana. We hadn’t anticipated the hotel would miss us, but the puzzled look on their faces showed they’d been wondering what had happened to us.

Next it was time to head south east to Santiago. Alas insufficient time meant we couldn’t cycle the whole way. We had no choice; it was time to hitchhike. I can’t

As we cycled we spotted a locally run ‘ecoretreat’, with beautiful wooden shacks, high up in the trees. There we devoured delicious vegetarian food harvested from the 72

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imagine a petrol tanker giving two cyclists a lift in the UK. However in Cuba, giving lifts is a way of life. In fact taking this lift was the only option for us, as we had somehow found ourselves on the local equivalent of a motorway and were also running out of time.

The memory of my beloved bike tied on to the outside of a petrol tanker (our lift) getting increasingly grimy is still with me 30 years later!

and smells of Cuba? What of the economy?

Would there be a global fast food outlet or coffee shop on every street corner?

I knew Cuba had already changed somewhat.

But I still wanted to see it for myself, before Cuba changed anymore, and I wanted to savour its sounds and smells as well as its sights. I wanted to get up close and personal. I seized the moment and booked a two week cycling holiday, after all, cycling enables one to be a part of the scene, whilst I find riding a bus is more like observing a scene. Plus riding the London underground over 2 hours each Monday to Friday and working long hours behind a computer screen, with most of my exercising being late at night inside the confines of the four walls of a gym, meant I was desperate for some fresh air.

Santiago’s famous for its architecture, ranging from grand colonial buildings dating back to the days of Spanish rule, to its streets of multi-coloured houses often with intricate balconies, the most famous of which being the one from where Fidel Castro delivered his victory speech on 1 January 1959, hours after Batista had fled.

We stayed with a local family in their small bungalow who had to register us as occupants, with 50% of their takings then going into the Government’s pocket.

When I first visited New York City, I remember how I felt when, whilst walking to my hostel from subway, I saw my first yellow cab. It was at that moment I truly felt I was in New York City. It was like that for me in Cuba. Collected by a tour rep from a palm tree fringed airport, put onto an air conditioned bus, and taken to an air conditioned hotel with swimming pool on the outskirts of Havana, it didn’t feel like Cuba.

Then I took a taxi (alas not one of the legendary old ones) to the old city, an UNESCO World Heritage site.

Our trip might have been quick, but it was all we could at that time manage. I’m very glad I saw Cuba then,

Cycling Cuba in 2013 – Jane Unlike Caroline, I am useless at bike mechanics. My uselessness doesn’t get me down. I simply realise that where cycle touring is concerned, I need to factor my current lack of bike mechanic skills into account. That’s what’s great about an organised cycling holiday, there’s no need to be one’s own mechanic. If needs be, one can sit by the side of the road and wait for the support vehicle to find you!

This was more like it. Sitting in the warm night air, on an intricate balcony looking over the cathedral, with Cuban music floating up from below, it began to feel like the Cuba I’d anticipated. Returning to the hotel, this time my taxi was one of those classic Cuban cars, a 1950s American car. The driver relished I had some Spanish, and on arriving at the hotel, insisted on showing me the car’s engine, for his car still had its original engine, which he lovingly nursed, whereas under the bonnet of many of those old 1950’s cars, the engine is a mismatch of whatever’s needed to keep the car moving. At least that’s what I understood from his explanation. Clearly this car, wasn’t just his livelihood, it was his pride

Fidel Castro was aging and ailing. Everyone knew it was a question of time before he would pass away. His younger brother Raul had already (quite a few years earlier) taken over as President. What would happen to Cuba after Fidel’s passing? Would Raul hold onto power? Would relations with the USA be normalised? Less than 100 miles from the Florida Keys, what influence would Cuba’s near neighbour have on the sights, sounds 74

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and joy. So I politely looked inside the engine and took a photo.

Daylight brought bike fitting, a cycle ride into Havana, followed by a walking tour of the old city. I love walking tours, for I find they’re usually an opportunity to learn more about a place, plus they’re more interactive, more dynamic, than reading a guidebook. To me, a walking tour opens doors and from there, it’s up to me to explore

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further. Tour over, that’s what I did.

Cuba’s beaches. What hadn’t really clicked with me beforehand, was that the Bay of Pigs is actually a Caribbean beach. Night 3 was spent there, lounging on a beach where Cubans had died, giving their life for the Cuba they wanted. Now there was a beach bar, cabins to stay in and a restaurant, plus the most magnificent sunset. The following morning and little more than around the corner, I stopped pedalling, leaned my bike

Churches, narrow streets, galleries, an open air secondhand book market, old Spanish canons by a fort, a clean modern looking waterside promenade, and of course, the cars.

I’ve already mentioned the Bay of Pigs, and in passing, Caroline’s already mentioned

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I’d encountered a number of horses, both ridden and pulling carts. Horses were definitely a part of the culture. So on the group’s one day off in Trinidad, whilst most of the others headed off on a catamaran to some beach, I went horse riding (don’t worry, we all still also got to explore Trinidad itself).

against a tree and admired the view. It was so idyllic, absolutely stunning. I had no idea Cuba was this beautiful.

Views are one thing, but how does one get to interact with the locals, for isn’t that the best way of getting to know a country, by talking with the locals? Then again, why should any local trust a camera wielding foreigner like me?

Oh how lucky was I. I didn’t have just any horse, I had the guide’s horse. A horse so well behaved, so responsive to whatever I asked of him, I was tempted to ask if I could buy him and ship him back to the UK (don’t think my neighbours in London would have

But it can be possible? Cycling in a hot climate is thirsty work, which makes for a great excuse to stop off at those roadside stalls and guzzle whatever fizzy drink they have to sell. The better one’s language skills, of course the greater the chance of interaction with any locals hanging around.

For me, my best interaction though didn’t involve a bike, or a drink, but a horse.

Opposite page – top and middle, Bay of Pigs Bottom, a few corners away from the Bay of Pigs Below – the author in Trinidad – note, please do not use a cycling helmet for riding. On this occasion there was no riding helmet available.

We have no idea whether wearing a cycling helmet would have been of any value if the author had fallen and hit her head.

I grew up riding horses and love to ride whenever I get the chance, especially if horses are a key part of the local landscape and tradition. Cycling Cuba’s smaller roads

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been amused though on finding a horse in my back garden).

As we walked and trotted along a quite country lane to some waterfalls, from high on the horse’s back I soaked up the scene - hills and trees, interspersed with family homes and people going about their normal life. It might sound idyllic when put that way, but it was not.

That was plain to see from the deeply lined forehead of an old man trying to help his horse pull a loaded cart up a steep hill. Working the land and transporting goods, can be physically very taxing and his body showed the strain. A happier scene was seeing a family ride past us, each one on their own horse.

After dropping the other two at some waterfalls, the guide and I headed off for some galloping, interspersed with talking about horses in Spanish. With a common interest, and with my clear admiration for his horse, between gallops, the guide delighted in chatting to me.

With agricultural machinery and petroleum in short supply, horses, mules and ox are much needed in Cuba. Their manure can also be used as fertiliser, replacing manufactured fertiliser.

Shortages have in fact forced Cuba to a more organic model of food production, which is the polar opposite of the heavy use of fertiliser, pesticides and machinery, which it used to use in the cultivation of sugar cane prior to the demise of the Soviet Union.

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Architectural wise, Trinidad, Santiago, Havana and absolute joys. But Sanctus Spiriti, Bayamos, Cienfuegos, places I had never heard of, delighted me too, for I loved wondering their streets, studying the architecture, noticing little things like how in Bayamos’ town centre, one large shop window had flushing toilet after flushing toilet, in all sorts of colours, whereas in back street I spotted a chess club.

everywhere I went, for Cuba has so much to see.

But seeing is only a part of exploring Cuba.

Sound, smell, taste and touch, are as important as sight, for when we fully engage all five of our senses, don’t we become more aware of the environment around us?

Alas one day my senses were switched off, for I’d succumb to food poisoning. I barely made it onto the bus that day. There was no way I could have ridden a bike. That’s where the option of taking an airconditioned bus comes in handy. On the other hand, being part of a group meant I had to move on, despite feeling dodgy, plus I missed out on our only (bar a couple of miles on another day) mountain biking, nothing technical just some easy fun. There was one thing the bus driver would not let me miss, and that was to

Of course watching horses graze free around Basilica Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre, a few miles outside of Santiago, highly amused me.

Inside was more poignant though, with shrine after shrine covered by items left by people saying a pray for a loved one.

Adventure She isn’t about a guided tour though, so I won’t bore you with details of

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show me how the locals protected themselves from a particularly spiky tree.

The solution, eggs shells.

As for the cycling, it was great. There was so little traffic on the quiet country roads, it felt a real treat. At no point did I have to worry about getting knocked off my bike (though maybe I was lucky). Yes there were some hills, but nothing too bad, then again I’m more of a climber than a speedster on the flat. On the whole, cycling Cuba gave me a sense of freedom, of being at one with the place, a feeling I didn’t get on any of the bus transfers, despite immersing myself in reading about Cuba between bouts of studying the scenery as we drove by.

Rather than describe the sights of Cuba, where I went and what I saw, I will let photographs do that work, for as they say, a picture’s worth a thousand words. As for the sounds, the music be it on street corners, in parks, or in bars, was exquisite, and always played with both heart and soul, something I never mastered in 10 years of learning piano and violin.

So what of the smells? Sure there was a few vehicles with exhaust pipes belching thick acrid smoke that seemed to flood one’s lungs, alas there’s far too much of that in other places too. But in truth, here comes the downside. For non-smokers who really don’t like cigarette and or cigar smoke, those bars with their wonderful music can be tough going. Top tip though, thanks to the warm evenings you can still savour that music, for in Cuba, music doesn’t stay locked within four walls, it radiates through upstairs and downstairs windows onto the streets, for music is indeed a part of Cuban society.

Reflections – Jane For me at that time in my life, taking an organised trip was the only way I was going to see much of Cuba by bike. Is taking a tour the way to go? Yes, if that’s the best option for a person.

Is Cuba worth seeing? I certainly enjoyed experience. But I’m also learning that it doesn’t matter how responsibly we travel, we do still have an impact upon the places we

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visit. Each person’s individual impact might be miniscule, but millions of miniscule impacts add up to a greater impact.

So isn’t it important that we try and ensure our impact is a positive an impact as it possibly can be?

Homestays such as those in Cuba, and the tiny restaurants run by a family in their own front room, or from their balcony, are I hope very much a way where us travellers can contribute something to local entrepreneurs and the local economy, even if as Caroline pointed out, they do have to pay a percentage in tax. I do hope though that Cuba’s towns and cities manage to avoid the blight that has hit some popular destinations such as Paris and Barcelona, where local renters are being priced out of some districts, with holiday makers instead taking their place.

As for Fidel Castro, he may have been loved by some and loathed by others, but one thing for sure, he loved Cuba and he wanted Cuba to be Cuba, rather than an imitation of Spain, the USA, the USSR, or anywhere else. Cuba is what it is today, because of him. Whether that’s good, bad, or indifferent, it’s not my place to say.

What I do know is that Cuba is one very special place.

About Caroline Powell Caroline Powell is a passionate cyclist who has traversed both the Alps and the Pyrenees, whilst carrying all of her gear. Her idea of a great day involves cycling up as many mountains as possible with her friends. She has won the Female Veteran category at the Brompton bike world championship on multiple occasions. She doesn’t really do social media.

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About Jane Harries Jane is the founder and editor of Adventure She. She really didn’t want to write this article, instead trying to persuade a good friend, Caroline to write about it. Caroline however though Jane’s visit being more recent, would make for a more current article. Jane would like to thank Caroline for her support, insight and comments, in writing this article. You can follow Jane on Instagram using @adventurebyjane

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Resilience Triathlon After Ileostomy

by Caroline Bramwell

Photo Credit Rob Coombe

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Diagnosis confirmed, there was nothing I could do until the baby was born.

When illness strikes, do we give in to the illness, or, do we do our utmost to fight back?

Unfortunately, modern medicine hasn’t found a way to cure all ills, but, modern medicine can help many people and thereby improve their quality of life.

But how do you deal with the emotional aspect of an incurable condition and how to you deal with having to use a pouch?

Do we fight back to lead the best life we can, or, do we give in?

Here Caroline Bramwell shares her journey, a journey where we think you will agree, she shows the most amazing resilience.

Back at home with my husband, my toddler Robert and newborn Natasha, over two weeks I lost so much weight so fast because of the UC, my body couldn’t feed Natasha.

These were signs the UC was starting to take over my body, leaving me fatigued and unable to take in sufficient nutrition.

Prescribed with steroids to control the condition, things started to settle down with less and less bleeding. I was at last starting to feel normal again and felt like the UC was under control. The plan was to reduce the steroid levels gradually, giving my body time to ‘rebalance itself’. However, every time the dosage was cut, the UC flared up again. It was a yo-yo of medication.

The worst part of UC is the increasing loss of bowel control which happens at the most inconvenient moments; including when out shopping, when I’d have to make a dash for the toilets. The UC was so bad, my husband was having to become both Mum and Dad in the family, taking over my jobs as well as doing his own.

2004

As well as taking the prescribed medicines, I looked into natural remedies. I’d read that wheat and dairy can aggravate the gut, so I cut out bread. Since then I became less bloated, which had become an increasingly big part of my condition. It had been terribly depressing seeing myself ballooning up, not just from my gut feeling swollen and uncomfortable, but also with the side effects of the increasing dosage of steroids. I’d developed a ‘moon face’ – it was so puffed up, it was no longer me looking back from the mirror in the morning. My clothes no longer fitted, and I had to wear my dark, loose pregnancy outfits again. I avoided looking in a mirror as it just makes me cry to see myself like this. The changing body and face were all due to the steroids. But I had no choice other than to take them, hence my desperate endeavours to find natural remedies to help manage this condition – to no avail.

It really all started when I was three months’ pregnant with my second child, Natasha.

One morning I panicked at the sight of blood, fearing I was going to miscarry. But this wasn’t the case; the bleeding was not from the pregnancy. That was a relief but left some unanswered questions about what was wrong.

As the baby continued to grow inside of me, I began to suspect I had Ulcerative Colitis (UC), an inflammatory bowel disease. The only way to know for sure was with an internal inspection later in the pregnancy. UC is an autoimmune disorder, whereby a body’s natural defence mechanism which normally fights off viruses, turns on the person it’s meant to help. The UC was attacking my intestine, leaving it ulcerated and bleeding.

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Early 2009

When my husband had called out those words in hushed tones: ‘How much longer are you going to be?’ I’d had to bite my tongue. ‘I didn’t exactly think about timing myself’ was the retort in my head. From the aching in my legs I knew I’d been there a long time – maybe up to 30 minutes? Or maybe it had been longer?

Early 2009, I was squatting in some flower bushes. My husband called out ‘How much longer are you going to be? Someone’s going to spot us!’ As he acted as lookout on the roadside, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, I was crouched as low as I could behind the decorative flowerbed on one of the busiest main roads in my local town, at prime time on a Saturday evening. There wasn’t anything I could do; this, for me, was a normal occurrence.

I was in a whole different world of pain, one that I’d come to live with over the last five years. I would much rather be the embarrassed lookout, trying to distract the passers-by with a cheery ‘Good evening’, than being the anxious and distraught person that I now was, hiding in the bushes.

As I squatted uncomfortably amongst the bushes with my back up against a small cold brick wall, I was in so much pain and my body was turning itself inside out. Thankfully the darkness helped obscure the sight of me hunkering down like a common tramp in the undergrowth. This flowerbed had been the nearest location that I could find to dive into when the UC attack came on.

The last few years had been a living hell, to be honest.

By now the steroids were really messing with my head. It was as if there was a lot of ‘noise’ going on all the time inside my head and I couldn’t think straight. Running my own business become increasingly difficult as I

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could no longer attend client meetings. I had to let some of my staff go. I felt like my whole life was going down the toilet. The time had come to make some tough decisions about having stoma surgery…...

would be fit and well to get out there with the children and be a real mum.

Alas I still struggled with the side-effects of the medication, with osteoarthritis-like symptoms. The only thing for it was to keep moving, for I had to try and loosen up all my joints and endeavour to get back my mobility.

March 2009 As I came round from surgery to the sound of bleeping beside me, the surgeon visited me with a great big smile. “Well, Caroline, you are all sorted now. The operation went well, and I can tell you that you are the first person in the world to have this particular surgery performed through single site keyhole. It took us about an hour longer than it usually would, at three and a half hours.”

I grinned from ear to ear, knowing the disease has left my body.

As my flexibility slowly returned I decide it’s time to get back my fitness. I’d never been a particularly sporty person, in fact I’d been a couch potato all my life, a couch potato who’d enjoyed watching endurance sports on TV. To get myself out exercising, I needed to set myself a target. What I hadn’t realised then, is that I’m a goal driven person, both in my business and it turned out with exercise.

Setting a goal was exactly what I needed.

October 2009

I’d thought once I’d had the surgery and got my ileostomy bag, my body would be just fine. With the steroids now reduced to a very minimal level since the surgery, surely I

Surfing the web I came across a charity bike ride for the following July, cycling from

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London to Paris in 24 hours. For some reason the event resonated with me. It could be done as a solo or as part of a relay pair. enlisted the help of my friend Doreen to join me in a relay team and hired myself a personal trainer. Whilst my GP told me not to expect too much of my body, she hadn’t said I couldn’t do it. To me, that meant I can do it!

In late 2014 I signed up for beginner lessons at my local pool, starting with the basics of learning to put my face in the water without hyperventilating and panicking. As the weeks passed my confidence grew and it reignited my desire to set a goal. I knew I could ride a bike, I knew I could now swim a bit and running… surely.. is easy for anyone (how wrong I was there!). That was it, I knew what to do, I would take a look at doing a triathlon.

After joining my local triathlon club - the North Devon Tri Club – in the dying weeks of 2014, it quickly dawned on me how much of a challenge I had taken on for myself, and how much training I’d need to do, to complete it.

At times in the early days of my training through the winter months I seriously doubted my ability to achieve this enormous goal. But as our weekly rides got longer and longer, my legs got stronger and stronger. To the surprise of my GP and consultant, the training even eradicated the osteoarthritis-like symptoms.

Swimming with others in the club, I could see I was way out of my depth! But what better way to inspire yourself than to surround yourself with those you wish to be like.

July 2010 That’s how on a misty Friday morning in London in July 2010, around 16 months after my ileostomy and getting a stoma bag fitted, I lined up with almost 140 other cyclists aiming to cycle from London to Paris in less than 24 hours.

Training for a triathlon takes a lot of time, so managing my time became an additional challenge to master, to ensure nothing, not my family, not my work, nor training for my goals, would suffer.

2015 and onwards

Riding for those 24 hours had its challenges but also many amazing moments, such as riding through the French countryside in the dark, until dawn broke over the misty landscape to the accompaniment of a solitary cockerel crowing. Then there was the final push into Paris and the immense joy at riding down the Champs Elysees before finishing under the Eiffel Tower with seven minutes still to go before 24 hours was up. I was euphoric!

My first triathlon was a short pool swim, followed by a local bike route and 5km run.

Even that was terrifying, and I came in last… very last, a whole 20 minutes behind the last runner. But I’d done it! I’d completed a triathlon! From there, my determination and pure enjoyment of the sport took over, with the encouragement of my tri club friends.

2014

Over the following years I overcame so many of my biggest fears; from swimming in a pool to racing in a cold lake in Snowdonia, to a sea swim triathlon. Not only that, but I also started to extend the length of the races.

From short, little sprint distance events, I’ve now raced Olympic distance (1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run) including doing the world’s largest triathlon, the London Triathlon.

It was time for another challenge. Apart from another bike ride form Newcastle in the north of England to London in 2012, without a consistent goal, I reverted back to my old lazy habits.

I was inspired to learn to swim by my children. I determined that my stoma wouldn’t hold me back. What was a bigger hurdle, was my fear of water.

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Photo credit Rob Coombe

Photo credit Rob Coombe

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Each success drove me to push myself further. I’ve gone on to complete IRONMAN triathlons (1900m swim, 90 km bike, 21.1km run) and even entered IRONMAN UK (3600m swim, 180 km bike, 42 km run).

achievements inspiring others and I work closely with Ileostomy & Internal Pouch Association – the national charity for people living with an ileostomy. I am proud to wear their brand on my tri-suit. This charity was there for me from day one when I confronted stoma surgery. Huub Design also became one of my sponsors – I absolutely love their wetsuits and being part of the extended Huub family. My story was picked up by a publisher and ‘Loo Rolls to Lycra: The Ironman Dreams of an IBD Sufferer’ came to life.

I’ve learnt that my body can do so much more than I ever imagined. I love pushing my physical and mental boundaries with triathlon.

It’s not been an easy journey, nor a smooth one. Every event has its challenges and it’s been a roller-coaster ride chasing those finish lines. I forget that I even have a stoma! This little bag stuck on my abdomen has given me back my freedom and quality of life – to enjoy a new sport and be ‘fit mum’.

My IRONMAN dreams are still burning strong, and looking back at all I’ve endured, I know that Anything is Possible!

I’ve been fortunate to have been supported along the way by organisations that see my

Following Caroline Bramwell On Social Media Website: Instagram: Facebook: Twitter:

www.ironostomy.co.uk www.instagram.com/carolinebramwell/ www.facebook.com/Ironostomy https://twitter.com/home

Ileostomy & Internal Pouch Association According to its website, the Ileostomy & Internal Pouch Association “known as IA, is a registered charity supporting people living with an ileostomy or internal pouch, their families, friends and carers”. Their website contains a wealth of information for people in need, whether due to their own ill health, or the ill health of someone close to you. If you can, please do help them. www.iasupport.org https://twitter.com/iasupport https://www.instagram.com/iasupport/ https://www.facebook.com/iasupport

Photographs All photographs in this article kindly provided by Caroline Bramwell. Special thanks to Rob Coombe for allowing us to use the photographs of Caroline exiting the sea.

Website: Twitter: Instagram: Facebook:

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Getting Out Of Our Comfort Zone – China by Train

By Justine Hall After several years overseas teaching English to adults in Japan and China, Justine decided it was time to move back to the UK. But rather than fly or take the legendary Trans-Siberian Express, Justine choose to take local trains across China, and from there, to travel through Central Asia and Europe.

So in a departure from our usual more physical adventure based stories, here’s the story of a very different adventure, that of what it’s really like to travel across China by train. Be warned, if you’re thinking of traveling across a continent by train, those glamorous pictures you see in the brochures, they’re not third class, which is what Justine opted for.

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Buddhist temple, Urumqi All photographs courtesy of Justine Hall

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Choosing Shanghai over other Chinese cities?

Japanese termly courses), but similar accents and mistakes.

Shanghai was a great experience, but I enjoyed it less than Japan.

I'd previously visited both Shanghai and Beijing as part of a trip back to the UK, and definitely preferred Shanghai. The company I worked for offered several locations in China, but I was set on Shanghai! It's a lot less polluted than Beijing, felt more developed, struck me as more Westernised with a wider choice of activities and restaurants!

Choosing to travel home by train I finished in October 2016, giving me a few months before Christmas. Would anyone be recruiting then? I figured I could travel, returning for Christmas and then start looking for work in January.

Comparing teaching in China and Japan

Researching my trip

Teaching in Shanghai was a little different to Japan; larger classes and less committed students (likely due to the on-demand class structure, with students taking different classes every week, compared to the

The first step was deciding on Shanghai to Moscow, via western China and Central Asia rather than through Mongolia on the famed Trans-Siberia Express the serious planning started. I largely used the excellent The Man

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in Seat 61 website and the links there. I also Googled cities plus routes and read anything I could find, from blogs to Foreign Office guidance. The president of Uzbekistan had recently died and there were upcoming elections. The UK Foreign Office guidance had highlighted it as something to be aware of as potentially causing travel disruption. I bought quite expensive travel insurance, which seemed to have some cover in the event of "political upheaval"!

I also used a spreadsheet; I didn't have any must-see places, so used the train timetables to guide me. I knew I wanted to arrive in new places in daylight, for safety and also ease of onward transport, and also to allow a good night's sleep! So I spent hours and hours checking train timetables between cities and that there were budget-friendly and femalelone-traveller-friendly places to stay.

I used booking.com and read probably hundreds of reviews before deciding where to

stay! I always really enjoy this part of travel, the planning and imagination stage. There is so much potential and excitement, especially for a trip this epic! I started daydreaming my plans ‌ all the sights I would see, the food I'd eat, the travellers I'd meet ‌ One blog said that at the Chinese-Kazakh border the guards wanted to check all their photos on their camera, laptop and phone.

Luckily all my photos were on a separate hard drive, so I packed it separately, and made sure to remember to bury my camera in my bag near the border. My Chinese phone didn't even have a camera, so they could check that!

Photographs on previous, this and next page, river trip from Guilin to Yangzhou

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Converting my Chinese visa

I selected the trains online from a travel site, then asked a co-worker to write out what I wanted in Chinese. Armed with the translations and my passport, I headed to the neighbourhood train ticket office. These are scattered across Shanghai. Their English is non-existent, and they never understood my attempts at Mandarin, so I'd long given up and written everything in advance for my weekend trips! I handed over my cash and received a pile of cardboard tickets.

The China to Kazakhstan ticket was the most difficult ticket to buy, as you could only buy it in Urumqi and only by queuing for hours for possibly very limited seats. I couldn't find a story online of someone successfully buying their ticket, so I opted to pay a travel agency.

I arranged this over email when I was in Shanghai, using a known travel agency It all worked, although when I compared the price on the ticket to the price I paid - ouch, I paid double! Hmm! Though paying more for certainty is a price you sometimes need to pay for these sorts of journeys.

My work visa needed to be converted to a tourist visa, giving me 3 weeks in China after I finished working. I would have loved to go to Tibet, but the extra visa needed for Tibet would require another 7 days processing, during which I would have had to stay in Shanghai. 2 weeks to see more of China AND Tibet just felt too rushed. I was pretty sad when I realised this, but sometimes bureaucracy just gets in the way and there's not much you can do!

Visas and train tickets for the various countries?

Once I had a good idea of my travel dates, the next step was to go and sort out my visas, as I had to change my Chinese work visa to a tourist visa, and also had to get visas for Russia and Uzbekistan, before I got to those borders. To get the Russian visa, I had to let them know the dates of entry and exit, so I knew that part of my route must be set.

Uzbekistan also wanted to know my entry date.

Chinese trains The high speed train from Shanghai West to Guilin was sleek. Very similar to the Japanese high speed trains - 3 seats on one side, 2 on the other, no tables, big windows, with Western style toilets between each carriage. I was in Guilin by 7pm. [Editor’s note, the same journey by me took around 36 hours including two overnights, back in 1993].

It didn’t have food though, or at least I didn't see anything on my train or find any reliable information about it online. But between each carriage there was a samovar (hot water tank/dispenser), and I was prepared with tea and just add hot water noodles.

Handily, Shanghai has both a Russian and an Uzbek embassy, likely a relic from Communist-friendly times, so it was quite straightforward to get the visas in person. I dressed in smart office clothes and had no problems! I did see some more casually dressed people be subjected to lengthy questioning … Something I definitely will remember for the future!

I could only buy the Chinese train tickets 4 weeks in advance; for other countries I would have to buy on arrival. I thought about it a lot and decided to go for the cheapest sleepers, "hard" or 3rd class depending on the country.

These sleepers are often open to the corridor and may be an arrangement of 4 or 6 beds.

This seemed to be to be the safest option - I wouldn't be in a closed room with any weird people, and since there were plenty of beds I should always be able to get a ticket.

The only other modern high speed train I took was from Lanzhou to Urumqi. It’s a new line, and that’s cut the travel time from around 24 to 12 hours. Not all the trains were like that though. Distances in China are vast, and I took a lot of sleeper trains. They were quite an experience.

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View leaving Guilin for Kunming

The first one was from Guilin to Kunming. I had no idea what to expect; blogs had suggested the other passengers were noisy and untidy, and the train floors were covered in rubbish. Bedding was provided, a top and bottom sheet, a pillow and clean pillowcase, and a warm blanket, all of it in a sealed bag. I noticed the locals immediately set up their beds, so I followed suit. I put my rucksack and food bag at one end of the bed, my big suitcase under the bed, and I sat by the window - this is why I booked the lower bunk!

Also the headroom - I'm only 164cm but I knew I'd be able to sit there with no problem!

The lower bunk is the most expensive, with the most headroom, then the middle is medium, and the top bunk, with not much headroom at all, is the cheapest. For me on a Western teacher's salary, the bunks were all very cheap, but for many Chinese people the

difference is a lot. I was happy to pay the extra for the space!

There’s a lot of noise on those trains. People watch things on their phones but don’t bother with headphones. Lots talk really loudly. On that first sleeper train I managed to tune out everything and enjoy the scenery, - karst hills lined the way for a while, then regular hills until sunset, when I pulled the curtains shut, read a book on my phone, then got ready for bed.

The "bathroom" on that train was a hole in the floor, with a separate sink area. It was all old, a bit battered like the rest of the train, and ‘slightly’ cleaned. I saw a woman cleaning up, after her child had used the sink area as a toilet! By the following morning the toilets were pretty awful; I thought of the experience

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like using music festival toilets, hold your breath and touch as little as possible!

wore a pollution mask. Also on the Kunming to Lijiang train, which was a double deck train, Lanzhou to Urumqi though was a no smoking train. The passengers on that train were also mainly quieter, (though one still watched something on his phone without headphones), and it was all smoke free. Mind you, I still saw a woman cutting her nails and brushing the trimmings to the floor - similar to all the other trains I'd been on! At least the Western style toilets were fairly clean.

The main train lights went out at 10pm, with low lights for those going to the loo or getting on/off the train. I never have trouble sleeping anywhere, especially with my trusty foam earplugs, so easily dropped off to sleep, especially with the soporific rocking of the train and the rhythm of the wheels. The lights came on again about 7am, but the sun had risen by this time. Vendors passed through the train with various Chinese breakfast snacks, but I had things with me to eat. The samovar meant there was plenty of hot water for my tea and noodles.

As I travelled further west the signs on the trains added a language. From Chengdu to Lanzhou it was Tibetan (as well as Mandarin and English!). Many signs indicated "oxygen outlet"; I think due to the altitude of Tibet?

This train went all the way to Tibet, though sadly I wasn't, instead getting off at Lanzhou.

Unfortunately the train smelled of cigarettes, as generally) men smoked between carriages, despite the lack of windows. Yuk! On some trains, like the one I took from Kunming to Lijiang, the smoke was bad, I

Guilin to Kunming - sunset

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Once the train passed into the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, the announcements and station signs were in Mandarin, English and Uighur, a Turkic language.

One thing I did was take my own supply of snacks, noodles and dried fruit for the trains, as there didn't seem to be any consistency with food sellers being on board. I noticed a snack trolley came through the Lanzhou to Urumqi train selling various dehydrated products which passengers then went to the samovar to make. But it was rather expensive!

Chinese stations In Shanghai, right at the start of my trip, the bored security guards at the subway station entrance gave my luggage only a cursory scan. They were used to foreigners and their luggage.

For my first proper train ride, which was 1400km from the Shanghai West station to Guilin on the high speed train the station in central Shanghai is only for slow trains), there were some boarding-gateesque checks. It’s not like in the UK when you can arrive and jump on a train. The train company recommends arriving an hour before the train. I think this is mostly, so you have time to locate your platform in the vast station.

In Lijiang station the security was very tight. Their scanner picked up my fruit knife and scissors. The security lady made motions and I guessed what she meant, so I retrieved them from my bag.

Through very broken English and a lot of gestures, I convinced her to allow me my scissors, but only after she had wrapped them in newspaper and about half a roll of sellotape. "No use on train" she warned.

She kept my fruit knife.

Security tried to confiscate my scissors again at another station but settled for wrapping them in more tape. But at the subway security point in Chengdu, they didn’t mention my scissors, though they 102

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did confiscate my insect repellent, pointing at the aerosol symbol.

Breath taking! In the plain below, I could see new roads were being built, and later I saw the foundations of the planned high speed railway line. When it got dark, it was so rural there were no lights from houses to be seen anywhere.

In Urumqi station, as I was taking a train to the border with Uzbekistan, I’d been expecting very strict security and another argument about my scissors, but no. It was very easy and straightforward, though did involve passing high railings and police armed with assault rifles outside the station.

In the morning, the train ran through some polluted and dusty satellite towns. The environmental effects of the factories worry me even now, what is all this pollution doing for people and the planet? Of course people should be allowed to improve their situation in life. But must improvement come at such a great environmental cost? Days later when leaving Chengdu, I couldn’t help but notice the pollution haze and how the water flowing in rivers had been turned green, I think because of the factories?

The scenery Since China is one government, of course the buildings, roads and urban areas were pretty similar, especially due to so much development from the 1980s onwards as the country modernised. But the scenery was otherwise varied. Shanghai to Guilin had dusty yellow farmland punctuated by a lonesome tower block or shiny new factory, and occasional new roads. I was surprised not to see the lush paddy fields of rural Japan, given China's love of rice, but it seems other crops were grown in that part and they had already been harvested.

As I mentioned, from Kunming to Lijiang karst hills lined the way for a while, then regular hills until sunset, when I pulled the curtains shut, read a book on my phone, then got ready for bed.

Lanzhou to Urumqi involved going through lots of tunnels. At times there was snow, other times, the snow sat only on top of the peaks. The plain was covered by pasture, some fields of crops, and few roads. People got on and off at each of the stations, though I didn't see any large urban areas. The new train lines have been built quite far from cities, I guess it is easier construction wise.

To Urumqi in Xinjiang province, the train passed crowds of people picking cotton [editor’s note, you may like to search cotton, Xinjiang and The Guardian, as an interesting article appeared on 15 December 2020, at least in the online version). The area is known for its crops, grapes are famously grown here. Then there were the vast areas of nothing, just a few animals here and there.

Time off the train

From Kunming to Lijiang, as soon as the train pulled away from the station, it immediately started climbing up through mountains. Later narrow valleys opened to river plains, road building projects, mining areas, and farms which were somewhat greener than the plain of central China. From Lijiang I returned to Kunming and then headed to Chengdu.

Between Kunming to Chengdu, the train passed through some of the most spectacular mountains and valleys in western China. The line was built in the 1960s by hand and over 2000 workers died during construction, their graves lining the route. As the train chugged along, it was easy to see why so many had died. The route hugged mountainsides, sheer cliffs dropping hundreds of metres to the plain below, bridges crossed fast flowing rivers, tunnels drove through steep solid rock.

Seeing the sights I’d been to Guilin before. That time I’d missed the famous boat trip on the Li river from Guilin to Yangzhou boat trip. When my students heard that, they were shocked! They insisted I go back to take that boat.

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Lijiang

Lijiang Naxi traditional dress

The scenery was amazing, tall, almost otherworldly green karst peaks that felt straight out of a child's storybook, sheer rocks with various legends attached, fishermen in narrow boats, and the wide winding river. I made sure I caught the famous 20 yuan note scene, the exact point where the currency illustrator had sketched. The karst hills eventually disappeared and were replaced by regular terrace farmed hills.

Before returning to Guilin I saw a Chinese show in Yangzhou It was great, a real dance, light, music and fireworks extravaganza! I was shocked though how the domestic tourists behaved during the show, talking very loudly, ignoring the performers, getting up, wandering around and even leaving early.

Photographs on opposites page Kunming Lianhua Jingshe temple 2

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Above, Lijiang local temple Below, a wedding couple in Lijiang

Days later in Lijiang, I walked around its famed old city, which has been an UNESCO world heritage site since December 1997.

Like most old walled cities of China, some parts are original, and some are rebuilt, and for the unknowing tourist like me it's hard to tell the difference. Lijiang is more original than most, and many people still live within its walls as they have for generations. Cars are not allowed into the city, so it's a wonderful place to stroll and soak up the atmosphere.

The buildings are made of grey bricks and terracotta tiles and have 1-3 stories. There are some beautiful waterways, and narrow paths winding up to the watchtower of the city. The souvenir stores sold a fair amount of standard stuff, and there’s also art and photo galleries.

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groups including the Naxi, the Han Chinese, the Bai and Tibetans.

family's area, filled with dark wood furniture, sofas, rugs etc, with the hostel reception in the corner. The hostel rooms were upstairs, simple and clean. Unfortunately as I headed back to the hostel after exploring Lijiang, I started to feel a bit strange. I hurried back, and just in time to be hit by food poisoning! I had really wanted to have a traditional Naxi meal at the hostel, but I just stayed in bed feeling terrible. and the family running the hostel was very concerned about me, with the grandmother offering me a range of Chinese medicines from pill pots, but I declined. So she got me to eat a banana and have more water, and I did feel better!

A popular Han Chinese (the ethnic majority) holiday activity is dressing in the ethnic clothing of the local area, so I saw a number of couples dressed in bright colourful clothes and headdresses of the local Naxi and Yao people. Another extremely popular activity is wedding photos in touristic places, either in a Western white dress / suit, a Chinese red dress / suit or the local wedding dress. I had often seen these in and around Shanghai, and I saw a few couples here too!

North of the walled city there’s a lake with a view of the distant snow covered mountains. I picked up some traditional "wife cake" in "flower flavour" - a very flaky circular pastry with a solid sweet base. Warning watch your teeth when biting!

The following day I took a bus to another UNESCO world heritage site, Tiger Leaping Gorge.

The bus from Lijiang sped along a brand new highway, along the edge of a wide valley with steep mountains either side. Then it turned

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Photo opposite page, Tiger Leaping Gorge Photo below, a local man carries kindling

off the main highway. Ironically, as the road quality decreased, traffic increased.

boyfriend were cycling from hostel to hostel, aiming for Tibet!

Tiger Leaping Gorge is a popular hiking area.

My hostel was about halfway along it. I’d prearranged that once I got to the bus stop at the entrance to the gorge, I’d phone the hostel on my local phone. The hostel gave me a location and number plate to look for.

My ride to the hostel turned out to be a crowded people carrier! I was put in the middle, and as the only Westerner charged rather more than the locals (still just a few pounds though). I could just about see out of the windows, though as the bus climbed into the gorge and the drop off the road became steeper and steeper I almost wished I couldn't!!.

Tiger Leaping Gorge is pretty close to Tibet, and the hostel owner Tibetan. Dinner for me was yak meat and veg noodles, with Tibetan yak butter tea. Yak is like strong dry beef, and the tea was like creamy chicken soup, but without the chicken taste! However strange it sounds, I liked it!

My bed had an electric blanket, an essential, as nights get very cold. The bathroom was pretty basic, squat toilet and a hose, but I had a lovely warm shower (after a very cosy night's sleep) the next morning in a newly renovated part of the hostel.

On the recommendation of the hostel staff I walked along the road to a cafe, stopping frequently for photos and to follow hiking trails to interesting points. Well, the view from the

The view from my hostel was breath taking.

There I chatted to some fellow travellers. One American had hiked from near the bus stop at the top of the gorge, and this was her second hostel stay. Another American and her 107

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cafe was spectacular! Perched on a bend in the gorge that it overlooked, the café almost appeared to be flying. Not for the faint hearted! I ordered green tea and fried yak cheese with honey - because where else could I eat that? It was divine!!! I love cheese, but mmm that was great, so rich and creamy, with the honey making it a fabulous dessert!

Uighur people, who are Muslim. Turpan, where I was heading, is a nearby almost exclusively Muslim town. On the bus I gazed at the different faces and clothing around me, Kazakh fur hats, hijabs, traditional Muslim dress. The people definitely looked like a different country, though the writing and architecture was clearly Chinese.

The bus to Turpan stopped at a few police checkpoints. Some people got on and off there. The road was new, with sandy desert either side for miles, until we reached the oasis town of Turpan. It was much warmer here! There is a mountain between Urumqi and Turpan, called "Flaming Mountain" to account for the heat! I enjoyed walking through the town, soaking up the atmosphere and taking photos of the numerous mosques and tombs. Some roads were not paved but covered in sand, and small children came out to greet me and shout "hello" in English. I had a few brief exchanges of greeting with them before they scurried inside! I got some food at a market stall, freshly cooked spicy meatballs, really delicious. Much more Turkish than Chinese.

I had some teacher friends in Chengdu, so I arranged to meet them and have them show me the city. I spent a few days walking around the city and stopping for coffee, tea and snacks. Chengdu is filled with Western style shopping malls - without the Chinese writing you could easily be in a mall in Europe or North America. But there’s also a Tibetan area, where shops filled with Buddhist trinkets. What surprised me was the high police presence. Until then, I had barely seen police anywhere in China.

Like Kunming and lots of other cities in China, in Lanzhou everything was modern, with big blocky buildings of concrete and glass, and heavy traffic. The river area however was a tourist attraction and nicely pedestrianised, though not cleaned.

I returned to the bus station, surprised to find it really busy. I went to the desk to get my return ticket but was told "there is no bus at the moment, please wait 10 or 20 minutes".

The lady spoke great English, in fact everyone I spoke to that day at various tourist sights spoke really good English. I wondered if this was related to their native language likely being Uighur rather than Chinese, and perhaps easier to learn English. Later I asked again about a bus. "I'm sorry, no more buses have arrived from Urumqi, so we have none to send back. Maybe tomorrow?"

Thankfully I managed to get a train back to Urumqi, where I discovered the cause of the mayhem. Sleet. Sleet so heavy, roads and pavements were flooded.

When living in Shanghai I found it difficult to order a meal in China, so I got in the habit of grazing on snacks, street food and supermarket/corner store items. I would never be able to get most of those things back home, so I never felt I missed out. In fact I loved trying local food. A lot of places I stayed had Western breakfasts, so I didn’t get the opportunity to try a local breakfast until Lanzhou. These thanks to a lot of pointing, I managed to get spicy dumplings and a cup of "eight treasure tea", sugar cubes and various dry berries plus tea. I also sampled the famous Lanzhou noodles, and circular bread, Urumqi is the capital city of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the most north westerly part of China. From there I took myself off to Turpan for the day. Xinjiang is home of the

In China, there’s only one time zone, Beijing time. If it wasn’t for that, the time difference between Beijing or Shanghai and Urumqi, would be two hours behind Beijing. However in Urumqi, many operate on their own local time [editor’s note, if meeting someone in

Various Chinese dishes

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Urumqi, be sure to know if it’s official or unofficial time, the former is apparently preferred by the majority Han Chinese, the later by the local Uighur population]. When on the day after my trip to Turpan, I braved the cold and snow and went out early for breakfast, I found places closed, as they were operating on unofficial time.

cheap, for example, I paid the equivalent of about £1.70 for a taxi to my hostel in Lijiang.

On that occasion I’d prebooked a taxi from the station, as my research showed the hostel was hard to find. All I had to do look for a driver with my name on a board.

When you disembark from a train, take your time. I found that way, the hordes from my train could disperse and it minimised the scrum of people waiting outside stations friends and family, porters, taxis, tour groups, sellers, even a few snack sellers, and it made it easier to find a taxi, especially if you’d prebooked it and were looking for your name on a board.

Whilst in Urumqi I tried lots of little snacks fried egg wrapped on a stick, meatballs, circular flat bread (very common in western China), samosas It really didn't feel like China, with the Muslim dress and Uighur speaking and the varieties of food.

What really shocked me though as I enjoyed wandering the museum, parks, malls and cafes, was the number of metal detectors everywhere: in parks, restaurant entrances, mall entrances, some shops, and the museum. I knew the government distrusted the locals here, but this visibility was yes, shocking. Also, when I tried to pop into the supermarket on my way back to the hostel, I wasn't allowed as I was carrying a shoebox (I’d bought some fake fur lined boots which I was now wearing). I had no idea what to do, until I saw some people using lockers at the edge of the supermarket. Evidently large things had to be put in there while you shopped. Alas, my shoebox wouldn't fit, so I resorted to a small corner store.

Also, definitely check any accommodation you’re booking can take foreigners. When I checked booking.com for accommodation in Lanzhou, there were no hostels or hotels available for foreigners, so I used c-trip, a China specific website. The booking was all fine, but when I arrived at the hotel the staff were shocked. "No foreigners" was all the English they spoke. One of the staff gestured me back to the street, where he hailed a taxi to take me to a different hotel. Again I went inside, to more shocked expressions and hails of "no foreigners!" Thankfully the man at the desk was really helpful, and with the help of a translation app found me a hotel with vacancies that definitely allowed foreigners!

Finally, remember if you’re travelling off the usual track you may not meet many people.

Be prepared for that. It was maybe a shame I didn’t meet more people than I did, but when I travelled, third class / hard sleeper trains didn’t seem to appeal to Westerners and the language barrier really minimised interaction with the locals. But I am really happy I went and have seen all those places.

Some of my tips for travelling in China Plan as much as possible, and have back-up plans in case transport suddenly stops.

Always check your tickets. I’d been told my train from Urumqi left at 23:41, but it was actually 23:14. Lucky I checked.

Photos opposite page Chengdu opera performers

Take your own food for the train, as there might be none.

Use taxis. Taxis were cheap. Yes I was charged more than locals, but they were still 110

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Photos opposite page , clockwise from top – Emin Mosque and Minaret 3, Turpan – Emin Mosque and Minaret 2, Turpan Pagoda Kunming

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Photo above – aborted attempt to visit Heavenly lake from Urumqi, with attempt stopped due to first snow of the season.

About Justine Hall … …

Justine Hall has a PhD in urban greenspace. Graduating during the post global financial crisis recession, and without much opportunity to go into environmental work, she took a yearlong expenses-paid volunteer position in Malta, where she worked on people engagement in nature. After subsequently qualifying to become an English as a Foreign Language teacher, she spent three years teaching English to adults in Japan (first in Nagoya and then Tokyo), and later spent another year teaching in China’s biggest city, Shanghai.

After all of those experiences, she’s now happy working back home in the UK.

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Adventure She Magazine’s December 2020 What A Woman Award

Sabrina Verjee

W

challenge was to be the first woman to complete the Wainwrights in one go. This would entail 214 peaks (which are locally called fells), over an unmarked course, requiring navigation.

hat does good leadership mean?

Is it telling people to do as you say, or does it mean living by your values?

Sabrina finished the challenge in 6 days, 17 hours and 51 minutes, which at the time of finishing, people thought was to be the first continuous completion of the Wainwrights by a woman, plus the third fastest time ever, after Paul Tierney’s 6 days 6 hours and 4 minutes and Steve Birkinshaw’s 6 days and 13 hours (which he measured as 320 miles (515 km) with 118,000 ft (36,000m) of ascent.2

This year Sabrina Verjee showed her quality, by living by her values. So how did she do this and how come did her actions become notable?

With races cancelled this year because of Coronavirus, many runners – of which Sabrina is one – undertook personal challenges. For Sabrina, her personal

But Sabrina claimed neither achievement.

2

This man just ran 12 marathons, 214 mountains and four times the height of Everest. In under a week.

Posted by Carey Davies on 23/06/2014 (thebmc.co.uk)

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claiming some right to the Wainwrights.

I do not claim any record for this achievement. However, I do look forward to taking on the challenge again in the future.”

She tried to explain to the interested press that she wasn’t the first, but apparently her explanation got edited out of interviews. So Sabrina turned to the public Facebook group Fell Running UK, where on 15 July 2020 she wrote: ““It’s not a record”

Our editor subsequently spoke with Sabrina about her Wainwright experience and her Facebook post.

To the fell running community, I set off on my schedule that would see me challenge the overall Wainwright’s record. Things were going well but a few days in and my right knee became agonisingly painful and swollen. I needed assistance down Clough Head to the Old Coach Road – I had to lean on little Dave to take the weight off. At this point I realised that I was not going to be on a record pace and that it was going to be a struggle just to finish but I was committed to finish.

Sabrina is a former adventure racer, a sport where you and your teammates must stay together. Some races last for several days, during which it’s normal for team mates to have highs and lows at different times. So teammates help each other out, sometimes by towing them, sometimes by carrying their pack, sometimes by having the injured person lean on them.

To set records like Sabrina had intended, you have to be accompanied, so there is a witness. With Sabrina’s attempt spanning so many days, she needed a team of people, who accompanied her on different stages. Between these and the road crew

I did what I needed to do – have my knees strapped up and took some painkillers and struggled on through the rest of the summits. However, there were other points that I required assistance – I had to descend backwards down Carl Side to Dodd Wood and to do this I held onto 2 supporters to guide me down between the rocks. There were a few more descents where I had to lean on my supporters, and I think that this allowed me to descend far quicker than I would have on my own. I visited every summit and made the entire way on my own efforts with every step taken by myself but having to lean on supporters to descend is not appropriate for taking a record. I certainly would not have tried to claim another’s record by using these methods.

I completed the Wainwright’s round to my own satisfaction but I do not wish my attempt to be ratified or acknowledged by the FRA or any other

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(who helped out at various points along the way by keeping her fed and to minimise time, changed her shoes and socks as necessary whilst she ate), Sabrina had around 30 people in her team, helping her to in her attempt.

It simply didn’t sit right with her. She would far rather another woman who did the challenge in more days and without any physical help, to become the first woman to complete the Wainwrights nonstop, than for her to hold that honour.

With her knee really painful, particularly on steep rough descents, it was natural, instinctive, for Sabrina, the former adventure racer, to lean on some of her teammates, for that’s what they were to her, teammates in helping her by being her witnesses and carrying kit.

She hadn’t given up on the Wainwright record though, planning to return for a second attempt in May 2021, though she was very aware another woman might beat her to the title of ‘first woman’. It turns out that’s what happened, for in September Mel Steventon (who had already been planning on doing it prior to Sabrina’s attempt, and who volunteered for Sabrina’s support crew), did it in a time of 13 days 12 hours, which is still an achievement and an achievement to be lauded.

Over the course of the 6 days17 hours and 51 minutes, Sabrina leant on others for a total of about 30 minutes.

But, during the event itself, Sabrina became troubled. Whilst having others to help with route finding, pacing, even carrying kit, food and water, is usual in these extreme challenge events, being physically helped wasn’t. Whilst some people doing a challenge might get the occasional push up a steep climb, Sabrina thought it wasn’t appropriate for a person out to set a record, to achieve such help.

For Sabrina though, what really mattered to her was her honour, and to live her life by her values. She far preferred to have those, than to be recognised as the first woman to complete the Wainwrights in one continuous attempt.

In this day and age, when drugs and cheating is rife in sport, it is so fresh to hear of a woman like Sabrina who puts her values and her morals, ahead of records. Those are standards of a true leader, a leader who shows the way and who encourages others.

For her leadership on living one’s life in accordance with one’s values, we definitely think Sabrina Verjee is a most deserving winner of this quarter’s What A Woman Award.

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Gratitude and East Africa’s Mountain Gorillas As told by Rhiannon Swannell to Tracey Ashford Photographs courtesy of Rhiannon Swannell, unless otherwise credited

What moments have changed your life? After all, don’t we all have a few such . moments?

In this article Rhiannon Swannell reflects with gratitude on a trip and a moment that changed her life, ultimately leading to her working with elephant conservation in Namibia. But first, before her time with the elephants, there was an even more endangered species that stole her heart, the Mountain Gorillas of East Africa.

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t is the 9th of September, at last, the day I have been waiting for. After hundreds and hundreds of miles of bumpy truck riding, and endless breakdowns, from the colonial buildings and city bustle of Nairobi onwards through the greens and reds of the Great Rift Valley; via my first sightings of zebra, storks and elephants, from Kenya to Uganda, the beauty of Lake Victoria burned in my mind as clearly as the images of limbless victims of landmines and men armed with AK47s. Today, 6500 kilometres from home, is the day we will go in search of mountain gorillas!

We get up before the sunrise with a strange, quiet, heart-thumping excitement. None of us knows why we are whispering as ours is the only group at the camp, but somehow the darkness of a day not yet awake seems to require a hushed reverence.

We pack our bedrolls and tents into the truck, eat breakfast next to the faint smell of the kerosene of the cooking fire and then chivvy along the slowpokes. I am nearly bursting with excitement and too impatient to wait for anyone not moving at full speed today.

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see what is in store; we have crossed the border and are now in the Congo at the Virunga National Park. At the foot of the Sabina Mountain, a dormant volcano, the air is humid as we are entering the sticky dampness of real jungle territory.

We have quite a wait as there seems to be some hold up with visas and permits. No doubt it will be sorted ‘pole, pole’ (slowly, slowly in Swahili) as is the way, so I take in the images of the huts and the children of the village. So many children, children as young as 3 or 4 carrying babies on their backs and so many arms waving ‘jambo, jambo’ (hello, hello) but this does not feel right. This doesn’t feel like our meetings so far.

Each town, each village in the days before greeted us win an unmistakable warmth, a kindness matching its inquisitiveness.

Our trip to-date has often involved long, meditative hours staring out of the truck’s windowless sides but today is alive with chatting to my fellow travellers as I cannot wait to 119

Something here feels wrong.

The adults and the older kids are all staring at us, reaching their hands out ‘You give me money’ is a repeated refrain. A line of eight or nine young, strong men in jeans and dirty Tshirts are just standing, smoking, looking right at us but with a dead-eyed quality that I have not encountered before. Something here feels almost dangerous but before I have time to work out where my fear is coming from our guides move us on, separating us into four smaller groups ready for the jeeps taking us into the jungle. We are off to find gorillas. As we leave, I lift my head up and the tallest man in the T-shirt line-up looks right into my eyes, stubs out his cigarette, lifts his finger and makes a long, slow slitting action across his neck.

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Seeking safety with our familiar guides and my companions, I concentrate on being inside the vehicle.

The guides carry machetes, to cut through the undergrowth, as well as knives and guns for protection against elephants and poachers. This is certainly already proving to be a very memorable day.

We drive to the start point and de-bus for a 2.5 hour trek, climbing higher by each few hundred meters.

The undergrowth is hard going at times and we have to concentrate not to trip in the tangle of foliage or to take a harsh swipe from a face-scratching bough. Our chatter lessens as we drop into silence apart from the soft sounds of our breathing in the damp air and the chopping and swishing from the guides’ machetes forging a route through the thick forest. We are in search of the Mapua family.

The guides know where these eight gorillas were just 24 hours ago but finding them today, looking towards their known feeding areas and following any clues in the dense foliage is an art and skill that may or may not produce a sighting.

The entry permit price clearly explains there are no guarantees where these great animals are concerned.

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cannot find the illusive animal-cousins I have waited so long to see. The lead guide assures us that he can tell from the feedmarkings on the trees that the Mapua family have passed this way not long before. He thinks we will be in luck. We pause for a moment for the stragglers to catch up. Whispering and lulled by the thirsty heat, Daz from Manchester and I, are focused completely on my camera, fiddling with how to turn off the flash when suddenly… there… right next to us… there he is, a huge Silverback. Oh my heart. Enormous beyond anything I had imagined, he had simply silently appeared from the trees to have a look at what we are doing.

We follow him, step by careful step, back up the hill where we are greeted with the sight of his whole family.

We stop. Nobody breaths.

Just one meter away. Two mothers, two babies and 3 teenagers are stripping leaves as they sit eating, noisily. When their great, leathery hands aren’t pulling at leaves and putting food in their mouths they are grooming and picking at each other. They know we are there, their beautiful eyes looking at us, we are told not to stare back and not to reach out or touch but to sit still at all times, whatever happens. And for some time nothing happens as I take in their expressions, their behaviour, they feel like the 121

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Images on this and the opposite page, are of mountain gorillas in Uganda.

Image by Gabriel Gach from Pixabay

families I know. You will have heard people say this before, and you will hear it again, but the connection, the expression in their eyes is so human. I can hardly breathe. Am I even conscious that this very point in time, this one precious hour, is a seminal moment in the awareness of my own ignorance, my own humanity and my tiny place in this huge world?

As we sit in stillness the juveniles of the family become increasingly inquisitive, coming over to us, pulling at our shoes, our hair and even climbing onto the arm and then the head of one of the group. They are without fear, but we were in no doubt that, as with mothers in playgrounds

all over the world, we were being watched by maternal eyes. Mummas who knew, as did we, that one determined cuff around a human head from the father of the family would fell even the biggest man in our group.

We sit as they sit and there is a strange sense of comfort, an unspoken contract that they have allowed us to be a part of their family today. I am positioned, almost motionless, in a space between two shrubs fighting the urge to reach out and stroke and touch the youngest members of the family and to join in as we would with our own. It is hard to make sense of something so unknown yet 122

so familiar.

The air is becoming even hotter and the increasingly humid, but nobody cares, we simply want to absorb the sensation of being here with the mountain gorillas, a feeling so complete its something none of us will ever forget. Then, as suddenly as it had all started with the appearance of the silverback, I am tapped on the shoulder by our guide and told it is time to go.

Our time with the gorillas is over all too soon. None of us want to leave but we have to move at speed, taking a lot less time going downhill and aiming to make it to the vehicles before the rain. The other

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The Mountain Gorillas of East Africa are found in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), Uganda and Rwanda.

Image by Gabriel Gach from of Pixabay

groups have not yet made it down from the mountain, so we wait in the village under a shelter full of local children. I think it will take some time for this whole experience to sink it. As the drops hit the ground and splash back at us, it feels like something very important happened today. I am acutely aware that there, amongst the last surviving Sabina mountain gorillas, there was where my love affair of a lifetime began.

At the time of my first visit to Africa there were less than 600 mountain gorillas still in existence. Hunted almost to extinction for bush meat, trophy heads, hands and feet, for babies for zoo

exhibits and with their habitat being farmed and deforested for illegal mining, they were listed as ‘critically endangered’. Roaming freely between the then Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), Rwanda and Uganda, thanks to the skilled work of groups such as The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, there are now about 1000 living and thriving in family groups. I can’t say with any certainty where the $250 we each paid to spend an hour with the Mapua family went over 15 years ago but I do urge anyone taking a trip now to question how and where their substantial permit fee is being spent.

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After our meeting with the gorillas the whole group was in very high spirits. It felt like we had all been moved to connect more with each other, as well as the outside world.

Throughout my trip I had been reading a booked called The Alchemist. The story turns from a boy’s search for worldly goods, to a discovery of what lies within. It is a literary tribute to the power and importance of listening to our hearts. One page of my own journal from that time reads “I know I will regret it if I can’t finish the trip and see the rest of Africa.”

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I decided I was not getting on that plane back to the UK. I was not going straight back to work. Instead, I did what at that time, seemed like the most frightening and daring thing in the world. I had to steal up every nerve in my body, then I phoned my boss. I keyed in the digits on the phone, my boss picked up and the words just poured out.

Rosalie, MD of SHOON, to whom I will be forever grateful, promptly gave me five weeks fully paid notice and told me to go and make the life I needed to be

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happy.

And this is where I will pause in my reflection. A journey which brought me to working with the Namibian EHRA (ElephantHuman Relations Aid) and to hosting groups of women to visit the great desert elephants. A journey which in spiritual terms has connected me to the sounds of my own heart’s needs and taught me to give back.

seemingly arbitrary choices I made; from the reading book I packed to the first taxi at the airport… even the decision to set off in the first place, I am now convinced that there was some kind of alchemy afoot all along. There, buried within the pages of the novel it says “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

As I close my old, first ever journal I consider the

How to Follow Rhiannon Swannell on Social Media Instagram: @maverickmum Facebook: @maverickmumuk Website:

www.maverickmums.com

About Mountain Gorillas For more on mountain gorillas, why not check out this link to the WWF’s website, which should take you to an article entitled ‘Top 10 Facts About Mountain Gorillas’. Top 10 facts about mountain gorillas | WWF

About Elephant Human Relations Aid EHRA, Elephant Human Relations Aid is a Namibian organisation which which runs elephant conservation and volunteer project in Namibia. It aims to find long-term solutions, to enable peaceful co-habitation between people including subsistence farmers and Namibia’s desert elephants.

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Leadership and Women in the Mountains

By Louise Kennedy

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Louise Kennedy scrambling in Norway.

Photo credit Urpu Hapuoja

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Epic snow capped peaks.

We’ve all seen the photographs.

Perhaps like us, those mountain vistas mesmerise you.

But how to be a part of that vista as opposed to simply observing the vista, for aren’t mountains risky? How does one go about embarking on a hobby, or even a career, based around mountaineering or rock climbing?

Louise Kennedy, the co-founder of the Women’s Alpine Adventure Club, shares her journey on how she went from a beginner, to facilitating other women to live their own mountain dreams.

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I

t all started in the cloud jungle of Costa Rica, where I decided to give up a corporate life of climbing the career ladder and swap it for a life of climbing mountains instead..

I had been following the path I’d been brought up to believe was the best for me, and never really stopped to think if it actually made me happy.

At the age of just 27 I was managing an entire business with over 40 staff and a million in turnover. I’d been very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time and had worked super hard to prove myself. Then once I had ‘made it’, I wondered, how had I come to be there in the first place and what else was out there for me?

There in the jungle of Costa Rica, on a trek to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer relief, I realised how I loved watching everyone bond and grow through adventure, and how I would love to take people on adventures, rather than lurk behind a computer screen.

The guides on the expedition said I needed to take my UK Mountain Leader award as a first step. Always quick to embrace change and new challenges, on returning home, I swiftly handed in

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my notice and began my mountain life.

I hadn’t really done much in the mountains before that, other than view them from afar, so I booked myself on a Scottish Winter Mountaineering course - it was November. Fortunately for me, I was the only client. Unfortunately, winter hadn’t yet arrived in the small Scottish Highlands village of Glencoe. So we made the best of it, my instructor and me.

On that course I had my first taste of rock climbing - in mountain boots and in the rain - and absolutely loved it. My instructor was so full of enthusiasm and knowledge, I learnt so much plus she helped me map out an entire plan to fulfil my goals.

She also pointed me in the direction of another incredibly inspiring woman who was running a company called Chicks Unleashed, which aimed to help women gain mountain skills and find mountain buddies. This was perfect timing for me, and I was lucky enough to go on several trips climbing and mountaineering with supportive women under a fantastic instructor. Her courses were so popular that at one point she had

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Louise Kennedy climbing in the Dolomites. Photo credit Tanya Noakes

to hire every female instructor in the UK for her first Scottish winter meet. It was this that must have seeded the idea in me, for what would become the Women’s Alpine Adventure Club.

I went on to complete the UK Mountain Leader scheme at Plas y Brenin

in North Wales. This was by far the most challenging and rewarding thing I’ve done.

I also absolutely loved it.

I loved being in the mountains, where I learned about the landscape and how to give people enjoyable and safe days out on the hill.

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But by far the most empowering element of the process, was learning how to navigate at night and in poor conditions. It was such a liberating experience walking off into the clag or camping out on my own at night, planning my own journeys and wandering off into the mist or snowy white out - confident in

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my own abilities. I even remember being stopped on occasion by passersby - no doubt wondering why I was out on my own in such horrid conditions!

Those skills then enabled me to climb winter routes in Scotland, knowing that in a white out I would make it back safely to the mountain hut. Something that was invaluable for a lot of my Scottish winter suffer-fests where I saw nothing but spindrift and had to navigate off Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in the UK) with zero visibility.

the Alps climbing and consulting in between.

In addition to working in the mountains whenever I could, I moved from the West Midlands (no mountains there) to the Peak District to be able to rock climb as often as I could. I had also started freelance work in the corporate world as well, balancing a life in the outdoors with echoes of my previous work in helping make websites easier to use. This allowed me greater freedom and I soon found myself on a road trip to

Fast forward 10 years and here I am sitting underneath the majestic mountain Pelvoux on my balcony, reflecting on the past 10 years. Since living in the Ecrins I have continued to climb, enjoy summiting alpine peaks and started to run yoga and climbing retreats for adventurous people looking for a different holiday. Running events in such a beautiful space, started me thinking about how I could give back and support other women in

In the beautiful Ecrins National Park near Briancon in Franc, I found a place which felt like home. All the stunning peaks provided endless opportunity to play, from long alpine routes and multi-pitch climbs, to harder single pitch sport climbing. I was in heaven and although I was sad to leave the UK and my work as a UK mountain leader behind, for me, it was the next natural progression.

“Running events in such a beautiful space, started me thinking about how I could give back and support other women in gaining skills and confidence in the alpine environment.”

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gaining skills and confidence in the alpine environment.

It was those early experiences -where I’d been supported, nurtured and taught by such great women that made me want to start the Women’s Alpine Adventure Club. I shared the idea initially with a wonderful woman I’d met here in the alps, Jenny Dart - an up and coming female instructor with a mutual love of the mountains. Jenny and her friend Kate had helped me to run my first yoga and climbing retreat and their help was invaluable.

They both loved the idea and helped to co-found the club. We hadn’t realised just how popular the idea would be and were both surprised when hundreds of women signed up in the first two days.

We started out planning two events - a summer and a winter club meet designed to allow women to come together, share their skills and experiences and skill up learning what they needed to tackle alpinism. We hired female guides and thanks to their instruction and their workshops, total beginners who had never used crampons or an ice axe before, were now

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summiting their first 3000m peaks.

Our winter meet in Hemsedal, Norway saw some women try crosscountry ski, ski-touring and ice climbing all in the same week (for the very first time). We also had advanced ice clinics and avalanche workshops for more experienced members.

On both meets, I was a resident yoga teacher which was terrifying and satisfying in equal measure. It is such a

Above, Lizzy Banyon, Below, Jenny Dart Photo credits Louise Kennedy

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Ice climbing with the Women’s Alpine Adventure Club in Norway Photo credit Louise Kennedy

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Ice climbing with the Women’s Alpine Adventure Club in Norway Photo credit – random stranger!. Photo courtesy of Louise Kennedy

wonderful feeling to start your day with a room full of enthusiastic, excited women and then to help everyone stretch and relax after a day out on the mountain. It really was very special for me and made for crazy days which involved my getting up at 5am to prepare the yoga room, run around on taking photos of the women in action during the day, hosting both the post mountain activity yoga session and the group dinners, plus all of the logistics including meeting with the guides

in the evenings to plan for the next day.

super hard just to put the event on.

The most daunting part though has been the budgeting; trying to keep event costs to a minimum and making them more accessible to more women.

For me the most rewarding element has been watching the women bond and become firm friends, as well as succeeding in their alpine goals. It’s been great to see members take the lead on rope teams, which some who have climbed and mountaineered in the past, haven’t previously done in mixed gender groups.

Budgeting has involved many nail biting moments trying to work out if an event will break even for us, or whether we’d be supplementing funds with our own cash - not an ideal scenario when you’ve been working

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Learning about crampons with the Women’s Alpine Adventure Club in France Photo credit Louise Kennedy

It hasn’t all been plain sailing though, since COVID 19, all our events have been postponed including trips to the Dolomites, Hemsedal again and Sass Fee which were scheduled 2020 and 2021, but we’re doing our best to keep

the community alive through online activities, online talks and online sharing of information, including and knowledge articles and videos on topics such as mountain first aid and crevasse rescue.

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The club has been an extremely exciting but also difficult project; balancing our day jobs with our enthusiasm for the club and life events hasn’t always been easy.

I’m so grateful though for the truly wonderful people it has brought into my life.

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As well as forming close bonds with co-founder Jenny, I’ve also met my adventure soulmate in Lizzy, who offered her help to Jenny in the early stages of the club. Lizzie has been instrumental in helping us organise ourselves, including gain sponsors..

Who knows what the future will brings in terms of events over the next year, though we’re remaining hopeful. Being hopeful helps me to focus on the longer term. I’ve been thinking about where to take my own alpine career and have decided that means big wall climbing. I long to sleep on a portaledge with an ocean of granite

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below me. I’ve also become obsessed with the idea of living in Norway and taking part in a 100 mile Ultra Trail race in Lofoten - part of the Arctic Triple. With 7,000m of ascent across the course, it’s not a push-over and I have zero trail running experience. The race is a long term goal but something I know will keep me motivated in more challenging times and the move to Norway will happen early 2021.

run events on a smaller scale. In future we also hope to make alpine adventures accessible to women who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity through sponsored places at our skills meets.

As for the club - I’m hoping that our vibrant community will meet in person again soon and in the meantime we’re building a network of local ambassadors to help us

If you’re keen to grow and develop skills through alpine adventure do join us

I’m blessed to be able to facilitate that, whilst also learning and growing myself, through supporting the venture and by developing my own climbing and mountaineering goals.

About Louise Kennedy Louise Kennedy is a mountain leader and a yoga instructor with a passion for climbing mountains. Together with Jenny Dart, she founded Women Alpine Adventure Club.

About the Women’s Alpine Adventure Club (WACC) According to its website, WAAC’s mission is to “make alpine experiences available to more women. Growing together through adventure and supporting each other in a community of like minded friends to achieve our lofty dreams”.

You can follow WAAC on the following social media channels: Instagram:

www.instagram.com/womensalpineadventureclub

Website:

www.womensalpineadventureclub.com

Facebook:

www.facebook.com/womensalpineadventureclub

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Digging a snow pit to check the snow pack as part of the avalanche training.

Photo credit Louise Kennedy

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Retreat participants in action - Photo credit Louise Kennedy

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You’re a qualified yoga teacher yet you say you found teaching at the retreat to be terrifying, as well as satisfying. Could you elaborate on that please?

And then I can embrace the risks which that will entail. Quite often I'll weigh those risks and I'll think, okay, what does my gut say? For example, with my move to Norway, I feel in my gut that it’s the right thing to do. I don't know why as I've written a list of pros and cons on paper and France or the UK wins. Still, I feel for some reason that Norway's the right thing for me, so that's what I'm going to do. And it is a risky move, because I could end up selling my home here and moving to Norway, and discovering it wasn’t the right thing to do.

Although I'm a qualified yoga teacher, I don't have a weekly class. So because of that I'm not teaching all the time. So it did feel daunting to, as well as running all the logistics for the week long retreat, to also be getting up early and worrying about what sequences I'm was going to do with the class and how I was going to provide interest. Plus I also needed to make sure that the yoga was suitable for the amount of exercise and sports the participates were doing, so that the yoga stretched them out and relaxed them. So yeah, that was quite terrifying. But also really satisfying, because I absolutely love teaching yoga. Actually, although it added more stress to the event, doing yoga instruction there made the event more rewarding for me. It did make me think maybe I should be instructing yoga retreats.

But what's the worst that can happen?

Physically this move is not going to harm me. Emotionally, it will allow me to grow because if nothing else, I'll learn from the situation.

That's h ow I think about risk, really, I weigh up the consequences and if there aren’t immediate bad consequences to my health and my safety, then why wouldn't I give it every shot? .

What advice would you give to others who might find it tougher than you to embrace change? change

So any plans to instruct more yoga?

Give yourself little challenges, warmups.

As you get more used to making small changes, even simple stuff like moving stuff around in your home, you get to practice dealing with changes. Then you can go “Oh, actually, I like this”.

Definitely. 100%. And I think when I get to Norway, I will try and find somewhere where I can teach every week

What’s your attitude towards risk?

Good question. I think my attitude towards risk has changed with age, I'm definitely more conscious of my own fragility, now, I'm in the mountains more and as I get older.

Then you can let that positive feeling bleed out into other areas of your life, including areas where change can be so much harder to implement.

Also, listen to your gut. That’s what I do, I listen to my gut, if my gut says I should do it, I work towards that change.

But, having said that, I think it comes down to this strong sensation and belief about whether you're doing the right thing.

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From everyone at Adventure She Magazine, we wish all of you the best possible Christmas given the circumstances.

It’s hard right now for many of us. We really hope this issue might have helped you somewhat. For whilst many of us can’t travel right now (in fact we’re in tier 4 lockdown and have to stay local), we can still dream. We can set goals for the future, and we can work towards them. We can do our exercises, even if on our living room floor. We can go for a walk, even if it rains.

Let’s not give in. Let’s keep hopeful, even when it’s hard.

We might be upset, we might be angry, we might hate everything right now. But we can still enjoy the taste of delicious food. We are not in Cuba having to eat a beloved pet or starve (see our article on Cuba in this issue). Things could be so much worse.

So let’s hold on, let’s cry if we need to, but then let’s wipe away our tears, get back on our living room floor, and do our exercises, so that our body is as strong as it can be, for as they say, healthy body healthy mind.

So let’s hold on, lets appreciate what we do have, whether it’s a roof over our head, or food on our table, or a person at the end of a phone. Let’s deal with this and come through the other side, when we can once again adventure further afield. Meanwhile, let’s explore our local area and get to know the footpaths, parks or pavements around our own homes. Let’s give this season our best shot, even if the world around us isn’t the best it has been. For hopefully one day a few weeks or months from now, we will once again have our freedoms restored and can live our best life.

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Coming Up Here are some ideas that we have, but do let us know what you’d like to read about and please do keep sending us your stories.

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Competing in the Eco Challenge

The Coast To Coast

Ultra Running Nepal

Getting Your Film Into A Film Festival

The Importance of Attitude

Running Rome

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Exploring Kakadu National Park Australia’s Kakadu National Park

The Grand Canyon - Rim to Rim

New Zealand’s Coast To Coast Race Cycling Victoria’s Rail Trails

Navigation For Hikers And Runners

Coronavirus Cycling in Ireland

Charity Hiking In The Sahara

Nepal After

How Can We Best Help Developing Countries?

New Zealand’s Great Walks

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Adventure She magazine, Issue 12,Issue December 2020 Adventure She magazine, 12, December 2020

Adventure She is a brand of TNA Consulting Services Ltd, Pembrokeshire, United Kingdom

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Photo credit Rob Coombe