More Walkers

Regular visitors to this blog (hello to all 6 of you, LOL!) know by now that I'm obsessed with long-distance walking. In the course of online research, I've come across quite a few walkers who also blog and/or vlog about their adventures. Abbie Barnes, Song Thrush Productions and Patrick Leach, The Solitary Rambler are two that I've recently mentioned.

A couple more: 

Ursula Martin is a British walker, a young woman who survived ovarian cancer in 2012 at age 31 and decided to bring awareness about the disease, its symptoms and the importance of early detection to the general public by walking throughout Wales. 3700 miles later, after walking on all the Welsh National Trails and after following all the major Welsh rivers from origin to sea, blogging all the way, she wrote a book about her life-changing experiences. 

Fast forward to 2018.

You might think that after so much walking that she'd be done with it. But no. Long-distance walking is addictive! She could hardly wait to leave on her next project after she'd propped up her finances a bit. In September she hitchhiked to Kiev in Ukraine and set out to walk home to Wales. It took weeks to travel across Ukraine to Romania and she arrived at the border on Nov. 22, just as the Russians decided to get feisty again. Whew! That would not be a place or situation to be caught up in!

Now she just has to avoid the bears in the Romanian mountains. I follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

Here's an interview from Spring 2018:

The next walker, Hannah Englekamp, is not one that I'm very familiar with, but I mention her because she inspired Ursula for her walk in Wales and they became friends both through sharing their passion and being fellow Welsh writers.

In 2013 Hannah, 34 years old at the time, for reasons I have yet to figure out, decided to buy a donkey and enjoy a quiet meditative walk around Wales. 1000 miles in half a year.

  

Of course, the reality of the walk turned out quite different from Hannah's expectations, hardly surprising when you wonder how she and Chico would cope with the hundreds of stiles and kissing gates. And the fact that Chico is a donkey.

She wrote a book.

which I'm looking forward to reading.

There's also a film...here's the trailer:

By the way, Ursula and Hannah are both intrepid "wild campers", pitching their tents in unobtrusive spots along the way, unlike myself who appreciates a comfortable country B and B or Inn, with shower etc. at the end of each day.

I'm so grateful for all these walkers who share their adventures and give so many of us enjoyment!