Ellen in her own words:
I was a late starter to living more adventurously: in my late-thirties I realised that maybe I hadn’t left it too late and began to push my boundaries.
I gained my Hill and Moorland Leader qualification and after cycling a section of the Camino de Santiago in 2017 I set my sights on a cold adventure.
With 42 being the answer to life, the universe and everything I planned and trained for an expedition on Svalbard in the high arctic in 2020 when I was 42.
But just two weeks before leaving, covid cancelled everything. And cancelled again in 2021.
The only thing to do was set a challenge I could do during lockdown and so the Cheshire Challenge was born.
Searching for long distance walks local to home, I found there are 25 long distance trails that start or finish in Cheshire totalling 1500km and I’m walking them all.
I love the wilder mountains and moors but lockdown has made me appreciate what is on my doorstep, but I still have my sights set on Svalbard. Third time lucky?
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Show notes
- Leading a double life of adventure and engineering
- Feeling as though she’d missed out on adventuring
- Getting into adventure in her mid thirties
- What changed in her mid thirties
- Growing up in Cumbria
- Starting to meet up with a friend in the Peak District
- How Rando Girls came about
- What Rando Girl means…
- Developing her outdoor skills from navigation to map reading
- How discovering the Tough Girl Podcast helped
- Getting into climbing and joining the Chester Mountaineering Club
- Enjoying the learning process
- Hill and Moorland Leader Qualification
- How long it took to get the qualification
- Balancing the training, gaining the knowledge and having a life!
- The dream to go to Svalbard, Norway
- A cold adventure! North, South or going High
- 42 - “the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.”
- Being interested in human powered adventures
- Being inspired by Adelaide Goodeve
- Training expedition to Svalbard with Newland Expeditions
- Instructor - Helen Turton
- Having everything cancelled because of Covid
- Fingers crossed that it will go ahead in 2022
- Being in the proper cold and learning how to ski
- Approach to fitness and keeping motivated during local lockdown
- The Cheshire Challenge - to walk all 25 long distance paths in Cheshire totalling 1,500km
- The The Long Distance Walkers Association (LDWA)
- The 12hr Challenge (Inspired by Rae Red - Tough Girl Tribe)
- The Wirral Circular Trail
- Wanting to hit 42km…. in 12hrs!
- The toughest moment on the 12hr challenge
- Not wanting to get injured
- Having fun on the challenge
- Final push….. Final push!!!
- Roller skiing on Skikes
- Tyre pulling with Evil Edna…
- Final words of advice
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