Episode 5 - When the Walks Stop, the Adventure Doesn’t

This week on Adventure Geek Radio, we’re talking about what happens when the weather turns our carefully planned walks upside down… and why friendship often turns out to be the real adventure.

Join me as we look back at our scorching Malvern Hills Challenge, the new “Plan B” that kept everyone smiling through the heatwave, and welcome three fantastic new volunteer walk leaders to the Adventure Geek family.

Plus, this week’s episode includes:

• Louise James shares important advice on keeping our dogs safe in hot weather.
 • The latest Round Robin discussion – recorded over coffee instead of on a walk!
 • A lovely interview with Sue Phillips about her Camino experience.
 • Our brand-new Mystery Sound challenge – can you guess the animal?
 • A look at our Featured Trip: Amsterdam Uncovered 2027.
 • Good news from around the world and an update on how many miles the Adventure Geek community has walked this month.

Whether you’re out walking, driving or relaxing with a brew, thanks for joining me.

If you enjoy the podcast, I’d really appreciate it if you could subscribe, leave a review and share it with a fellow adventurer.

See you on the next adventure!

Adventure Geek is a friendly adventure community based in the UK, helping people improve wellbeing through walking, travel, friendship and real-life experiences.

🥾 Walking groups
 🌍 UK & overseas adventures
 💚 Wellness, community & connection

Find out more:
 https://adventuregeek.co.uk
https://adventuregeektravel.co.uk

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, share or leave a review — it genuinely helps more people discover the community.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Adventure Geek Radio. My name is Julia Doherty, I'm your host today, and I've hope you've had a brilliant week wherever you've been listening from. Uh less if you haven't actually melted in this bloody awful weather. And what a strange week it's been. So last weekend we were climbing 10 peaks across the Mulvern Hills in temperatures that made us wonder what on earth were we thinking. And then a few days later the country was under the second ever red extreme heat warning, yet we've only ever had one before, and suddenly nearly every walk that I'd planned had just sort of disappeared from the diary. But here's the interesting thing. And sometimes the walk is simply the excuse just to spend some time together. Let's start off with the quote of the week, which is life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about finding the best coffee shop while you wait, and I'm fairly sure that's how the saying goes. Anyway, let's start with the main newsletter story. So starting off with the Marvin Hills, firstly, a big thank you or a big well done to Hannah, Jo, Jonathan, Kelly, Cheryl, Caroline, and Debbie. Ten peaks in that heat, I think we all deserved a medal, or perhaps just unlimited ice cream. I was still convinced that that little cafe shop stop that we went to, we just did a quick detour and went into Mulvern, uh just over halfway around, but that just saved the day. So one thing I always notice on these tougher hikes is that nobody remembers how tired they were after a few days. I think we've all probably forgotten that, but it was a really tough one and uh everyone did brilliantly. Alright, second bit of news is that plan B is now officially underway. So this week we swapped walking boots for coffee cups. We went to the Admiral Nelson pub on Monday by the just by the canal, which was lovely. Bell Plantation became our Wednesday destination with coffee and cake, and then the Rosen Crown on Thursday evening at Hartwell with uh a bit of jazz. And literally, I've just got back from Friday's morning miracle walk where again we've got a weather warning at six o'clock in the morning, it was still hot. Uh so we just did a very short walk around the water meadows and then went to Jack's Cafe for a slap at the breakfast. So, yeah, plan B is well underway. And you know what? If winter throws snow at us later in the year, or it's horrible weather later in the year, we'll just continue to put in a plan B. So keep an eye out for that. Do you know the really nice thing about it is that people that have not actually booked to go on the walks are still coming along to the plan B things, so they're they're enjoying just joining us a little bit later in the pub or the cafe or whatever. So I just think it's uh absolutely brilliant. So friendship doesn't need perfect weather. Um, and anyway, talking of this week's walks, here's a round robin taken at Bell Plantation this Wednesday. Uh, the question of the day was Have you ever upcycled anything? And I must admit, we have a very creative group. Just listen to this. Alright, so we're actually doing the round robin, but we're not actually on a walk today. We're all sitting around Bell Plantation eating tea cakes and drinking coffee. So uh the plan B works. I think we are yeah, yeah, there's still quite a few of us, and as we're all sitting around the table, I thought we'd do the round robin still. Um, and I've completely forgotten the question.

SPEAKER_05 3:33

Um yeah, that that's it.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

So it's National Upcycling Day. Have you ever upcycled anything? Okay, so I usually stump to my left, which is Jillian. Go for it, Jillian.

SPEAKER_04 3:46

Um Jillian from Old Stratford. Upcycled a few boyfriends. That one's better.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

William Okay, love it. Judy from Milton Keen, I'm the least crafty person you could imagine. Okay, so that's no upcycling.

SPEAKER_04 4:09

Judy from Northampton and I really like doing that. Um I think my favourite thing that I've upcycled is an old bureau that was dumped in me uh by my sister when she moved house. I was only supposed to have it for a few months and I ended up having it for about 10 years in my garage.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

What and you upside what did you paint it or something?

SPEAKER_04 4:27

Yeah, I kept asking her, you know, um to come and collect it. She didn't come and collect it, so in the end I've got it out on the patio and I made, I upcycled it, I sort of decorated it, um lots of things on it, didn't I? Put nude locks on it, painted it, um, put some decoupage on it, and I made it into like um a store for my art paper and pencils and Mrs.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Creative. And Mrs. Chicklins.

SPEAKER_04 5:02

No anti or talents. No.

SPEAKER_03 5:04

Hi, Margaret from Northampton, no, not really. No, are you not a creative sort of? Not arty crafty at all.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

All I've done really is upcycled some drawers and put new knots in can't be new knots.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

Um Janet from Sirisham, um I do loads of craft and art stuff. Um yeah, I really like this like my. You've got a whole room, yeah. But um I cycled a I think you've got a load of stuff, but um a set of wooden ladders and I painted it and I've got it as a towel rail in my own. Um I've made recently uh using an old shoebox, um you cut it in a certain way and flip it over, and you can make like a file holder. Um, I think you've used it.

SPEAKER_05 5:58

Sort of uh hazel from poster. I love painting and drawing and that sort of thing. I don't actually think that I've cycled anything. So that could be my next t-shirt.

SPEAKER_03 6:13

Uh Lou from Tiffi. Um one of the most favourite things I've done was my old pair of walking boots that I turned into a uh a planter, so I put flowers in. I saw that from a friend and that was my own idea. I wish I'd have thought of that. Yeah, send it thrown away. And then the other one was um I used to love collecting the big um camino shells on the beach. Okay, and sculpture. Yeah, so I've made wind chimes out for them and I've made decorations of the pumpkin out for them and decorate the things and stuff, and I've actually stuck them on the walls of my in my house and made shell patterns on the on the walls and stuff, so Julia from Bridgeworth said no.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

So you guys alright with that being on the podcast? Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

I loved your podcast.

SPEAKER_05 7:07

I love the last one. I'm feeling a jigsaw and I had it playing with Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. So we have some exciting news this week. Uh, we've welcomed three brand new walk leaders. So we've got Julie covering sort of rugby Daventry area. Janet is now happy to do some longer hikes, but we'll also be introducing walks in sort of Brackley, Silverson, Sharesome areas. And the lovely Annette Burgess will be covering a range of all sorts of walks. But her speciality is long distance hikes. Apparently, she loves hills as well, so beware everyone. Uh, all three, plus Jillian, who helped give us give a gave up one of the hottest evenings this year to sit through over two and a half hours of training. You know, nobody gets paid, nobody gets any glory. They simply want to help other people enjoy the outdoors safely, and that deserves a huge thank you. Uh as a reminder, please tell the ward leaders when you see them on the next walk, just tell them thank you. Um, it's really, really appreciated and a big special thank you from me. So I think yeah, these are all volunteers, so please tell them thanks. Now, staying on the theme of this week's hot weather, um, I've got Louise who has done me a little audio clip about the importance of you know looking after dogs in the hot weather. Uh, she sent me a message in the WhatsApp group and she's also sent a graphic in the WhatsApp group as well, which is really really good. So, she's going to be talking about that graphic in this week's little audio slip snip. So, uh have a listen.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

Hi everyone, it's Lou from Momentum. In this week's newsletter, we shared a great info graphic on pavement temperatures for dogs. It's all over Facebook and everything about air temperature for dog walking in this type of weather, but there's not much information out there on pavements, and I know a lot of you will go straight away, well, we shouldn't be taking them outside anyway. Um, absolutely right, you know, a dog will die from walking in the heat, but it won't die if you don't take it for a walk. Everybody's aware of that. But what if you want to understand actually how hot is the pavement and the temperatures have dropped a little bit? Can I take my dog outside safely? So on the infographic, it clearly says 30 degrees in the air, normally gives you about 50 to 60 degrees on the pavement. I mean, that's hot. I mean, if you wouldn't walk on the pavement in your bare feet, then really don't expect your dog to either. Um, that's the simplest way to put it. But if you're thinking, you know, it's six to seven o'clock at night and it's like, oh, it's tip cold a little bit now. I want to take my dog out. Quickly check the temperature of the pavement. Easy to do, hold the back of your hand on the pavement for about five seconds. And if you can't hold your hand there, then it's too hot for your dog to go out for a walk yet, and then basically don't walk here or wait until you know ten o'clock or something and go out really late. Um, also think about your patio as well. Um, so we've got like quite a large area of patio between our house and the and the garden, and LJ's got to walk across that if she needs to go out for a wee or you know, wants to go out and find some shade and stuff. So, again, just check the temperature out there, make sure that it's safe for your dog to go out. And if you want to create a little pathway, there's some fab garden mats out there that you can put down, or even get towels and wet them down so they've got somewhere um safe to in you know to get across that patio onto your lawn. Um, don't get me started on astro turf, that really gets hot in this type of weather. Anyway, guys, um, hope you're all safe in this lovely sunshine and keep those poochies safe too. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Lou, you're a gem. Thank you so much for that. And that what you always said is that a dog will never come to any harm because it's Mr. Walk. So, you know, don't be afraid to not take your dog out for a walk, it ain't gonna come to any harm for doing that. Um, but it absolutely can come to some harm if you take it out in in hot weather. So hopefully uh that helps keep a few more paws safe this summer. Right, next up is the mystery sound. Right, you know I like to experiment, so I'm gonna try something new every week. Just we're gonna do it for the next few weeks anyway and see how it goes. I'm gonna play a mystery sound, and your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to tell me what animal you think it is. Send me a WhatsApp voice note. Uh just press the microphone on WhatsApp with your answer, and if you're alright, I'll give you a mention in next week's podcast. Are you ready? Here it goes. I'm giggling here. So anyway, no cheating, no asking Google, and definitely no asking the person sitting next to you if they're already shouting the answer. Um, anyway, let me know. Answers on a postcard. Alright, let's move on to this week's interview. So, this week's interview is with the lovely Sue Phillips, aka Phyllis. Uh, have a listen as she likes to chat about the Camino, which I think is awesome, and you'll also find out why people call her Phyllis. Alright, so we're on the Morning Miracle Walk, brand new walk, Ashby St. Ledges. It's gorgeous out there. What a fabulous day it's been this morning. You enjoyed it, Sue?

SPEAKER_06 12:39

I have Phyllis.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Phyllis, I've got Phyllis with me. Okay, so actually that's the first question. So, why Phyllis? If anyone doesn't know this story, it's brilliant.

SPEAKER_06 12:46

So we will know Sue, but I went on the Camino Anglo's last May, um, 25, and there were two Sue, so it got complicated. So Julio asked, is there anyone that has a nickname? So I have a nickname called Phyllis because my name's Sue Phyllis, and one of my old friends, her dad was deaf, so when I left a message on her phone once, he actually said, Oh right, I'll let her know Phyllis, and from there on I became known as Phyllis.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Okay. And I really everyone knows you as Phyllis now, don't they? So we've even got a badge that says Phil Gray I read shirt. So, um I mean you've been how long have you been with us now?

SPEAKER_06 13:23

So I think I've been a member since May 24th.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

24, so just a couple of years. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 13:33

She asked me one day in a pub like you do. Um walking hug in space. So there is me thinking it was three or four miles a day. Signed up for it, and someone has got a realised it was like six things. Um that was a Camino.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

That was the English that we did last year.

SPEAKER_06 13:52

Last year. And it was one of the best things I've ever done. Um that's kind of a everyone was really different when I got on so well and had different um health levels and experience and stuff. So I think um everyone fitted in, everyone walked at their own pace. Just a really good laugh really.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Actually, one of the things people worry about on those sort of trips, uh I get a lot, is uh what happens if I can't continue, and that actually happened to you.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

You're right telling that story. Yeah, no, absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 14:20

So um I have a lower back problem, and that was my concern before I went, but thankfully that went really well. What I didn't allow for was I took um wrongfully, I took waterproof shoes with me, which is a big no-no on a hot walking holiday. Um so I ended up with probably about seven big blisters for the whole of the week. So Julia spent most mornings bandaging my feet up. So I think it was the last but one day, um it was I think it was a 16-mile walk. I managed to do eight when we stopped at the cafe, and then because my feet were so sore, I wanted to make sure I was right for the final day down into Santiago. So I'd already agreed with Julia that I'd get a taxi back up hike.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

So um and that's easy to do in the community.

SPEAKER_06 15:02

It is, it's so easy. And the good thing is no shame in that. No, and that's one of the things I was explaining to someone the other day, actually, because um I think a lot of things I've done in the past, there's a bit of peer pressure, oh you can do it, and stuff like that. None of that whatsoever on AG, so and everyone's just like, oh, don't worry about it. And uh yeah, it was great, so you don't need to worry about that at all. And if you've got different fitness levels, it's all it can all be accommodated, so I won't worry about it at all. If I can do it, anyone can.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Oh well, I think I've got about four slots left of the Camino in Glass for next year. Yeah, I'd say it to somebody.

SPEAKER_06 15:36

I don't I know this sounds a bit corny, but I'd say it's really a life-changing experience.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Is it life-changing for you?

SPEAKER_06 15:42

Yeah, I think so because I um I think I'm not I not everyone's religious and that. I'm I'm probably more spiritual than religious, but um it's it was just so different and pure escapism from the normal day-to-day um trendles of life and that really. And you know, having I don't know if people lost place Peppleton and stuff like that or got work pressures and things, but being away for a week just doing the walking holiday, didn't have anyone bothered. And it's all organised so well by you. Um it was just pure escapism, really, and it you have such a laugh. And even when you're walking, if you're seeing things that are so beautiful, and with people that are kind of funny, you um you don't notice that you're walking if I'm being honest. Um if it wasn't for my blisters, I probably wouldn't notice at all. Um, yeah, no, I'd I'd recommend anyone do it. Um, it's it is really such a good experience, and it doesn't matter what age you are, if it's 59 when I do it, so um yeah, just get on and do it. Get on and do it, brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Thank you so much for joining me today. Say goodbye. Bye everyone, see ya. So, Sue, I'm not sure if you're listening to this, but if you are, thank you so much, many for your brutal honesty as well, uh, and being so authentic. So I appreciate that. Um, if anybody is interested, I'm doing a talk online on the 29th of July. It's in the evening, it's on Zoom, it's free for everybody. Um come along if you've walked a Camino, come along if you're even interested in walking a Camino. I'm just gonna give lots of tips uh and talk more about the spiritual side of the Camino as well. Um it's free for members and non-members, you know, just come along and and have a listen and I'll put the link in this week's newsletter. Okay, right. Um thank you so much for that. Let's talk about this week's featured trip. So this week's featured trip is Amsterdam 2027. Now, if you're imagining simply wandering around a few canals, then please think again. We'll be doing it Avenger Geek style, so we will be cycling through the city like locals, uh, we'll be tasting amazing Dutch food. I've got a walk-in tour, a food walk-in tour as well. We'll be cruising the canals with cheese and wine, and we're gonna be doing that in the evening, so we'll have all the nice pretty lights and stuff like that. Um, I've got another walking tour, which is of the Anne Frank story, um, and standing or perhaps screaming at a hundred metres above the city on Europe's highest swing, uh, followed by a burger meal right right up in the sky on the lookout tower. And of course, we'll be doing like things like the Red Light District uh and the Sex Museum, which I know it sounds weird, but it's got to be done when it's in Amsterdam. So there's actually loads included in this package. And of course, you know, we're gonna have plenty of laughs, plenty of giggles along the way, uh, and I've also got a sunrise walk as well, which will be all along the river. So it's really one of those city breaks that's packed from beginning to end, and if that sounds like your sort of adventure, uh it's not like a hiking adventure at all, it's more like an experience and a cultural adventure, then just have a look. And there's only a few handful of places left. I think we've got about four or five places left. So yeah, have a look at that again. That's in the newsletter this week. So before I go, uh just a quick update on our June mileage. This is for the leaderboard. So despite all this weather, you know, we still walked over 2400 miles together this month. And I know it's not quite our record, but considering how many walks we've had to change or cancel, um, I think that's something that we should all be incredibly proud of. Every mile counts, um, whether it's a 20-mile hike or doing something simple like what we did this morning just around water meadows or even just walk into the shops, you know. Uh every single mile counts. Finally, uh next week there may not be a podcast, it all depends if I get time or not, because I'm taking a group to explore Dubrovnik over in Croatia. Um so watch out for the blogs on that on my personal uh Facebook profile, it's a public profile, so catch that one. Um, I'll be taking loads of photos, gathering lots of stories, and no doubt coming home with a notebook full of ideas for future adventures. Until then, thank you for listening, thank you for supporting Adventure Geek. Go live your best life, keep on walking, take care of yourselves and take care of each other. And I'll see you on the next one. Take care, see you later. Bye bye.