BAREFOOT BRITAIN_ Episode 19.

Anna McNuff
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2 Video Views·Dec 7, 2022
BAREFOOT BRITAIN_ Episode 19.
So I'm sat on a street corner just about where I finished my run yesterday and about to start
today's run to Bangor and I'm feeling good and I say that with surprise because I'm feeling
the best I have in a good while and I'm actually actually quite looking forward to getting out
there today so about to turn up for the books. Starting my run across the Manoi bridge into
it's an awesome looking bridge I'm just in the last mile now I'm running into Bangor
just above Bangor train station down there and tonight is a very special night because
I'm not being hosted I am going camping I'm really excited I've missed it I've missed camping
so hopefully going to go for a bit of blissful campfire chat bit of nosh a bit of peace and
quiet in the wild lovely so Tory James welcome to your homeland of Wales although we're a bit
further north welcome to you thanks very much so nice to be here with you so you are an adventurer
first Welsh woman to climb Everest and also a huge inspiration to young women across the country and
across the world so I'm proud to call you my friend oh and I'm honoured that you've come
I'm just so glad that I could drive up to North Wales and be with you to I'm stoked honestly I
really appreciate it I mean did I entice you with a few sausages yes probably yes they look fantastic
so I want to know obviously I met you a few years ago but I've come into your life at quite a late
point so you were already adventuresome before I met you where did all your adventures begin
well people say to me you know did my mum and dad take me camping and the answer to that is
no my first experience of sleeping in a tent under canvas pitching it myself was with girlguiding
and one thing just led to the other and naturally then I found out about the Duke of Edinburgh's
award and at the beginning you just think I'm not going to be able to walk for four days you
didn't feel like you're doing it and carry a rucksack on my back and make it to the end and
you know you do and then it leaves you wanting more and more and more so what I love about your
challenges is you've not done the same thing repeatedly and beeline Britain I thought was
brilliant which is where you tried to go in a straight line well tell me about that yes so the
concept was straight line lands end John O'Groats two iconic points and get between the two by
whatever means kayaking road cycling mountain biking and hiking and the crux of that challenge
was the 210 kilometer sea kayak which had never been paddled before not in sea kayaks
it took us 34 and a half hours of non-stop sea kayaking no no sleep no sleep you've gone and
done something there that that kayak section but beeline Britain as well it's something that
no one's done it before you've got no evidence that it can be done exactly that so where do
you get the belief from that that it's possible or it might be possible I just thought it must
be possible we spoke to a number of people and a lot of people really advised us against it
and suggested doing this dog leg up the coast which is very helpful when you're trying to do
a straight line thanks and we're like this is uh yeah this is beeline Britain not dog leg Britain
so um I just thought oh we got to try and that was where the challenge lay for me in trying yeah
I want to know if you could go back to teenage Tory and give her one golden nugget piece of advice
this is such a hard question what would it be the outdoors can enhance your life
in so many different ways I think the outdoors can teach you so many things about yourself that
you can't get in the classroom but that can then translate to other parts of your life and I am
talking about self-confidence and self-belief and self-esteem um and resilience and that's why we've
got to encourage so many girls to get outside love it get outdoors right I need to eat some food I'm
right so it's been a mad few weeks on the run and one of the things I've been craving is just coming
and getting away from it all so that's what exactly what I've decided to do tonight I'm
in Snowdonia I'm camped on the edge of this beautiful lake and there is just me my tent
the stars and the campfire Tory is one of those people who I think of when I'm trying to find an
example of a woman who's done something amazing she was the first Welsh woman to climb to climb
Everest she did this thing called beeline Britain where her and a team just decided to draw a
straight line from Land's End to John O'Groats and then to stick along that line by whatever
means they could she's done polar challenges she's an ambassador for getting people outdoors
she's the president of Girlguiding Wales which means she's trying to encourage young women to
get out there as well and push themselves so all around she's just an incredible human being and
she's really lovely as well it's now half past eight in the morning and the sun is streaming
through the tent walls I would quite happily just go back to sleep but I can't because today I'm
going to run from Bangor to Conway so it's time to get up and get some brekkie and go running
look at that for a view so it's time to leave this beautiful camp spot I don't want to look
at it there the sun's shining across the lake got the trees reflected in it it is glassy out there
but I have to go to Bangor I've got to do some running I've got to meet Tori and her two-year-old
son and they're going to cycle alongside me for another beautiful day on the road
