Welcome And Why Hiking Matters

SPEAKER_02 0:00

So you're thinking about running, but not sure how to take the first step? My name is Brian Patterson, and I'm here to help. Welcome to Brian's ROM podcast. We're continuing on our chat with Belinda Coker, the Australian adventurer, writer, and the founder of Soultreeder.com. If you've listened to the first episode, you might have noticed that she's a seasoned hiker. Now you might be wondering, what does this have to do with running? Well, I'm all about exploring different paths from the usual running podcasts on this podcast. So she's really passionate about sharing that hiking is an endurance sport. Plus, if you're dealing with an injury or looking for an alternative endurance activities, I hope today's and last week's podcast will inspire you to give it a shot. Anyway, without further ado, let's dive in part two of my conversation with Belinda, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. And as I said, if you haven't listened to part one, then please do go back in our catalogue.

Choosing Shoes And Going Lighter

SPEAKER_03 1:24

Right. Yeah. And I suppose it's just learning from them in terms of, you know, their life experiences, and that can obviously enhance your life experiences as well. And that's something that probably runners don't get an opportunity to do because they're either just going A to B as fast or as slow as possible or whatever. Yeah. In terms of uh let's say if someone wanted to sort of get into the sport is also when you were starting doing it uh briefly and in you know, there isn't the equipment then then you there is now sort of got ultralight equipment, you've got satellite phones or you know, garments, that kind of thing. What's what's kind of how would you what would you advise on in terms of the the the equipment side of someone getting into it?

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Okay, so you look some some good some good shoes. I wear trail runners as opposed to boots. I used to be a a boot wearer. Yeah but I'm not anymore. I'm trail runners, use topos. Uh topo's uh also also make great running shoes as well, but uh they've got a very wide toe box, which I need. I've got quite wide feet and um and th they're they're they've got a great grip. The other thing is is that they dry, they dry very, very fast. So they can literally dry overnight. Uh for for years I wore boots and also Gore-Tex boots, and as soon as they get wet inside, you will never get them dry. And I often see um people in Europe, people in Europe do tend to sort of wear and um in the UK do t tend to wear like heavy, heavy boots. You know, that's that's you know, it seems to be the norm. Whereas I'm very much, well, the the lighter you can go, the uh it's going to they're going

Performance Fabrics And Smart Layering

SPEAKER_01 3:20

to dry quicker and that's going to be so much better for your feet in the in the end. And I think you just need to be very careful about, you know, wearing performance fabrics. And I do have an article on on my website about what what are performance fabrics. I go right into the whole, you know, right into the science behind performance fabrics. And performance fabrics can be very cheap now. You don't need to spend a lot of money, but one of the main things is maybe merino or um moist, you know, moisture wicking, and haven't understanding, and also this article does go into the different why layers work, how layering works, how base layers and for layering works for both winter and summer. And I think that's really important is to be able to understand what to wear. So many times I see hikers on the trail and they'll be wearing their puffer jacket while they're hiking and they're beanie, like, which is something that I I I just don't understand. Why would you wear something very warm when you're hiking and then you need something to put on as soon as you stop, which is going to trap your warmth and keep you warm? And you're basically just sweating out in your in your warm weather gear. And that to me is just something which is, you know, it's really is um something that which people just need to be mindful of. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:47

So you is it just a case of just experimenting with the type of gear that you're getting? And but also, you know, you need to be obviously quite sensible about well, A, think about the type of terrain and environment and weather that you're gonna experience and then dress accordingly.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Yeah. Well, funnily enough, my my kit doesn't change much from winter to summer. There are there'll probably a few more warmer things that I will wear in winter, but my kit doesn't my my core kit doesn't really change because you can get cold in summer climates as

Hypothermia On The GR131

SPEAKER_01 5:26

well. Funnily enough, back in January when I was doing the GR131, which is the traverse over the Canary Islands, um Tenor Reef, I got hypothermia. So, yeah, and and this is this is me who's written books about health, safety, and hygiene on the trail, and a huge chapter on hypothermia and how to how to not get it, and I went ahead and got it. And it is surprised me at how easy, how easy it was to get. And and it was quite interesting because when you know, I I tell people I had hypothermia, I got hypothermia, and the first thing was, well, weren't you wearing the right clothes? Well, actually, I was wearing the right clothes, but I I had a a sudden, I I got wet. I I wetted out, and even if I had been wearing, I was wearing a merino base layer. And people say, weren't you wearing a merino? Well, yes, I was wearing a merino base layer, and we had a sudden temperature drop down to two degrees Celsius. That's around about, I think it's loafies for the people in Fahrenheit. And yes, and I suddenly, and luckily I recognized signs, and I was just yeah, you're uh not only uh you're confused, and I I couldn't, I couldn't read the signage. I was really confused about the signage and I I really and you could tell that you were going in. Oh yes, and I could I could. And so, and the thing was is that the it was very it was very misty and it was just very wet and very misty, and I could have I didn't push my SOS button on my garment. I just knew I didn't I didn't know how good the um SAR search and rescue capabilities would be would be around Tanerife. So I um yeah, I just um I actually made it to the main road. I knew that I was about probably only about a couple of kilometres to the main road. I made it to the main road and that's when I sort of um went to went to get help. And by the time I got to the main road, I my coordination had just gone. But yeah. Had I stayed there, I probably wouldn't be here to tell a story.

SPEAKER_03 7:38

So I see. Really? It could have been that bad.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:42

Yeah. So how did they treat the hypothermia?

SPEAKER_01 7:46

I didn't need to go and get medicals. Um I just I just went and got warm. I I got picked up by a French couple and he was from the mountainous region in France. And um he was just the next car to come along, and I just waved him down just before I was I was about to push the SOS button. And he just took one look at me and he said, you know, and and I literally stripped off all my wet clothes, you know, right there and then and got into some got into dry clothes and just and just went and warmed my body up slowly. Um and that was one of the things about growing up in New Zealand is I can remember learning about hypothermia when I was in grade nine, grade ten. I mean, that we were taught that in school about hypothermia, because hypothermia in New Zealand is a real thing, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

So I see.

Planning Food Calories And Exits

SPEAKER_03 8:37

So in terms of when you're deciding to go on your hike, what sort of planning's involved? I mean, do you take a long time to plan? Or I mean obviously you're not gonna sort of like think, oh right, I'm gonna go from so-and-so, A to B or that kind of thing. I mean, what what do you what's involved in terms of the planning?

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Okay, so this is quite a funny question because I do the least amount of planning and my partner will sit there for three weeks and plan almost every step. I think one of the main things is that I I look at is I look at the elevation, I look at how much calories I'm going to potentially burn and how much food I'm going to need, and I make sure that I'm not going to be in calorie um deficit. So that's one of the main things and is planning. I plan all the food for both of us. So um that's sort of my job is making sure that we are going to have enough food. And in Europe, you are you are literally walking from village to village. So it's easy to sort of, you know, grab a meal and a pub and all that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_04 9:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

But when you are on a wilderness trail, so if you're hiking in America or Australia or New Zealand, you do need to carry all your own food. And you need to make sure that you're that you're, you know, that you have it. I also make up our own electrolyte mix. So uh, you know, I make sure we've got enough of that. And and then just making sure the the elevation, what the weather's going to be like, exit points, uh, water supply, if we need to take our extra sort of, you know, water storage with us. So you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:11

Right. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 10:12

Have you ever been sort of called to have you ever thought, you know, okay, that you know, I'm doing this particular route and planned it, and then realised that it wasn't war what you planned out to be or something like that?

SPEAKER_01 10:25

No, not really. Um, usually we're uh usually pretty spot on. If anything, I carry more food than I need. And I always carry an extra day's food for the just in case. And we have sort of hydra packs which you go up to three litres and you know, fold up to, you know, size of a tennis ball. And um we always we always carry a couple of those so that we can fill up fill up and you know, we'd sort of every opportunity we can, whether that's a stream or you know, um I've hiked in Turkey and Greece where I filled up water from some very questionable wells, but um we haven't got sick because we're really good at filtering and you know, making sure that our making sure that our water's clean. But uh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:12

Do you do do you put in that situation do you sort of put tablets in or something like that?

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Or look, I I don't. I I carry them with me, aqua tabs, I carry them with me, and I think they've probably passed their due date uh use by date. I I normally just filter. Um and but also I'm I'm aware of, you know, um I'm aware of where I'm getting water from as well.

SPEAKER_04 11:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

It's and you know, if there were some large particles, I have, you know, I have my big cotton sling, you know, out of my first aid kit. I at a pinch I would use that as a pre-filter before it went through my actual filter.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

In terms of the technology, is obviously at this, you know, the last twenty, twenty-five years that's obviously come leaps and bounds.

Beacons GPS And Old School Navigation

SPEAKER_00 12:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

Has that really enhanced the experience for hikers to in today?

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Absolutely. And so notwithstanding the electronic technology where people can, you know, because there's the PLB, which is like an emergency locator beacon, or you've got SEN devices, which are which are like your Garmin inreach. So PLBs actually use they use a government satellite system, whereas your Garmans use a um a private satellite systems system, which is why you why you pay a subscription. But both of those work, they work, they work slightly differently. Um but that but they've probably saved a lot of lives, you know, with people getting lost and uh lost and whatnot. Funnily enough, on that GR131 hike, my electronics failed because it was so wet. And um and by the way, the weather did say sun. Okay, so I did I didn't leave fully knowing that it was going to be wet. I did say some because I'm a fair weather hiker. I don't like hiking in the rain.

SPEAKER_04 13:10

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

But actually, I I don't think you can I think you should always carry a compass and a map and know how to use them. Most people carry a compass and map and they've got absolutely no idea how to use them. So and it's that's not hard to get to find out, learn how to use them online. So yes, I think the uh I think the electronic, you certainly sort of your GPS and your and your you know, your emergency beacons are definitely a game changer. Um I don't use a Garmin watch to sort of, you know, do my steps and all that. So I'm really not interested. But there's my partners all over it, you know, how many calories you've been and you know, and all that sort of thing. When it comes to when it comes to uh, you know, um, you know, material things, um what you wear, your clothing is is just it's just leaps and bounds of what it was say a decade ago or 20 years ago. And as I was talking about before, performance fabrics, um, apart from merino, it's a natural one, but also also your tent. I mean, my entire sleep system is less than two kilos, and that's my quilt and my um sleep pad and my tent. And, you know, my my pack weighs 900 grams. So there's, you know, you see pictures of hikers 20 years ago um hiking, and there's big heavy packs, you know, canvas material with a external metal frame, and you know, and and they did it.

SPEAKER_03 14:42

Yeah. So I mean we've covered, you know, like the technology, covered about the benefits of of of of doing of doing

Finding Good Advice Beyond Social Media

SPEAKER_03 14:52

hiking. And and also some of the uh the the the places they that you've been to. Is there a kind of a resource for people to go to to let's say they they they're kind of quite serious about getting into the sport? And because you've already mentioned about various hikes that you've gone, you know, along the way and one you're planning to go on. So is there a resource where people can either go online, apart from going on, you know, your website, about the type of trails and hikes that they can go on?

SPEAKER_01 15:27

Well, I mean, Facebook is always a great resource for finding out about different hikes. Um the my one problem with Facebook is that you know people sort of like loads of others. I know, I know, but this is one of the main ones as far as hiking is concerned, is the uh the number of people who sort of ask really important questions like all sorts of things in terms of safety or you know, on a Facebook group and a whole lot of people come in with their, you know, their two cents worth two cents worth who aren't actually experienced. And that really concerns me. Everyone says, hey, brains trust, you know, and I'm reading some of the answers on some of these for some of these questions that people put up, and I'm like, Oh my god, that is so wrong. So Facebook's great for finding out about hiking trails, but it can also be a double-edged sword in terms of um in terms of getting the right or correct information. And uh, and also then you've got a lot of people sort of are returning returning to chat GPT, and chat GPT has be is is constantly now giving incorrect answers. They say now that it's only about 70% correct. And I will do a check. I will say, right, chat, tell me all about this this particular hike. I want all the information, elevation, stops, the whole work. And I'll look at it and go, my god, this is totally incorrect. So it's it really is quite scary how many people are turning to ChatGPT. I know you said where are resources where people can go. Here are resources where people shouldn't go. Um, you know, maybe, maybe to get an idea about hikes, but they I think people who there's so many great bloggers, hiking bloggers in the world, and it's kind of been superseded by AI, which is really quite sad, and yeah, really quite sad.

SPEAKER_03 17:30

Yeah, I mean I think with with AI, because it's taking information from what's existing out there, it's not going to filter as to what's good and what isn't.

unknown 17:40

No.

SPEAKER_03 17:41

That's my thing. So I think probably I think with a lot of things like this, you have to maybe if you're looking researching into it, is just take it from all different sources. Yeah. And you know, if there's a group, you know, then maybe look into you know, joining the group and you'll get, you know, face-to-face people, obviously. People will will give you an honest opinion about where to go or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:08

Like when how you started out.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

And and I I think, you know, a a a physical group is so much better than a Facebook group because what one what hike one person thinks is easy is not going to be easy to, you know, somebody who's just starting out. And you can really get some wrong information. And when when you are actually joining a physical hiking group, you can automatically see if somebody's, you know, at what level people are at.

SPEAKER_03 18:38

Yeah. And also I think if you're joining a physical group, they're they're not quick to judge. They're not going to judge sort of. No, they're not. No, they're not. Whereas, you know, post something on Facebook, do you get your keyboard or isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Oh yes, I know. Sometimes I think that breach should be banned, but you know No, no. That uh they do have their place, especially for you know you know.

Strength Training Core Work And Yoga

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:01

And the other thing I was going to ask is that okay, you've you've built up your endurance and strength by doing these particular hikes, but do you do any sort of any other exercises at home to start to help you with your to help supplement your your your heights to to help build the strength and muscles?

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Not as much as I should. And I know and it's really is over over the last, especially the last year.

SPEAKER_04 19:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

I it's just having this nomadic lifestyle I found very, very difficult to keep a regular strength training off the trail. Um and and this is one thing, reason why I'm looking forward to going home tomorrow is is you know, just just going into a a yoga studio or or somewhere that I know. And I think it's really important to keep supple and to keep your core strength. I think it's important to keep your core strength going in whatever whatever sport you're doing. It doesn't matter whether it's, you know, just weights or running or hiking or I don't know, hand gliding. I'm sure every they all your core strength is so, so important for, you know, for for everything really, for your alignment for everything. So I know right now that my core strength is not what as good as what it it should be. And um, that's kind of one one thing that I am going to fix. Having the nomadic lifestyle that we've been leaving leading for the last 18 months has hasn't been great for my body. And uh I'm looking forward to rectifying that.

SPEAKER_03 20:39

Yeah. Right. Okay. So do you go between Scotland and Australia or you maybe go to wherever your the other places that you're looking to hide?

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Yeah. Mainly yes. Well, we've we've been concentrating on Europe for the past two years, so it's been going back and forth to Europe. I I think it's I think it's just it really is a nomadic lifestyle, and we're looking forward to you know, we bought an apartment now here in in Glasgow. So being able to have a home base and being able to have, you know, workout gear um, or even if it's just, you know, weights or whatever in one place is going to be so helpful. Because at the moment I'm filling up two water bottles, you know, with water. And two one litre water bottles, and those are my weights at the moment. Um I mean, well, yes, I mean, why wouldn't you? I mean, you know, I have to you know, and also sort of an elastic fan, but being able to have somewhere that you you know, it's consistent consistency is so important and I've been very inconsistent, which hasn't helped.

SPEAKER_03 21:50

And I think the key takeaway, I mean, I know from one of I've had one of my uh I've guessed is that as we go older, it's so really important to keep. moving.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:01

Yeah. Especially if maybe you're coming out of the corporate life style for and I think it's something that, you know, I'm sort of beginning to well not beginning, but you know, s sport has been part of my life for a long time. But it's something I'm much, much more aware of in terms of, you know, you've just got to keep moving.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 22:24

And one of the best ways is doing something with hiking or walking.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

Safety Skills And Mental Health Benefits

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:30

It's been well, been nearly coming up to 50 minutes. It's just gone so quickly. Are there any sort of key takeaways from like our discussion we've had today? I mean there's there's there's a lot of things I can think of, but you know, are there anything that, you know, for my audience who, as I said I know um, are particularly predominant predominantly runners, but they may obviously be doing walking. Is there anything that you know you you would like to tell them about the key benefits of of hiking?

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Well I think it really is like it it's it's a slow, it's a much slower sport. So it's almost like you know the equivalent of slow cooking or slow travel or slow, you know, you know, it's all those things that sort of do have some some um benefits. But also it really has pushed me, pushed my limits in so many areas. I have to be super resourceful. If my gear fails on the on the field, I need to be able to fix it. If I break in the field, I need to be able to fix myself, which is you know taking a good first aid first aid. And having you know having done a I'm a wilderness first aider but you know I just started off by doing a simple first aid course you know knowing what to have what happens if I if I break a wrist and you know I saw a woman on the coastal on the coast to coast trail you know just a couple of weeks ago she had broken broken her wrist. So you know and there were 12 SAR people coming up to to collect her. And I remember looking at her and thinking well if you if you had no way of of contacting anybody you would have had to have made your way down by yourself and you have no idea how to mobilize your arm or your wrist or whatever it is to actually get down. And I think it's very important to educate yourself on what needs to happen because it's it is not a um it's accidents can and do happen. But on the flip side it's so exciting and it's so rewarding and it's you know it's so healthy. I mean I and it's something that you can continue doing. I can see I see 80 year olds on the trail and it's something that you can continue doing when you're when you're older, which I think is really great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:54

And I think we haven't touched on the mental health you know aspect of it. Yeah. You know, especially in today's environment which is you know forever very polarized or or whatever. But in terms of it really gets you away from you know what's going on in the background or the noise in the background and gets you to enjoying and experiencing life and and uh it can be as expensive or or as cheap as you want it to be.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Yeah, yeah absolutely yes yeah yeah the um the mental benefits far outweigh you know any sort of any concerns I think you you would have. I just think it's it's great. Apart from you know fields of cows in the UK that's one thing does kind of scare me.

SPEAKER_03 25:39

Yeah yeah so um Belinda I'd just like to say um a big thank you for agreeing to come on the podcast and I think you've given us a really informed introduction into into hiking and obviously given us a little bit of a flavor as to some of the experiences that you've you've gone through.

Where To Learn More From Belinda

SPEAKER_03 26:02

I mean you know if I think what I'd do is I'll put links in the description about your website. I mean do you if you just want to give tell everyone else about where you can be reached online.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

Certainly SoulTreader is the website and I have a great you know um I have a great um mailing list as well where I um you know send out information about all of my hikes. You know I think I've listed got information of well over 100 hikes in New Zealand. And by the way New Zealand is 10,000 kilometres of hiking trails and 900 government huts which are either free or cheap. But um also I have a great resource on my site which is a free resource it's an 80 page book called Hike It Right on Health Safety and Hygiene on the Trail where I cover everything from electrolytes to sunburn to you know hypothermia, thunderstorms all sorts of things and that's a great free resource if anyone's interested as well.

SPEAKER_03 27:08

And I understand did you coded the website yourself?

SPEAKER_01 27:12

Yes well done no I've got okay so I've got I've got interactive packing lists on my website and these are free as well and they're uh they're yes they're HTMLs and yes I coded them myself.

Thanks And Goodbye

SPEAKER_03 27:28

Brilliant well done congratulations okay well Belinda I'd like to say thanks again for coming on and I'd like to say uh to to my audience thanks to everyone for listening thanks for listening in my name's Brian Patterson I'm your host and obviously my wonderful guest Belinda Coker as you said I'll put all her resources are in the description and I'd like to say goodbye from Belinda and also I'd like to say goodbye from me. Goodbye. Thanks for listening