The Adventure Habits Podcast

Episode 35 - Jonathan Thomas

• David Overton

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 35:56

Walking Through History: Jonathan Thomas's Journey to Hadrian’s Wall and Beyond
In this episode, Jonathan Thomas shares his decade-long fascination with British history and his upcoming adventure walking the legendary Hadrian’s Wall. Discover how meticulous planning, training, and a genuine interest in history can turn a dream into a transformative experience and how preparation and mindset are key to every adventure.

Key insights:
✔ The origin story of Angletopia and its role in connecting Americans with British culture
✔ Why long-distance walks like Hadrian’s Wall draw enthusiasts and how they prepare physically and mentally
✔ The importance of choosing engaging, meaningful projects to stay motivated
✔ Practical tips for adventure preparation, including mapping, gear, and footwear
✔ The positive health impacts of long-distance training and walking
✔ The role of accountability, social pressure, and non-negotiables in sticking with goals

How history, landscape, and personal interest fuel the passion for adventure
Insights into UK trail infrastructure and how American adventurers can navigate and plan their journeys
The significance of proper gear, especially footwear, and the value of detailed mapping


Jonathan’s links



SPEAKER_01

Hello and welcome to another Adventure Habits with me, David Overton, and Splash Maps, where we believe that maps should always be printed on fabric. I'm absolutely delighted to have someone with me that we're we're sponsoring for a major event this that's coming this this year. So already this year we've um supported Amara Automotive uh on their round-the-world trip in a uh brand new prototype electric car. We've sponsored Prison Break, the uh the ultra marathon that leaves from uh Dartmoor Prison. Uh, we sponsored Pete Planet and uh invited them onto our stand at the destination show. And the large sailing club events, Dermot Cosgrove at the moment is walking across Iceland following one of the maps that we made specially for him. And of course, Jordan Wiley uh discovered new mountains in Antarctica following a splash map earlier this year. But top of the tree is someone who's been a big fan uh of ours for 10 years, someone we've worked with um, you know, for more than half of Splash Maps's existence. Um I want to say a really big thank you and a welcome to the only second American guest we've had on this 35 episode show. Um, and I want to welcome to you, Anglo Topias, uh Jonathan Thomas. Jonathan, say hello to everybody here.

SPEAKER_00

Hi, thing. Hi, David, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01

Well, it's great to have you here, and and um as we were just saying beforehand, you know, we're we're now in a in the weird position that we've known each other for a decade. And you first came onto our uh onto our site and ordered Hadrian's Wall, Cotswold's Way, all these long distance, uh, all these long distance routes to sell in bulk through your website um to uh to your American brethren um uh who love all English stuff. So uh Jonathan, just tell us how what is Angletopia and how did it come about?

SPEAKER_00

So Angletopia is what I like to say is the world's largest website dedicated to all things British. And it's it has a funny origin story. It started in a closet in Chicago in 2007 when I was browsing the internet and I could not find a resource for British stuff that was ticking all my boxes. I've been obsessed with British stuff since I was a kid. I love Great Britain, I've traveled there many times, and I wanted more I wanted more information about it, and I just couldn't find it. And so I was like, you know what? I'm gonna start a website. And so I started Engletopia in this closet in a in the vain hope that it would maybe make me some extra money because I was just out of college and I was broke and my job didn't pay me enough money, and I was like, maybe if I do this new blog thing, maybe I'll make some money. And well, here I am 19 years later, and this still a going concern.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. I mean, and and quite a concern uh as as well, really. I mean, I guess what so I was I wouldn't say I was there at the early stages 10 years ago. I mean, it goes back a good amount longer than that. And I mean, how did you find that you were really uh, you know how how did you become the meeting point for Americans wanting to find out more about Britain and and you know, what is it more that they want to find out about?

SPEAKER_00

Well, a lot of American anglophiles they get exposed to British stuff through movies and TV shows, and so we kind of that's kind of where we started. We talked about Doctor Who, we talked about British movies, we talked about I was an English major in university, so we talked about British literature, and those things kind of just it became um what I like to say, uh growth by osmosis. People kind of found us. And um, a few years after we started the website, we started a Facebook page, and that Facebook page kind of rode the social media wave, and so it became a community and gathering place for people who liked British stuff. And before we knew it, we had almost 200,000 fans on Facebook, and that and that was back in the day when that mattered, and you could reach all those 200,000 people with a post. And so we so we just kind of people are looking like for trap for well let's kind of stick to travel for people looking for travel information. For many people who who are anglophiles, they may only get to travel to Britain a few times in their life, and so they want to make it really worth it, and so that's kind of how we've geared our content. We gear our content towards things that Americans should absolutely see and do when they go to Britain, and they're not necessarily things that are the normal touristy things. I mean, we've got tons of stuff about London. We have a whole website dedicated to London, but we try to encourage our readers to be temporary locals and get outside of London and find a base in the countryside and and and sort of inhabit Britain instead of just visiting it for a few days.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean I mean that's it to soak up the culture and all that, all of that sort of stuff. And I've I mean, listening to your podcast, uh you get some amazing people on there. And and the the depth of of knowledge and uh i is is so much there for things like the history of of uh of Britain and not just the kings and queens, but all the other bits and pieces. I was I was listening into one on um on all your you you came up with your seemed like a top 100 books of British history, and I was saying, wow, these guys are pretty well read, and uh um really pleased to see a couple of a couple of my favourites in there. I think Bill Bryson always writes about British people the way that they uh like to be written about, which is like that we like to have the Mickey taken out of us mainly. I think that's where Bill Bryson fits in and um The Last Wolf, which uh you know really about how Britain became um well what it is today, really, through um through the decision to kill off all the wolves. Um so that that was fascinating. And and your your trips to Britain, you've obviously picked up a lot of your knowledge from your your visits to Britain. But this time, um, you know, we have a joint venture together where we're um helping you to walk along Hadrian's Wall. Uh we're launching you our latest map in uh our um challenge series. So there's going to be a Hadrian's Wall map that comes out and it will be available via the link on this blog for the first time. Um and that's the latest in our series of long distance trails, a lot of which I know that you picked up from us back from our Harvey Maps day. So, you know, your purchasing was really well timed on that. You got some uh some unique one-offs uh basically when you when you made that order. But um tell us a little bit about that why the fascination with Hadrian's Wall and what exactly will you be doing?

SPEAKER_00

So uh I've I've wanted to walk Hadrian's Wall for 15 years, um, and any longtime followers of Engletopia would know that I've like I've started the training and the planning for it multiple times. And um and so and it's and for whatever reasons it didn't happen. And it I think first it's the allure of Hadrian's Wall. Um, it's this ancient Roman structure. Um much of it is largely still there, and it goes from coast to coast in England. And I know the wall doesn't anymore, but the trail does. And so it that that Roman history, the idea that I can I can sort of commune with 2,000 years of Roman British history, like that's that's the mystique there is so fascinating. And because I, you know, I live in LaPorte, Indiana. We were founded in like the 1830s. That's the extent of our history. We don't we don't have we don't have ancient structures from 2,000 years ago down the street. And another aspect of it is um this idea that I can walk from coast to coast of an entire country. Um uh obviously America to do in the States, right? Yeah, America's very big. If you said you were gonna walk from from the East Coast to the West Coast, someone would probably have you sectioned in a minst institution if they still do that, because the idea is insane. I mean, it's 4,000 miles, like who would do that? But you know, walking uh I think it's 84 miles seems much more achievable. And I know that's not even the the longest coast to coast path available in Britain. So it's that that the idea that I can walk, I can start in a city, walk out of the city, and walk across the country, commune with Roman history, and it it I just it has that appeal. And then the the final thing is more is much more personal. Um, my health hasn't been great in the last few years. I've got high blood pressure, um, I've got severe sleep apnea, and so training for this walk has substantially improved my health. Um, just because I cannot count on my body to walk 84 miles in 10 days without training for it in advance. And so I've had to walk almost every day for the last year getting ready for this, and it's substantially improved my health. I've lost weight. Um my wife says I'm not snoring as much anymore when I sleep, and I overall feel a lot better. And I and then I'm not even not even gone on the walk yet. And so I'm already I'm already feeling the positive effects of just planning for this. And so putting it on the calendar. So like, so what happened was last summer, I was like, you know what? This is this is ridiculous. I need to do this walk. I I I want the excuse to spend almost several weeks in England doing it. And so I'm like, you know what? I need to find uh I need to find a partner for this. And so uh, and I I hope you don't mind if I mention Max Adventure. They they they said uh we would love to work with Engletopia to to to market our our products to them, and I will, and we will sponsor the walk for you. And so I was like, well, if you're gonna sponsor the walk, then I have to go. I it's it's it's I have to go.

SPEAKER_01

And so Max do a great job, do they, don't they, of um organizing uh almost like solo adventures or long distance walks, and they'll work out the trails and the accommodation, etc., along the way.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, they they've done a fantastic job, they've been a great partner, and they've planned my whole route, they've planned all where I'm gonna stay every night. I just have to show up and start walking. And so it's it's basically been my essentially part-time job since then to get into shape so that I can do this walk. And it's it's been it's been challenging, it's been hard. Um, I know some people might roll their eyes like it's hard for you to get up every day and go for a walk. Well, yeah, it is it is hard. I mean, I'm I've got a family, I've got kids, they've got kids in school runs, we've got I I work for my own business, I also work for my wife's business, she's running the business, like there's a lot going on, and it is it is unbelievably difficult to find a couple hours every day to go for a walk. And I haven't been able to do it every day, but um uh it's it's it's it's it's going well.

SPEAKER_01

Sticking something in the diary, you know, and and then you know starting to put the plans together, etc. Uh, I I love the fact that that's actually driven you into a better set of health practices before you go and have the adventure. Because in many respects, I mean so many people say that on this podcast that you need to have a uh a non-negotiable in your calendar. That's the weekend I'm going away. Nobody's touching that. If you want to come with me, you can come. If you don't, that's fine. Stay behind, I'm going. And that's a kind of once you got that in place, then a lot of the other things just sort of follow along. It'll seem like it's automatically, but it does involve a lot of planning and stuff.

SPEAKER_00

And as as I said, like you said, getting it on the calendar was the first step because I don't have a choice, so I have to get ready for this. And also, I even when it got on the calendar and they they sponsored the walk, I I still didn't have all the other elements in place. How am I gonna get a plane ticket? How am I gonna, you know, how am I gonna buy the train tickets to get up to Newcastle and and all the other things associated with it, and that's why I was thrilled that you guys came on as a sponsor as well, because it you've helped fill in, you've helped you've fallen into place at the right exact right time, and I'm very grateful for that.

SPEAKER_01

Well, you're very, very welcome, and it it we're more than delighted to to help out with it. And uh yeah, I guess you've got one sponsor that's helping you get from uh A to B and one sponsor that's actually showing you where you're where you are on uh on your travel from A to B. So um, so yeah, let's let's uh let's bring that on. And we're we're absolutely delighted that you're uh I mean our our uh it's a bit embarrassing that you're the second American um interviewee I've had on this. Uh I well we have had short snippets from them uh at our launch from Boston at the Boston Outdoor Expo uh last year. Uh we had um Liz Dernstein, who's the fastest person ever to do the Appalachian Trail. She did it in something mad like 50 days, and um and if you think about the pace that she's going at over two and a half thousand miles roughly, uh two thousand seven hundred miles I think it is, then uh she was really going at it uh at some speed. But uh you know, we're we're now getting just in the the recent uh obviously you've helped us tap into the American market with what you've been doing, um but it now accounts for you know some some months is 30% of our income now is is from the state. So um it's it's odd that I uh we don't have more Americans on. So when you came along and we thought, right, okay, so that's that's the one that we can sponsor. And uh yeah, so we're absolutely look looking forward to that. End of August, um, and then the the the pods going out shortly after that through September, I think.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, do we do we want to tell them what they can expect?

SPEAKER_01

Um Yeah, sure, sure. Do you want to fire away with that?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so we're gonna do I'm gonna do a 10 episode podcast series on the walk. Um and it's mostly gonna be as as I'm walking um every night I'm gonna record thoughts and stuff and summaries of the day, and then when I get back, we'll edit it all together, and then we'll release 10 special episodes outside of our regular podcast cadence that will be all about the walk. Um and they I don't I'm not sure on the length at this stage, but we're hoping, you know, uh 20-30 minutes an episode. But they might I I have a tendency to drone on, so they may be longer. And the the goal is to kind of give people a day by day, uh blow by blow, think what it's like to go on a long-distance walk like this, especially if um it's not something that you normally do, um, which it's not normal for me to go on a 10-day walk across the country. And so it's gonna be there's gonna be a lot of new experiences I can't even predict yet, and everybody will get to come along for the ride.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean on these long distance trails, it there are so many more encounters that you're gonna get than you would uh, you know, in normal life. Um you'll love it. You'll love it, and um I've never done Adrian's Wall, but I'm really interested to watch you do it.

SPEAKER_00

So well, hopefully we encourage a lot of people to do it after they after they've seen our our our our project together.

SPEAKER_01

I hope so. Like you say, you know, for people coming from the States, you know, they they're it it it it's a big journey, so you want to make the most of it when you come across. And to know that there's a variety of actually quite doable long distance trails in in the UK. We do have a wonderful um uh uh uh set of rights of way right across the United Kingdom, even if you didn't want to um do that do those ones. And quite often you'll find yourself on a right of way that goes through a lot of private property um that you just don't imagine you you could go on, but it's all perfectly mapped here and um yeah. Come to the UK, get a decent map, off you go. I won't say which map you should get, of course.

SPEAKER_00

Well, that that's actually one of the problems I've dealt with um with training, is uh even though I live near a national park, um there are there is it's I really struggle to find long distance paths to train on um that are that are relatively close. And I keep I've told my wife more than once, I'm like, man, if we just lived in England, I would just be able to walk out my front door and go on a long distance walk to train for this. But here I have to either walk down my street. I live in the country, so they're the rural roads, but they're very dangerous to walk along, or I have to drive to uh uh to one of the parks, and even then the routes don't are only four or five, six miles. I need to start clocking 10, 15 mile walks, and I'm really struggling to find places to do that.

SPEAKER_01

Um isn't that strange? I guess you know, we maybe we're defined by our constraints in this country, completely surrounded, being a small island, surrounded by lots of water. We treasure the um the the the freedoms that we've got. Um where I guess you know in in in the USA you've got a lot more space. Um and so maybe it maybe it doesn't seem like it's the top on the town planners priority list. But um but yeah, I mean love it while you're out here and and let everyone know about how wonderful it is.

SPEAKER_00

Well my uh one more one more thing if you don't mind. My my hope is that when I have done this walk, it's actually going to be the first of a yearly excuse to come do a long distance walk in England. I'm already I'm already I'm already eyeing the Cotswold Way, so oh fantastic.

SPEAKER_01

Well, uh I had noted that that was you know, when you bought that Hadrian's Woolway, and knowing that it was with a kind of 15-year plan in mind, then uh, you know, Cotswold's Way is is coming up. That's in the pipeline, and there's there's further stuff as well with um more uh small scale long distance style maps for for all the UK and the rest of the world. So watch that space. Now, Jonathan, I've uh attempted you on here. It's not called the Adventure Habits Podcast out of ignorance, you know. Um and uh for people who come on this on this uh on this show, um we're really interested in you as a person, and I think we can see now that you're well qualified to have some adventure habits um that we could all benefit from. So if you've got them listed down as a in a list of one to five, which is your first adventure habit?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I uh we've kind of already talked about it, but it's training. Um you you need to get physically ready for the adventure you want to go on. Um I we you mentioned Bill Bryson earlier, um, and and we all love his Walk in the Woods book, and he literally undertook a 2,000-mile walk without even really preparing for it, which made the book hilarious. But um I I would I would never undertake such an undertaking without uh at least preparing for it first. And so that's what I've been doing.

SPEAKER_01

We do actually have an Appalachian Trail map on the site now. So if Bill, you want to have another go, you know, you know where to come.

SPEAKER_00

So yeah, but then just get ready for it because if you're not ready, you're gonna you're gonna have to call mountain rescue on your walk of Hadrian's wall. I don't I don't want to have an embarrassing situation.

SPEAKER_01

Well, they're great people at Northumberland um uh at search and rescue. So uh we've yeah, we're we're they're they're people we serve with maps as well, so they'll be able to find you fine. Um but yeah, try not to call them out, Jonathan. Uh and so your at the moment your preparation is um obviously you'll you'll you're you're finding some trails to go on, but what what does it look like?

SPEAKER_00

So um I I'm trying to do just a walk down my street every day for a couple miles just to keep my my baseline physical fitness, and then on the weekends um I try to go on longer distance walks. And so um pretty soon I need to start doing a midweek long walk as well, according to my training regimen I set up. But um, like I said, I live near a national park, so there's it's there's some great four, five, six mile trails, and some of them are pretty strenuous. So um I'm well aware that the landscape of Hadrian's Wall is it goes up and down quite a bit. So I'm trying to include uh we do have we're in uh northern Indiana is famous for the Indiana dunes. So we do have some trails that go kind of up and down with some varied terrain. So I'm trying to introduce that as well to kind of get my body ready. Um whether it's ready or not, we'll see.

SPEAKER_01

Well, good, good, good, good. Well, look, good luck in that training. And um well, what would be your next adventure habit, your number two?

SPEAKER_00

Uh I would say don't give yourself the option to not do it. Um that's the key thing, as in once the thing is set on this calendar and you're doing it, don't give yourself any excuse to get out of it. And also don't give yourself any excuse to get out of the training for it because if you have to do it, you also have to be ready for it. Um, and so you just have to kind of change your mindset because it's it's really easy to wake up and go, I don't want to go for a walk today. Oh, it's raining today, I don't want to do it. Well, that's it's super easy to not do something. It's it's really hard to make yourself do it. And so you just have to kind of give yourself not the option. You just have to do it.

SPEAKER_01

Fantastic. And it is that that whenever I do these things, I always notice that it's peer pressure that affects me more than anything else. I've told a bunch of people I'm gonna do it, and then they start asking every now and then you back off.

SPEAKER_00

How's it going?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and uh that drives me on. I don't know if it's a sense of guilt or something, but it you know, there there's something there that what once other people know about it, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's that like I said, um we have uh a membership club for Ingletopia, and my I've been giving uh semi-regular updates on my training and the planning of this trip, and so I've got people kind of looking forward to following the journey and they're counting on me to do it. And not only that, Max Adventure is is counting on me to do it, you're now counting on me to do it, and so I don't have a choice. I've got to do it. And I've my I've got my I've got my wife telling me, you know, checking in on my training, making sure I'm on track, and yeah, you've got to be held accountable in the because it's easy to get stuck in your own head and and convince yourself to to to to slide.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's good. I I it's like uh yeah, like we were saying earlier on the non-negotiable. Yeah, it's it's gonna be there, it has to be dealt with, and then that that leads you on to your planning, which was which was habit number one. But what's habit number three, Jonathan?

SPEAKER_00

Uh so it it would be to pick something fun and interesting, because it's going to take a lot of time and effort to do the thing. You need to at least be interested in it. Um, I I mean I know plenty of people who go on walks just to go on walks, but for me, it needs to be interesting. It needs to be uh it needs to be a big deal. And so if like for Hadrian's Wall, I'm really interested in the history, I'm really interested in the landscape, and I'm really interested in it having uh an experience that I I I can't have walking out of my door here in Indiana. So it just you've gotta it's gotta be a thing people write books about so that you stay interested in it, as I like to I like to say.

SPEAKER_01

Well, yeah, yeah, and and and so many books about that. And you're right, 2,000 years of of history is is um uh that gives you quite some perspective when you're when you're out there, I bet. And uh well we're um I mean I'm about to head out to um to Italy and and see some of the the um Sicilian ruins and things like that, but the thing that's piquing my interest most there is the the Second World War stuff and the uh SAS landings and the uh Allied troop landings in the bit of the war that's that's not talked about as often as the um you know the Normandy landings, etc. So I'm I'm quite fascinated to get down to that bit while my while my family are lying around on beaches and that sort of stuff. That's probably what I'll be doing, uh pretending to pop uh grenades in places and things like that. So um so superb. So that's that's pick something fun and interesting. And for you, history piques your interest. It it that seems a that you did you say you were an an English literature major?

SPEAKER_00

Was that the that was yeah, university.

SPEAKER_01

And and did that did that um give you an interest in the history, or did the two things work the other way around?

SPEAKER_00

What I I already I already had the interest, so it was more like uh what college degree can I do to keep my interest? So because I I I I the school I went to was famous for engineers, and so I was the guy that had a getting a degree in English from an engineering school.

SPEAKER_01

So the outcast. Yeah. Good stuff. And and um, do you do you have like Scottish roots or or something?

SPEAKER_00

Is it uh well, I mean, I have red hair and pale skin, so probably I wasn't gonna say anything, but it did look like there might be a connection there. Yeah, and then I I have also I did some I did trace some ancestry a few years ago. Um, and some of my ancestors came from Durham um and came from a village called Shincliffe. And um, so I'll be walking through a landscape they would have been familiar with.

SPEAKER_01

You will be, yeah, yeah. That's um oh well that that does bring you back. Okay, well keep looking for that. Um so well you you know the actual village then.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I've been there actually. It's charming.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, fantastic. Well, that's always good if you come from somewhere charming. So it's uh um great. Well, that brings us on to habit number four. Now we've got some training, and we've got uh, you know, don't give yourself the option to give up and uh pick something that's fun and interesting. You've definitely done that. So what's number four?

SPEAKER_00

So number four, uh, and uh I guess I'll go back to when we first started working together, um, buy the maps, uh, buy the relevant maps for the adventure you want to go on. And um so you know, when I stocked your maps in our store, well, gee, I happen to to keep an extra one of every one I bought for me. Uh uh owner's prerogative. And also, and I I I don't I don't know if you mind if I mention, but I always buy the ordinance survey map for the places I'm going.

SPEAKER_01

Um well, yeah, absolutely. And and you know that that's why we site center ordnance survey maps on our fabric for wherever you want in in Great Britain. And and it is always important for that extra uh detail. We sell USGS maps as well, but for currency and colour and uh I you know it it's really difficult in the world to come up with better mapping than they do. So shout out to Ordnance Survey.

SPEAKER_00

They just happen to be one of our biggest license sources, so oh and then and I I not to sing their praises too much because uh they they the maps are beautiful, they're beautiful to look at, and that helps me mentally prepare for where I'm going because it helps me root where I'm going in the local geography. I can see all the footpaths, I can see all the monuments, I can see the the terrain, and yeah, I even have the ordinance survey app. You know, it's it's the it's just the the app the maps are beautiful, and I've got a whole shelf full of them off screen here. You can't see them. I even have all the maps for all of Hadrian's wall. Uh I one time I uh when I fur like 10, 15 years ago when I first started wanting to do this, I set them all out in sequence and it took up my entire basement floor. Um and I could follow the path.

SPEAKER_01

You did you did the walk in one to 25,000?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah. So well, that's great.

SPEAKER_01

Well, they always say that it's uh you know that the getting the map is is the first time you live the adventure, really. Yeah. Um second time you're actually there, breathing the stuff and it's all around you, and all that history as well. Um but yeah, great, great, great. Well, like I say, we you know, there's there's a a new new version of um of Hadrian's War map. Uh I can't wait to see it. Yeah, and that yeah, find find it on the link below or above or wherever we're gonna put it. Okay, and uh Jonathan, so we've got our map now. What's habit number five?

SPEAKER_00

So uh more practical, um, uh less philosophical. Um, is you can't really overprepare for this. So I and I've noticed this when I go on my local walks, is so I bring a backpack with me now that has a water bladder in it. I gotta have plenty of water, I gotta stay hydrated. Um I don't normally get hungry while I'm walking, but I do get really hungry when I'm done. So I I tend to bring either a lunch with me or I bring a protein bar because if I I don't want to collapse because I'm too hungry, because uh this is uh the walking is part of a weight loss journey, so I do have to watch what I've eaten and make sure that I don't go for a 10-mile walk and not be adequately uh have adequate sustenance. Um make sure my phone is fully charged, uh just uh and hiking boots. This is a big I've learned more about hiking shoes and hiking boots in the last year than I ever thought I would know. Um, because when you have proper shoes, your feet should not hurt when you finished your walk. Um you should you should be sore, but your feet should not be in pain. So I've gone through quite a different kind of different types of shoes. Um I don't know how many you want me to recommend because uh the US market is so different than the British market, but um having yeah, having having good walking shoes for for for easy flat uh trails and roads, and then having good hiking shoes for the trails. Um I'm a fan of Columbia for those types of shoes. Um for walking on on paved trails, New Balance, which is uh I don't know if you guys have those in Britain.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, yeah, we've got we've got both those. My running shoes and New Balance.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, they they make phenomenal, comfortable shoes for for for they're not necessarily for walking, they're running shoes, but they're they're great for walking because of the cushioning. And I've I've not had any foot problems with proper footwear. Um and uh yeah, so that's get do the research, spend the money for good shoes.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, that yeah, that's great. And uh, can I just suggest that uh you look for the uh the waterproof symbol on them for um walking Adrian's wall.

SPEAKER_00

It's yeah, uh I'm gonna actually gonna have to buy new hiking boots before I go. Um the the hiking boots I bought a few months ago, which I thought were waterproof, turned out to not be waterproof after I walked through a swamp.

SPEAKER_01

There we go. Sometimes you only find these things out by your own trial and error. But uh, you know, you go down the right tracks. We we've we've got a number of um it it tends to be the military guys that put the put their kit through the most. And uh so two I can remember John Blashford Snell, who uh is a is a very famous adventurer here in the UK, um he told me it's boots, but you know, if there was one thing you look after, that was his one adventure habit he had was uh you know look after your feet, and that is uh get the boots, make sure they do the stuff that you need them to do, and then walk in them for a month before you actually go on the at least a month before you actually go, just so they're all softened up. And I know exactly what he means. If you go off straight into an 80-mile walk and you've got boots you haven't tried out before, you'll get sores where you wouldn't get sores if those boots were just another month older, if they'd been used in a bit. And then the other one, um uh uh episodes uh uh from uh Beyond the Barracks uh also absolutely uh as a member of the um uh a former member of the SAS and her advice was um you know have your boots but make sure that you've got something to change into as well because the worst thing in the world is like spending your evening wearing the same boots and walking around all day.

SPEAKER_00

I didn't think of that.

SPEAKER_01

So two bits of advice to tag on to your your five adventure habits there. As a as a quick recap for you. So um number one habit is get that training in, and uh, you know, if you're doing a long distance walk, then get in as much walking as you can. Um don't uh don't give yourself the option not to do it. And uh so that's like your non-negotiable. I will be doing these walks and I will be getting prepared for it on the way. Uh and then the rest of your life will fit around that. Um pick something fun to do, and I can't imagine anything much more fun than doing Hadrian's war, particularly if you're a history buff like your good self. Uh and then uh buy maps, and the more beautiful they are the better. And uh, you know, I'd add to that probably the more convenient in use. Here's my ordinance survey right round my neck at the moment. So that works out well. And then you can't overprepare. So just make sure all the stuff is there for you, ready to go. Um, Jonathan, it sounds as if you're gonna absolutely ace this thing. Is that what's gonna happen?

SPEAKER_00

I hope so.

SPEAKER_01

Well, uh, I I just really want to thank you once again and uh say how pleased we are to be able to have the opportunity to sponsor you to do this amazing walk. Um and uh all the listeners, you know, the best way to stay in touch with what Jonathan's doing, there'll be uh a link to Jonathan's podcast uh in the show notes. But there'll also be an opportunity for you to sign up to our email letters so that you can actually know what's happening next and the growth of that um challenge series of maps and our new series of scales for right across the UK and the rest of the world. Jonathan, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thanks so much for spending your time with us today.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you for having me, David, and thank you for helping make this happen.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, okay. Well, bon voyage.