Episode 38 – Ken Fowler

This episode of Adventure Habits features Ken Fowler, an ordinary person who has taken on extraordinary sailing challenges in a tiny dinghy. Ken shares how he sailed around the Isle of Wight, circumnavigated the islands of England and Wales, and navigated the mental and physical demands of solo adventure. He also opens up about his prostate cancer diagnosis, the importance of early testing, and why his adventures are driven by raising money for cancer research and Oak Haven Hospice.

0:01 — Introduction to Ken Fowler and the nautical/Cowes Week theme
0:28 — Ken’s background and early inspiration for adventure
1:24 — Sailing around the Isle of Wight in a tiny dinghy for charity
2:39 — The boat’s bigger journeys: Land’s End to John O’Groats and around England and Wales
3:09 — What it’s like sailing so close to the water
4:03 — Discovering there were 262 islands to sail around
5:29 — Why adventure doesn’t require travelling far from home
7:01 — Childhood inspiration and the magic of the Lake District islands
8:57 — Solo adventure: the mental challenge and emotional side
10:12 — Why involving others makes solo adventure stronger
13:00 — Ken’s prostate cancer diagnosis and the importance of PSA testing
15:29 — The importance of Oak Haven Hospice and cancer support
17:49 — Habit 1: Motivation
21:02 — Habit 2: Risk
27:21 — Habit 3: Preparation
29:21 — Habit 4: Involve others
32:45 — Habit 5: Choose the right adventure
37:41 — Final message: cancer doesn’t change who you are

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hello and welcome to another Adventure Habits with me, David Overton and Splash Maps. And uh today it's an nautical theme. Yes, it's actually chaos week this week, and um as a special treat, uh and because I met him again at the Armchair Adventure Festival just last weekend, I'm absolutely thrilled to have Ken Fowler here. Ken, say hi to everybody here. Good morning, everybody. Great, and uh Ken, I I think you've done one of the most extraordinary things that you you describe yourself uh as an amateur adventurer and uh an amateur sailor. And um, but I think given those credentials, you've done extraordinary things. So I think that's what makes you a brilliant example to bring you on to adventure habits. What why don't you just in a nutshell tell the listeners what you've done?

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Um I I guess I kind of almost kind of start where it all started. You know, I I am literally a an ordinary person, an ordinary bloke, I'm not a full-time adventurer. Um, I think when I was very young, uh a friend joined me at school, Liam, and he was really into outdoor walking. He took me up hills, we went climbing waterfalls, but of course, with no ropes or anything sensible like that. Uh, and it really kind of I think it's probably my first little opening into kind of what an amazing world there is out there. Um kind of adventure after adventure kind of followed that when I was younger, uh, and then sadly when I was 24, my father died of cancer. Um, that's kind of quite a big thing for me. Um, and I really, really kind of wanted to commemorate his life and do some fundraising. So we basically decided to sail a very, very small dinghy. You can probably see it there behind me. It's give you an idea, it's about twice as big as your bathtub, generally just about as wet as your bathtub as well. Um we sailed it round the Isle of Wight. You know, the Isle of Wight is close to where I live, I see it every day, and and kind of that was my inspiration because it was literally there in front of me. You know, it wasn't something people go to Cows Week this week and they race round the island. Um, my boat is so small, it's actually banned from entering any of those races because I think it's unsafe.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

That's why we're so grateful to have you here, you know.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Totally, it is, yeah, and it's really lovely to kind of share a slightly different sail sailing story rather than big boats. Um, we sailed round the island, we raised about four and a half thousand pounds for charity, which was fantastic. Um, and just yeah, it was a really, really kind of great adventure.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Um and that sparked something something a bit bigger that came uh further down the line. I mean, it's is it the same the same boat that I've seen that you brought to the Armchair Adventure Festival a couple of years ago?

SPEAKER_01 2:44

The boat you've seen at the Armchair Adventure is the one behind me, so that's kind of been round the Isle of Wight. It's now also sailed from Land's End to John and Groats, uh, and it's also been around every single island in England and Wales.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

I've seen that boat actually dwarfed by an oversized Labrador while we were there. You know, it's it's not a big it's not a big thing. I mean, you're on top of that. I guess the everything, the good thing is you you're on top of everything, you know.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

You are, yeah, you're kind of you're pushed in a very, very small space. Uh generally there's as much water on the boat as around the boat. Um, and physicality-wise, you're literally often have half your body hanging out of it to keep it upright. Um, but the lovely thing about it is you're literally inches above the water, and it just gives you such a tactile, incredible feel of what the water's like, every wave, how it changes, whirlpools. Um, I kind of feel like it's a really beautiful way to be in just amazing physical contact with the sea, and and the sea is an incredible thing. Every day is different, every location is different. It's it's not like walking through the same landscape every day. It's it's just really magical place, actually.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Yeah, it's it's so so much dynamism there. And and so you got your taste by going round the Isle of Wight. So that was your first island, island number one. Um how many islands did you go round at the end of your challenge?

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Um, finally more than I thought there were going to be at the start of the challenge. Um, it's like anything, it was a challenge nobody had ever done, nobody ever sailed round all the islands in England and Wales. Uh so the first job was actually to find out how many there were. I kind of guessed, having done a bit of Wikipedia about 150, it turned out there were 262, which was a lot more than I envisaged. Um, but it's taken me to all parts of the country. We've been right up to Northumberland, an amazing coastline, we've seen incredible wildlife up there, from hundreds of puffins floating around your dinghy to seals launching from the beach to come look at what's this person in this very small dinghy doing. Um, all the way around Wales, Cornwall, the big long muddy beaches of Essex, uh, and out to the silies, which are an incredible place. You know, it's it's 30 miles out into the Atlantic, and you go out there and it's a different world. In fact, when I was out there, I actually bumped into almost literally uh Wally the Walrus, who happened to be out in the Isles of Scilly there. And to give you an idea, when you said about my boat in a Labrador, my boat weighs about the same as a Labrador dog, so about 34-ish kilos. Uh, Wally the Walrus weighed 750 kilograms.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Kind of dwarfed my boat. I was always very, very glad when it was floating around on the platform, kind of not lurking in the seas behind me.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Uh yeah, yeah. I mean, you you must have seen a lot of things that that kind of scaled quite um quite at large as you were going around.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Recently, and I think as well, you know, it it it really showed me that like you don't have to travel to the far sides of the world to have an adventure, you know. Like our coastline is absolutely stunning. The wildlife, I've seen millions of jellyfish from the size of barrels, I've seen like dolphins come next to me, and we you know we have so much that is here, and although the country in itself is you know heavily populated, a lot of people, the moment you get onto the coastline or the sea, it's it's a really beautiful place with very few people.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

I remember the the stata the I think there was a statistic, it's a little while since I've been working at the Ordnance Survey, but when I did work there, there was a statistic that the um surveyors always like to troll out, which is like you you don't think this is a you know don't think this is an easy job. Uh, you know, that it might be you know a thousand and a bit between Lands Enn and John O'Groats, but there's like 40 to 50,000 miles of coastline to cover it. It's not it's not like doing that thing that we do with the uh you know the circumferences 3.14 times the diameter. It's kind of um no, it doesn't work that way with Great Britain. There's a lot of in and out. And in your challenge, I recall that it's not just the uh the the um uh things the the uh Shetland Islands and and th things like that. The sorry, the Orkney Islands and um uh the the Channel Islands, things like that, but you also did the islands that uh inside uh the lakes, the inland islands as well.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Yeah, so I think for for me again, you know, I I think everybody gets different inspirations for their adventures from different places for me uh as a youngster, kind of listening to swallows and amazons was incredible, and I loved the adventure it and and it's it's they've taken different islands from different lakes and turned it into the story, but nearly all of those islands actually exist. So to be able to sail around the lake district and go around all these beautiful islands and kind of living almost that that story that you'd heard as a young person was just really really magical. And I think you know, I think everybody finds inspiration for their adventures from different places. To me, it's often I look at a hill and I kind of go, I wonder what the view's like up there, and I then have to go up that hill. Uh and it's you know, it doesn't have to be something massive, but I've had so many magical memories from those those things that I've taken on, and and that which makes life really, really fulfilling, I think. You know, just little adventures.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Maybe there's something with that, yeah, the connection of of childhood uh uh you know inspirations uh combined with what you find yourself capable of, which I bet you never knew you were capable of, even when you started the challenge.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

Um no, absolutely, you know, I I didn't start sailing till I was about 44. I used to live in Nottingham, which is about as far away from the sea as you could get, and and even as a small child, I used to go to Skegness once a year for a week's holiday, and I kind of couldn't understand why one day there was a beach, one day there wasn't a beach. I have no idea about tides or anything like that. Uh and sometimes now I do have to pinch myself that you know I I I've achieved what I've achieved. Um you're a man of the sea, it's qualified.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Yeah, yeah, definitely. And but I I mean one thing I'm really intrigued by because uh on this pod we have a lot a lot more solo adventurers than group adventurers. Um, and I wonder if Ken you can give us your thoughts on you know what what are the pros and cons of going off and doing it by yourself?

SPEAKER_01 9:01

So that's that's a really good question. I think probably the the two pictures either side of me kind of sum up the kind of two halves of my adventure. You know, um there's a picture of me there solo in the boat, and and that's kind of where I'm spending most of my day, kind of eight, nine hours, long days. And the English coastline is so quiet out there on the water I could spend eight hours and not see anybody or hear anybody. Um, that's kind of quite tough. It's it's tough mentally. Um, I do all my journeys for raising money for cancer research in our local hospice because my dad dying of cancer. Um, and on that boat I have two pictures: one of my father when he joined the navy, and one of my wonderful mother-in-law. And um, in the peace and solitude and no distractions, you look at those photos a lot, and it brings back lots of memories. Um, and to be honest, I've probably cried in that boat more times than I have in the rest of my life because you have time to contemplate things. And you're also at the mercy of the sea, you know. I've had some seriously scary days, uh, a couple of days when I probably should have died, but I somehow managed to come out of it. Um, so that's the solo bit, uh, and it's your own drive that makes it happen. The other picture on the other side, um, that was wonderful helpers. I've had many people, that's Ian and Jane who helped me get from Lanzen to John at Groats. I've had Paul, Earl, Carl, my son Charles. Um, they come and support me, and the best thing about a shared adventure is is talking about it at the end of the day, when you come uh at the end of a day drained from the physicality and the emotional roller coaster you've been out, they're there to lift you, to bring you up, which is magical, to help you. And you know, although to a degree I'm a solo adventure, I could never achieve anything I I've achieved without these wonderful people, and um I feel really blessed. I also feel guilty that they've done all of this for me, and I often ask them, Are you okay with this? and they go, It's the best thing to do. Uh and I think I'd say that to all adventurers, you know, like don't be scared to ask for help because you're giving somebody else an adventure in their own thing, and and that's a magical thing. So it's there's pros and cons. Um it's also good to have a sounding board, you know. At the end of the day, I'll talk to them and what the plan is for the next day. And they were generally good at reining me in when I'd want to go sailing, when I probably shouldn't be going sailing. Um, so yeah, magical, two different bits. Um, you need your own drive, but a team around you just it just makes it so more magical.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

I so love that. You know, the idea that your your solo uh attempt actually uh your solo um adventures actually engages and brings people into the adventure. So you're you're getting all those benefits of doing it all for yourself, plus the scary bits, um, but you're actually you know bringing these people along with you, and uh by not being afraid to ask for help. Um you know, you they were actually helping them.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Yeah, and it is, I and it was something I would never have guessed, David. You know, when I when I I felt really guilty, these people said, No, we want to help you, we get why you're doing it. It's and it it's for charity, so so we'll do it. But afterwards, you know, I said, Are you sure you really enjoy it? I thought they'd just be nice and said, No, and for them, it's opened their eyes to travel, they've just travelled so much more since that adventure. Um, and I do feel, yeah, really fortunate that one of the gifts I have the magical gift of having the adventure and those memories, but these people who've helped me have got the magical memories as well, and that's really wonderful, really, really wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

And that that's that's what we keep seeing on this uh on this podcast as well. People are being inspired by meeting people who are actually going out and doing it, it just shows everything's possible. Um, but uh Ken, you you've had um uh it's you know it it seems highly highly relevant, but at the same time it's a great worry for you at the moment. Um, you've had a diagnosis which you know given your father, I I guess it was probably not a massive surprise to you, but at the same time quite quite difficult. How are you finding that um life is is for you? What's it driving you towards now that you know that you are harbouring a cancer?

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Um so I I think you know you're right. You know, I've kind of ever since my dad died when I was 24, I've I've kind of he was one of six siblings, and sadly five of them all died of cancer. So I kind of you know it's it's a strong thing in my family, and the the the plus of of of knowing that in the background forever has actually just motivated me to to live life, to to go out and do things and and to try and pay back and help by raising money for cancer research and O Caven hospice. I've kind of in the back of my mind, not dwelt on it, but always kind of thought, you know, cancer will probably come and find me sometime in life. Um I feel very fortunate in the fact that you know I've been diagnosed with prostate cancer, but I was I was diagnosed with no symptoms, which was I was very fortunate with just an ordinary test. Um and I would say to any guys out there, you know, if you are over 50 and you've not had a PSA test, uh even if you have no symptoms, please go out and get tested. You know, I I know from all my fundraising, if they can find the disease early, the outcome is really, really positive. Uh and incredibly now it's it's more prevalent than breast cancer, so it's the most common cancer found in the UK now. So and and guys aren't always the best about talking about stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

So you know, I'm so pleased that you brought it out here because you know, a lot of our listenership is uh, you know, not least of all me. Bang in that zone, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

So for me, it's it's it's kind of is you know, people always ask you when you do an adventure, what's your next adventure, what's your next adventure, and kind of my adventure at the moment is facing this, it it's dealing with it. I'm very lucky to have a very supportive wife and family. Um, but telling your your children it is really tough, you know, that because it is hereditary, and I have two boys and and it's kind of going through that kind of thing. So, you know, adventures sometimes are physical, sometimes they're mental, sometimes they're health issues like this. And you know, and I think you just have to try and approach it as positive as you can and and use the friends and people and family around you because they really help you deal with these issues.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Uh and while we're on that uh subject, there was the uh you were raising money for cancer research, so um, we'll put a a link uh for that on there if if if you've got your if you've got a money raising page and we'll put that on there or or just straight to the charity. Um but there's also a hospice that you are raising for as well, which I've I've raised money for in a in a run at some point through the new forest. Yeah. Somewhere near there.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

Um which one was that? Uh Oak Haven Hospice in Lymington. I kind of, you know, ideally I all of us would like cancer to be cured, and cancer research do some amazing things, and I've been very fortunate through my fundraising to go to their research centres and see the incredible difference they're making. But for those people that can't be cured, you know, hospice care is wonderful. My father spent three days in in a hospice at the end of his life, and they were truly wonderful. And I've been to Oakaven in Lymington, and my wife's nurse there a bit, and it's they're they're just incredible places that do incredible things for people in just kind of the toughest places. So, yeah, really good causes, and and certainly my adventures, they've been the best motivated to keep me going because there's been plenty of times where it would have been so easy to just give up because what you're facing is is so tough on that adventure.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

Great, and and yeah, so thanks to to Oakhaven and uh you know, and for for Oak Haven for giving uh people the chance to do um not just uh huge challenges like yours, but for running around the new forest and uh doing half marathons and marathons and so forth on on softer earth, which is the only kind of surface I'll run on these days. So uh so um that's great news. So Ken, your your time here is perfectly timed. Not only is it Cows Week, but um August is the time where we update our data. So if you order a C chart, there's a here's a towel. I think I've actually managed to get the uh the one of the Isle of Wight in there. There we are. That's one side of the island, that's both sides of the island. Um so brand new data. If you order your sea charts now, you'll get the brand new data when it gets delivered at the beginning of September. So think on that, all of the all of you um sailing types, paddle boarders, kayakers, and those that have got the bigger boats and go round cows. You should uh go and sort yourself out now. Well up, um Ken, I think you've established yourself very well as as an adventurer that we should be taking some advice from here. Um, and I know that everybody listening to this will agree. So we ask all our visitors for five adventure habits, and uh I'm just wondering what your first habit would be.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Right, uh I think my first habit would be definitely motivation. I think you know, when you do take on an adventure, um find a good motivation because every adventure is going to have good bits and lots of tough bits, and to get through those tough bits, you really, really need a strong motivation. Um, without it it is very easy to give up. Um, for me, uh it's always been raising money for cancer research in Oakaven hospice, um, and there are definitely times when I've been out on that small dinghy 30 miles offshore, I can't see anybody, and it's it's very easy to be frightened, to be scared, to want to give up. And I look at the two pictures of my father and my mother-in-law, and I look at the cancer research logo on my boat, and I know that people facing cancer are facing a far, far tougher world than I am, and and that really keeps you going. So I would say if you are gonna go out and do something, find the right motivation, and if you can raise money for any form of charity, whatever charity is strong to you, everybody has their own kind of personal stories, then do it because that really pushes you. So, yeah, definitely find the right motivation for your adventure.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

That's great. I think with you, the you know, the story is so the purpose of the story is so strong, you know. It it's uh you know, you can see it driving. Uh I I mean you call yourself an extra an ordinary man, but I'd say you've done extraordinary things. So um, you know, I'm I'm uh you know I I can see how that would be your your first your first thing. Do you have any thought as to uh how you find that purpose? I I I mean I I can't describe your your uh the position that you were in as fortunate, right? But it it it gave you the the purpose, you know, you you saw your father going through it, obviously the mother-in-law went through the same thing, you're actually going through that the process now yourself, and there's a lot of it in the family. So it it's kind of uh obvious to you. Is there is there any advice you give to to someone to look for it within their soul somehow and find this motivation?

SPEAKER_01 20:02

You know, that's a that's a really good question. I I I kind of think if if something uh you have a really strong feeling for within yourself, then that's a motivation. And it really is, it's one of those I'll take it or leave it, but if it's something that you really care about, something you think about, or it's just something you see if for me, if every time I see a hill I want to go up that hill, that is my motivation. I think it's those things that that engage your brain and uh and make you feel alive, then that's a motivation. I I'd say don't do things because other people have done them, uh, and don't do things because you think people think you should do them. Do them because you have that strong feeling, because then you are more likely to succeed. And to be honest, the the memories and the experiences that you get from it that shape you will be just be so much stronger, and you will come out a better person at the end of it, despite the good bits and the bad bits.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

That's fantastic advice. Listen up, people. You're hearing it from the man main man here. Um, Ken, that's just adventure habit number one. What would you what would be your second adventure habit?

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Well, considering I go out in a very small dinghy, a long way out to sea, uh, the second habit has to be risk. Um, it's funny. Um, every adventure has risk in it. Um, you can never completely remove risk, um, but what you can do is minimize it. Um, and for me, certainly out on the water, you are out there in a very potentially dangerous world. Uh, it's it's multiple times more difficult than doing adventures on land. Um, so you know, my job, day job was an air traffic controller, you know, so I dealt with risk and safety all the way through my life, and it's one of those skills that I didn't realise how transferable that would be until I started serious adventuring. And I was used to making literally life saving decisions at work. Uh, but this time my life saving decisions are more focused on me. Um, and it was really, really important to to come up with a way to manage your risk. Um And to me, the one of the big things you can do is be prepared before you start out. Um the second thing is I used to make myself a list of priorities in reverse order. So so when I was sailing from Land Zen to John of Groats, um literally my third most important thing was to sail from Land Zen to John of Groats, even though that's what I was trying to do. Uh my second one was to fundraise because to be honest, I'd never ever wanted to sell from Land Zen to John of Groats, but because it was so engaging, especially in such a small dinghy, it really caught people's attention. Uh and my number one priority, have you any idea what that might be, David? Uh to get back in one piece. You got it, to come back alive. It's absolutely frightening. And what when you put it up on a screen or in front of your own eyes, um it really focuses you. And you know, I I kind of think you know, an adventure is is about going out and experiencing things, but it's about coming back because if you come back, you can do lots more adventures, and and certainly on the sea, you know, you have a responsibility. If you endanger yourself, you're also endangering the RNI, whoever has to come out and get you. So it was always about managing that risk. And there are times where you have to kind of make tough decisions. So when I was going from Lanzentage on a growth, so I'd had some awful weather. I've been landlocked for a couple of days, and this massive storm had come through, and there's a really notorious headland in Wales that you just even big boats don't like going around it, never mind in a storm. And I had to make the tough decision to put my boat on the back of the camavan and tow it 20 miles along the coast. So to some people that would be well, that means you failed Ken from going from Land Zen to John of Groats, but but by making that tough safety decision, it meant that I could then sail on for another 18 days up the coastline, raise thousands of pounds extra, and have amazing adventures. And and sometimes you have to you have to think about the big picture, not about the obsession of the adventure you're on. And an adventure isn't successful because you completed it exactly how you're meant to be. Um to me, an adventure is successful if you start it.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Yeah, yeah. And it's in so pragmatic choices, I guess, as you as as you go along, you you shouldn't be shy, shouldn't be shy of those. So the risk management is that so is there a regimented way of going through that? It is you know, do you did you have like a risk management chart and you kind of uh you know that they were you had a procedure or or whatever, or is is it was it just being aware of the risks?

SPEAKER_01 24:32

So I I think one it's being aware, I think two being aware of the consequences if it goes wrong, uh, which is a big thing. People don't always think, oh, what will happen if things go wrong? How will I deal with that? So you have to think about that. Um, and again, it is just kind of looking at all the things that will impact on you, your equipment, is that all good, the weather, what's that like? All the little bits that if any one of those is wrong, your risk has just gone right up. So it's it's just applying common sense. You know, you you don't necessarily need to sit there with a complete risk assessment form. Some people might, and that might work for them, but for me it was all thinking about all the the bits that go into that world that make me vulnerable. Because if I'm vulnerable, the sadly the consequences are I might not come back at the end of that day. And a couple of times through on foreseen circumstances and poor weather reports, um, I nearly didn't.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

So I think it's right. I mean, it it's such a contrast to uh I I picked up um uh Geraldine McPhal's uh book from uh walking from home to Rome, where she walks from Glasgow down to Rome. Now uh by daytime, she is a risk manager, that's her job. She's a contracting risk manager. Um, but she said she didn't do any of that stuff for her adventure. For her, it was kind of like suck it in sea, you know, which which is an approach to rix risk management that I don't think you subscribe to. Uh definitely not. Yeah, she she definitely, you know, reading the book, it's really quite funny how many things that she discovered along the way, and you actually think, yeah, she really didn't plan for that, did she? Um, but it I mean it's a great we're hoping to have Gerald Dean on this show quite quite soon as well, because uh you know there's a lot of people interested in those long-distance walks. Um but it it's it's interesting to see the different approaches to risk because here we are, two solo adventurers with two very different approaches, um, despite both having big risk management backgrounds. Um so there we are, guys. It's uh it's it's horses for courses in this game, I guess, Ken.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

It is. I think you know, when you are on the water, it's it's just a very different environment. You know, it it is, you know, we are not designed to be on the water, you know, we're designed to be land-dwelling people, and when you are out there, uh and and everything happens, my success or failure is determined by the weather, and that's why it's really important. But again, like say horse courses, if you go into things without preparation, you have consequences of that, but you also have positives in the fact that if it's a safer environment, you meet people, you have incredible things, so you don't have to overplan, but certainly if you know there's a significant risk, you just you really need to prepare.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

Yeah, I think on the water the extra hazards require the extra the extra preparation. Yeah, definitely. Okay, so dealing with risk is number two, and what about number three?

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Uh number three, kind of a little bit linked to it, is is kind of preparation. I I kind of um I I used to teach people at the College of Air Traffic Control to become air traffic controllers, and and when I went down there I had to learn some new skills, and they always said um, if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail. Uh, and it's kind of stuck with me for a really long time. And when you've got an adventure, I think you tend to focus on really getting excited about that thing that's going to happen, but actually the build-up to it is part of the adventure, and you know that the preparation and the planning and everything you do. It's it's almost like taking your adventure that normally would be a week long, and you extend it to an eight-week adventure because all the build-up to it, you learn amazing things about the places, which means when you go there, you know about them and you learn so much more from it. You know, you don't sail past it and go, I don't know anything about that island. You go, wow, that's an island where this guy got imprisoned for 10 years, and and it brings it to life. Um, and if you're better prepared, it also keeps you safer. You know, for sailing all the way up the UK coastline, we had about 250 plus landing sites. So it meant if anything went wrong on any day, I knew where I could dive into. And some of those landing sites I could land and get out of. Some of them were just a beach to land on where I could at least be on dry land, but I would never get out of there until the weather improves. And and that preparation, like I say, it's it it it it means your enjoyment of the whole adventure is bigger, and it just means you're more likely to stay safe. So, you know, for me, preparation it's a lot easier to do preparation on land in your nice little office like this than it is to be frantically trying to do something when you're hanging out of a boat in a force five storm.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

Yeah, yeah, it's it's yeah, it it's a different scale of challenge when it's when it's out on the on the sea like that. Definitely. Um okay, so prepare, uh fail to prepare, and you uh you're prepared to fail, basically, is uh is the take-home message there. Okay, so habit habit four.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

Four. Um we kind of touched on it a bit, but it it definitely is kind of involve others, you know. I I am a solar adventurer, but every time I generally do an adventure, I have people with me who are on the shore. You know, it's tricky for them to be out in the water with me. Um, but other people bring so much to you. Uh, when I've been planning loads of these ventures, you know, like I said, I didn't start sailing till I was 44, it was a late-to-life thing, and I went to lots of experienced sailors, people who've done other adventures, and I chatted to them and learned from their experiences because like anybody who's done an adventure will have done some things good and then have done some things bad, and those bad things are the things you want to be armed with before you go on your adventure because it means you do more good things and you make less mistakes. So, you know, it's really good. Take other people's um knowledge and inspiration, and and they link you to other people. People I find in the whole adventure world are just really positive. They because they adventure, they're enthused that you want to do it, so they want to give and help. And and it's much like I was saying about Ian and Jane on the journey and my other friends, you know, they all got things from my adventure which I felt really lucky for. And if anybody approaches me for help and support, I you know, I can't wait to help them. So, you know, involve others and again share your adventure. You know, some people share it live while you're going along at that moment. Um, myself, I've been really fortunate since I finished my adventures. I do lots of talks to people, and and through those talks, one, they've been brilliant for fundraising, but two, I've met that many incredible people who've got their own amazing stories. When I come home from having given a tour, which is lovely to bring back your memories, but I'm just like, wow, I met this person today who's done this and done that. Uh so you know, share your things with other people because you get so much more from it, and and people get so much more from you. So, yeah, don't be solo where you can include people in whatever way you would do it.

SPEAKER_00 31:18

Yeah, I that's why I love the armchair adventure festival so much, I think. It it's just that you're you're in an environment where that just happens when you bump into people, you know, whoever you bump into there they're on an adventure or they're seeking an adventure, there's something that they want to talk about. And um I I love having our little stand there with all the maps because then, well, like you, you know, people come up and look at a map or a chart and they start uh reliving it, and uh and and perhaps planning the next thing as well. So it's uh yeah, it it's always something that uh that that I love doing. So um that seems to be a deep message in this from you, Ken, that you know it might be a solo adventure, but bring people along. Uh, and I guess that's in spirit, in and in in their actions as well. Uh always help an adventurer.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Yeah, and I I've been surprised, you know, you know, we've had people donating to our adventures from Japan, South Africa, Australia, and you're landing in this very small dinghy on a beach with two dog walks on it in the middle of Scotland, and and nobody's there to kind of well done Ken, that was a really brave day today. Nobody's there to greet you, but your message has gone round the world and it's absolutely fantastic. And then you hear other people going, Oh, I saw your thing that that's inspired me to do that, and that's wonderful. I kind of been inspired by so many other people, and it's kind of lovely to kind of pass that forward. It really is. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

Okay, we're we're already at your last adventure habit, Ken. Can you believe we're here already? It's not.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

It's probably slightly relieved, but that's good. Um so for me, yeah, number five, um, the right adventure. You know, it it is, you know, it's it's what is the right adventure for you? You know, like I say, you know, I I am a very much an ordinary person, I haven't changed from that. I'm not a full-time adventurer who does this as a job or a profession or anything like that. Um, it's things that I've fitted into my life when I've been able to. I'm very lucky to have a very supportive wife and family and good motivation to do those things. Um, but equally, you can have an adventure by going, I think it's gonna be a beautiful day tomorrow. I'm gonna get up for sunrise and paddle my paddle board and watch the sun come up over the sea. Just anything, you know, it it doesn't have to be massive three and a half year mega projects that nobody's ever done before. You know, to me, the right adventure is the adventure that makes you feel like you've been challenged, you've done something you've never done before, and it gives you memories because you know, like life is a once-around trip, and I think every memory that you get is really positive, and even the hard times, you learn so much about yourself, and I you know, I really feel that kind of adventuring gives you a better life and and turns you into a better person, it really, really does. So don't be obsessed about I've got to do something that nobody else has done, I've got to do it faster than somebody else has done. You do something that is an adventure for you as an individual, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

I think that's such a such a strong message, and that and the best adventurers are the ones that have have done exactly that. There's there's something deeper than wanting to be in the Guinness World Records book. Um definitely. Okay, Ken. So uh your your five adventure habits were number one, uh motivation, and um you know make sure your motivation is is coming from the from the right place, basically. Um number two is to risk, there's in terms of risk. Um you want to take risk, but if you're gonna take risk, uh which you know probably doubles up when you're on the water, um you're gonna want to to manage those risks and uh make sure that you're you know you're you're prepared for a safe haven if you need one, for example. Uh then the next one is to prepare. So you either plan to either you fail to plan, uh that means you've actually planned to fail. I like that one. I'll be using that more often in conversation. Um and I think one of the take-home messages, I was I was so pleased that this came out earlier in the thing as well, is that the great thing about a solo adventure is that you involve others. And we should all make an effort to do that, you know. But when we go adventuring, it it's an opportunity to bring other people along with you as well. And and I kind of think in in our small part, I'm everybody else we have on here is off-the-scale adventure as far as I'm concerned. Uh that that image of being on a paddle board and watching the sun go down, that's a typical kind of adventure that I've got curling around my head. I think that that's that's something I can reach out for. But even in doing that, you can inspire others and you can uh bring people along with you. So I think you're my feeling from from having met you a few times is that involving others is actually a a a stronger a stronger point that I should be bringing out each time I talk to solo adventurers. So thanks for that again. I'll be closing that. Um and then uh the yeah make sure it's the right adventure. So it's you know it's it's not it's not getting into the Guinness World record books necessarily, it's not beating your neighbour necessarily, it's basically doing what you find rooted in your heart and uh and going to um going to the extremes to do it. And I think this you know it's quite poignant. We're here, you know, this is only two two days, I think, after the sad news that uh Nims die um uh died in the mountains. Um, and you know that's for us, he's he's a local boy done good, you know. And I'm based in uh in Eastleigh, and he was an Eastley lad, Nepalese, but settled in Eastleigh, and so it it's it's very sad around the town at the moment. There's a strong uh Nepalese um uh contingent there, and uh so things are quite sad for him. Um uh Ken, good luck with your own diagnosis. I know you've got the mental fortitude to go through it. I mean, if you've done all that stuff, I mean I don't think it's got a chance with you, mate, if I if I'm honest. Um I'm hoping that it actually springboards you to your next adventure, will bring you back to adventure habits once that's done.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

Yeah, it's de definitely, you know, I I kind of it cancer doesn't change you as a person, uh it's just something you face, you are still that person. And and again, for people who have friends and people who've got cancer, you know, don't be scared to talk to them. You know, people people are often don't know what to say, you know, but it the person hasn't changed, they are still that same core individual, it's just that they have cancer. Um and hopefully we'll have a positive outcome. I'm really optimistic about it, and um, there are many more things waiting for me to find, discover, and and and kind of go and do.

SPEAKER_00 38:16

Yeah, and and and remember, guys, uh you know uh that Ken found this out by getting a PSA test. So uh if you're in that kind of age zone that uh that Ken talked about, if you're in your 50s, then go and get yourself uh checked out as soon as you can by a doctor and ask for a PSA test. Okay, uh Ken, uh I think that's a very appropriate message to send people out on. Thank you so much for your time today and for all the time you've spent with us at the Armchair Adventure Festival as well. Uh it's great knowing you and um thank you for your adventure habits.

SPEAKER_01 38:50

Thank you, David, and it's been lovely and uh I hope it inspires some of the people out there, you know, ordinary people, you can have an adventure and you will not regret it, and it will bring you the most wonderful memories. Great, great. Thank you, Ken. Bye bye. Bye bye, thank you.