Woman launches bid to hike across the country's coastline in Kent
Today's Lindsey Bell has been out been out by Thanet, Sandwich, Deal and Dover and tomorrow she'll be making her way through the rest of Kent's coast before taking on the whole of Britain.
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00:00 Lindsay Bell from Essex has chosen the Kent coastline to launch her bid to become the
00:05 first solo woman to hike the entire British coastline in 306 days or less. Today she's
00:11 been out by Thanet, Sandwich, Deal and Dover. Tomorrow she'll be making her way through
00:16 Folkestone, Dimchurch and Dungeness. Well, Lindsay, I'm exhausted from just saying your
00:22 route let alone walking it. How are you? You're back in your Premier Inn hotel now to relax
00:27 and put your feet out. What's today been like? Today has been quite incredible, actually.
00:34 I've been contacted by quite a few people through Explore Kent and I've met so many
00:42 different people. Lots of people keep stopping and chatting and I passed the white cliffs
00:49 of Dover and that was absolutely beautiful. The sun was shining, the waves, I was like
00:56 this is heaven. A perfect setting for International Women's Day. I have to say we're celebrating
01:04 it together on the show this evening. Is that a particular factor in it? Is that why you've
01:10 chosen this time this month to start it or is it more about just women empowerment in
01:15 general throughout the whole walk? It's for everyone really. The great outdoors, the more
01:23 I'm with it, the more it challenges me, pushes me and helps me become the best version of
01:30 myself. So for me, this is about helping as many people discover the wonderful well-being
01:39 benefits of the great outdoors with every step I take, basically. I'm doing it for MIND
01:48 and for National Trails, both two charities that I think the world of and empower many
01:55 people to have freedom amongst nature. Very important at the minute with many conversations
02:02 surrounding mental health for sure. How do you mentally prepare for a challenge like
02:09 this? What's it like? A lot of people say it's a huge challenge, but I suppose everything,
02:19 when you approach it as in a daily, then it's less scary, I suppose, or for me it is. And
02:27 I just think, well, each day I'm getting to do something that I absolutely love, empowers
02:33 me, my mental health, my social, physical well-being. So it's a case of, yeah, taking
02:43 one day at a time, put 306 of those days together and boom, shakalaka, you've got this crazy
02:51 woman walking around the UK. And joining us live on our programme. The signal's a bit
02:57 ropey. It's cutting in and out, but we're keen to keep with you. Tell me about the actual
03:06 journey itself. Are there highs and lows while you're on the walk? What's it been like this
03:10 week? Yeah, I started out with a 20 kilogramme pack with my tent, everything, and I've trained
03:20 with 15, which I'm completely comfortable with. But the 20K was, I thought, can I do
03:27 this for 10 months? So I've thought smart and it's just a case of shifting my tent to
03:35 my next camp, knowing when I'm camping. So that gets delivered there, which now means
03:41 I'm walking with 15K instead, which is perfect. Yeah. And I'm interested in knowing how you've
03:48 managed to find the time to do this. What does day to day life normally look like for
03:53 you and how have you been able to sort of get this in? It's incredible. I have another
04:00 business, fortunately, that it means I can do that on the go. And this has almost, I
04:08 thought, how do I live my life doing something that I love? So I have approached all of the
04:16 eco-friendly, basically the apparel that I wear, Rab, I approached them. Osprey, that
04:24 again, sustainable, I approached them and I've asked for their support. So they've sponsored.
04:30 So financially, there you go. If you want to do something in life, you can make it happen.
04:36 You just sort of think about how do I make this happen? Whose doors do I knock on and
04:42 say hello? That's partly how I've managed to do it. And part of it as well is actually
04:49 bringing up the sort of the idea of hiking and sort of we're talking on Invicta Sport,
04:53 our dedicated sports program, talking about it as it is. It is a sport and a lot of people
04:58 perhaps overlook that. Is that what you've experienced? I think, yeah, it's often hiking
05:05 is, you know, people just bumbling around. And I kind of am bumbling around. I'm just
05:13 doing it huge distances. But for me, it's not really the distance that I'm doing. It's
05:21 the time that I'm spending with nature and that just within eight days, you know, I'm
05:29 connected with you now with many, many others. So many people. Yeah, feeling very grateful.
05:36 And Lindsay, if I was to say to you, right, I'm going to join you for the next 300 days.
05:41 What would your advice be for me to prepare to walk every day for 300 days?
05:47 Good question. Firstly, get your feet prepared. Vaseline is my feet's best friend. Put it
06:00 in between your toes, round the back of your feet and start with a mile a day. I always
06:05 say that's how I started just a mile a day for a month. I committed that a few years
06:10 back and here I am today now walking 26 miles a day. Make sure that your gear, get the right
06:18 kit. You know, I used to shop from charity shops. You can get whatever you need, but
06:25 make sure it's the right gear. Make sure you've got your waterproofs and a great backpack.
06:31 And as long as that's comfortable, you are a warrior.
06:35 We're celebrating. We're celebrating International Women's Day with some fireworks behind you
06:40 there. Great to speak with you, Lindsay. I'm sure you've brought us all up on a Friday
06:46 evening. Happy International Women's Day. Best of luck for the next few hundred days.
06:50 I'm sure we'll catch up with you soon. Thank you. If anyone would like to donate,
06:55 please donate on the website. That would be fantastic. Thank you, Lindsay.