A couple of good podcast interviews recorded this week. Hopefully they should be uploaded within the next week. First off was the unique Paddy Dillon, still playing prime advocate for the GR20 trail through Corsica.
The second was a long chat with Chris Townsend about his 1990 trek through the, Yukon; an 83 day trek this.
Navigating the Yukon seems interesting. For much of they time Chris couldn’t be sure exactly where he was. The maps were very old and he wasn’t sure which valley he was in. On a number of occasions he walked for ten days without seeing another human being and without resupply.
This got me thinking. Today, even with the most dramatic treks, we know where people are due to Satellite phones, GPS systems, etc. You may be out wilderness people could track your progress and – therefore – respond quickly if you get into difficulties.
I asked Chris whether there were people back home worrying about where he was. His reply was wonderfully stoical. Back then (and only ten years ago) all long distance treks were like that. Back home, the only contact you got was when you received a postcard; this was, of course, well out of date by the time it was received. They were lucky, I suppose, to get a postcode.
Did he worry about something going wrong. Well, he did worry about turning his ankle badly. What could he have done? Well, he could have made a big fire that could be seen from the sky. He was sure that someone would notice it quite quickly! Perhaps, you have to have that level of optimism to do these things in the first place? That being said I don’t worry about this when I’m out on my own for days at a time. But 83?
Well worth listening to this.
One interesting, last thing.; Chris reckons that nobody else has done this trek before or since!
So, those of you looking for a new challenge; here you go.
Can you remind me of the link to the podcasts ?
come on Andy – get them up then
They just need a bit of polishing. Won’t be long now
Martin, I’ll post the link when they’re up.