Q&A Video 11th October 2022
Transcript from video
Q1: How are you getting on in your campervan? Are you staying on sites or going wild?
Eve: Best thing about the van, my bedroom!
Ian: It’s absolutely epic. It really is a game changer both for now and the future for what we want to do, but also mainly for what Sarah wants to do. I think the campervan’s a little bit more Sarah’s thing [Eve: and mine!] and Eve’s and it probably is mine, which is absolutely fine. So yeah, we’ve got some plans for it, route 500 in Scotland is quite high up on the list I think, and yeah it’s pretty awesome. With regards to where we’re staying, with the campervan we’ve been staying on sites probably more times than not, simply because we’ve got a slight issue with the lock mechanism that we’re still trying to get sorted so it’s more of a confidence thing to park up in a random layby or out on the moors or something, but that will come soon. Hope that answers it. It’s absolutely epic and the best thing about it is Eve’s front bedroom! [Lots of laughing]
Q2: Are you enjoying it? What has been the best day so far?
Sarah: You remember your answer to that one Eve? What’s been your best day so far?
Eve: Way up north when it snowed.
Ian: That was on the Great Glen Way wasn’t it?
Eve: Don’t remember
Ian: Yeah you really enjoyed that didn’t you? On the pictures it looked really quite harsh and brutal but it was actually stunningly beautiful wasn’t it?
Eve: Yeah
Ian: I think we described it as a Christmas wonderland [Eve: laughs] Do you remember we spent most of the time talking about Christmas and how it looked like Christmas [Eve: more laughing] but it was pretty cool wasn’t it?
Eve: Yeah
Eve (to Ian): What’s your favourite day so far?
Ian: [Thinking] You know what, I’ve genuinely been trying to think about that because (is it next week or the week after?) we’re actually going on BBC radio and we’re going to get asked that and I’ve been racking my brain trying to think what is the best day and I genuinely don’t think there is. I think because it’s all so different and that’s the point. It’s not the best day, it’s the sheer variety of environments, terrain, but most of all people and in my opinion what makes it the best isn’t the terrain, or anything nice like that, it’s the way it feels, so and often the best feeling is when you are so cold, wet and miserable, and then you get to somewhere that’s warm, even just for a brief cup of tea or coffee. I remember when, one of the best memories I’ve got is sat under a bridge with a cup of coffee and a hot chocolate with Eve and we just sat there for like half an hour, just under this bridge, coz we’d got all our warm jackets and everything on and we just sat there watching the rain fall around us under a bridge. For most people it sounds horrendous stuck under a bridge but I remember the feeling of just, it felt awesome, just to be snuggled under the bridge. I know it sounds random but [shrugs].
Ian [to Eve]: Do you remember that?
Eve: I can’t remember the rain falling but I can remember going under that bridge.
Ian: Coz we went into the cafe to get a drink and the cafe was closing, so we got it in takeaway cups [Eve: oh yeah] and we walked down the canal a bit further and we found a bridge and we sat underneath it.
Eve: I remember now.
Q3: [To Sarah] How many miles have you driven so far?
Ian: A lot more than we’ve walked!
Sarah: Thousands and thousands I’m sure. I wouldn’t like to add it up as I’m sure it would be scary.
Ian: It would be. It’s a lot isn’t it?
Sarah: Yeah but luckily at the moment the pink marshmallow’s gone into retirement. So the van’s now picking up the miles.
Ian: But it’s easier in the van to drive I think to be [Sarah: Yeah] honest, than the pink car. The pink car isn’t really designed for what we’ve been using it for.
Sarah: Yeah it’s a city car.
Q4: Are you both more excited or sad to be getting closer to the finish?
Eve: I’m more excited.
Ian: Are you really?
Eve: Yeah
Eve, Coast Path (nearing the end) 17th Oct 2022
Ian: Yeah there is a sense of completion and accomplishment I think, that will come with the end. I think there will come a bit of the blues, um, getting to the end, coz it’s kind of like taken up so much of our lives, especially with all the planning beforehand, that all of a sudden it’ll just kind of stop. But obviously we’ve got ideas and plans for the winter and next year so we’ll just have to…
Sarah: Well that’s the next question.
Ian: We’ll have to sort of see what happens. I don’t, I certainly don’t believe it’s going to be the last, I hope it’s not going to be the last but that’s kind of dependent on Eve coz you can’t really drag an 8 year old miles across the country [Eve: laughs] unless she’s willing.
Ian [to Eve]: Would you agree?
Eve: Yes!
Q5: Do you have ideas for a new adventure after you’ve completed this one?
Ian: Eve has! Eve’s got stacks.
Eve: Yes
Ian [to Eve]: What is it at the moment? Is it the running one or the cycling one?
Ian: At the moment Eve’s original plan next year, she wanted to do something bigger but running, I mean and I think that would probably kill me so Eve’s tweaked it a bit and decided to go, originally it was cycling, as in I cycle and Eve’s runs and then, I dunno, that feels kind of a bit wrong somehow, like some demonic pushy parent or something and then it was we’ll both cycle, but I’m more of the thought process of next year I’ll do the van thing and Sarah can do the running or cycling, but we’ll have to see how Sarah feels but [Eve: laughs] I think Sarah deserves a bit of something. So yeah we’ve got lots of ideas and plans, there’s obviously the winter to get through. Next year we’ve thought about doing, try and focus a bit more on whether it’ll be [unsure?] or doing all the mountains in England and Wales, um, there’s other long distance paths, there’s like the Welsh coastal path, there’s the coast to coast, there’s, so there’s lots of things and ideas. I think it more depends on how we feel at the time. I mean we’ll have to plan it and yada yada but I think it also depends on where Eve is at that point. I mean we only really firmly decided to do the whole end to end thing with about 6 months planning, something like that, it wasn’t that long, not really and there we were and it was more Sarah pushing to do this one anyway coz I think left to my own devices I wouldn’t have done it just coz, well for a whole number of different reasons, but that’s probably a different question.
Planning for this adventure, 25th Feb, 2022
Q6: [For Eve] Which of her toys will be most excited to see her when she gets home?
Sarah: So which of your toys will be most excited Eve?
[Eve whispers to Ian]
Ian: You think Bo? Bo is one of Eve’s teddy bears. Would you count the cat as a toy?
Sarah: No, cat’s aren’t toys.
Ian: No? But Eve ‘toys’ with them
Sarah: She does yes. Think the cats will be very excited though
Ian: Yes they will be, without a doubt
Eve: The cats have been living in my bedroom
Sarah: They have! Whenever I’ve gone home you can tell there’s been cats in there coz Eve’s bed is covered with all their hair and you can see the dents in the duvet
Ian: There’s like a massive carpet now on the duvet so when we go home that’s going to be priority number one. Wash and clean Eve’s bed!
Q7: [For Eve] What would be your next adventure?
Sarah: Kind of answered that one
Ian: [to Eve]: Have you got anything you want to do over winter?
Eve: Yes, remember we said about [whispers to Ian]
Ian: Yeah but is there anything outdoor or kind of active you’re thinking about doing? Or would like to do?
Eve: Not really
Ian: No? That’s fine, that’s fine. I know over winter we’re going to try and focus a bit more on the academic side of home education aren’t we? And the whole reading
Sarah: You wanted to try and learn sign language as well didn’t you?
Ian: Yeah so we’re going to try and deal with that, so we’ve got a lot of plans for over winter, winter’s going to be pretty busy
Sarah: When is it not busy?
Eve: We’ve also got a plan, or I’ve got a plan, try and train the pussy cats
Ian: Yeah you’re going to try and train the pussy cats, good luck with that one!
Q8: Will your adventures get you all in the Guinness World Record books?
Ian: We put all the applications in for the Guinness Book of World Records
Eve: But they don’t allow anyone under 16 do they?
Ian: The issue we’ve been facing is, and trying to deal with it is, the Guinness Book of Records don’t like under 16’s participating for records in endurance events and that’s the key. So under 16 and endurance event, which is what they would class this as, and they’ve sent us through other literature trying to justify what they’re saying, and I do kind of understand it because at the end of the day under 16’s typically are in school full time and yada yada yada, but quite disappointing from our perspective as I think we’re probably banging our heads against a bit of a brick wall. Now in theory Eve will have the unofficial world record
Ian [to Eve]: Although you won’t be in the Guinness Book of Records there’s no record of any child younger than you fully hiking the full length of the UK
Ian: So she’ll have it, although she won’t be in the Guinness Book of World Records, but saying that the Guinness Book of World Records is just that, it’s a book, it’s not the be all and end all for a world record
Sarah: It would’ve been nice but I think it’s going to be at this point probably unlikely but there are no records or evidence that neither we know of or all the people that we’ve spoken to, have done research, have told us that that there’s no record of a child Eve’s age or younger, ever fully completing a complete through hike in pretty much one continuous go. I know we’ve popped home for covid vaccines and stuff like that but we’ve also come straight back out when we’ve been able to so yeah, the answer is probably no but she’ll still have the unofficial world record and that’s good enough for us
Q9: What has been the best part of the adventure?
[Eve whispers to Ian]
Ian: Being with me, awwww, I love you Eve. Really? Just being with me? I love you Eve. I don’t know what else to say to that really.
Sarah: That’s lovely
Ian: I love you Eve. Best part of it is being with you as well
Q10: Which sections have been your favourite so far? Which area has been the most frustrating and why?
Sarah: Which sections have been your favourite?
Ian [to Eve]: What do you think’s been the favourite?
Eve: Walking on the beach.
Ian: Walking on the beach, beach walking?
Eve: Yes. For me the most frustrating is walking on the A9
Ian: Yeah the A9, up north, during all the wind and that, that was not the most pleasant experience, but I tell you what, we had lots of help when we were up north. From, um, I’m trying to remember, the names, there were some lovely people who helped us out with pods and stuff like that & I think if it wasn’t for that, I think that we’d have seriously seriously struggled & I had quite an emotional time up north, especially to begin with & it was, yeah, it was quite hard, and I was concerned as to whether we should even be doing this and yada, yada, yada.
Ian: Yeah up north for the first few weeks was definitely the most challenging physically, mentally, emotionally, logistically, but then we got bailed out by a lot of very nice, kind, lovely people, who I hope that after this we can get in contact with again and try and do them a favour back.
Sarah: Well we want to go and stay in that pod as I never slept there
Ian: No you didn’t, that was proper nice
Sarah: The one that you stayed in with the lovely lady, I can’t remember her name? North Star Glamping wasn’t it?
Ian: Yeah and it was at Lybster
Sarah: She was amazing
Ian: That and then there were the eco ones further up north we stayed at and she picked us up and dropped us off. She was genuinely lovely and she sent the tree down and it’s still planted and growing in the garden. Thank you very much, for everyone’s help
Q11: [For Eve] What has been your favourite ice cream flavour so far?
Eve: Lots of them!
Ian: You don’t care, just pile them on yeah?
Eve: [laughs]
Ian: I don’t blame you. You’ve got into mint choc chip at the moment haven’t you? You seem to be liking that at the moment.
Eve: Yeah
Ian: But I think chocolate’s a pretty standard thing isn’t it for you? Any form of chocolate. You do like your hard ice creams don’t you?
Q12: Where was your favourite place to camp and where was your favourite indoor stay and why?
Ian: Favourite place to camp? [To Eve]: Where do you think is the favourite place we’ve camped? I’ll tell you what I think’s the best place, what do you think first? [Eve whispers to Ian] You can’t remember? I quite liked, I don’t know why it just felt nice, when we, we were backpacking and we were camping and we got into, it was actually a campsite on the West Highland Way, aaah where was it? Just above Loch Lomond, the really big, touristy, backpacking place
Sarah: Oh the one that closed down?
Ian: Well it’s closing down. We were camping there, we walked in, we were obviously carrying our tent and all this sort of stuff and backpacking and we camped there, and that night even Sarah turned up and I don’t know, it just felt awesome.
Q12 cont.
Ian: So probably say, coz we ended up going to the pub and having half a pint and the pub was epic and we met up with loads of nice people
Sarah: Benglas Farm
Ian: Benglas farm, got recognised by loads of people up there, that came over talking to us, coz they’d seen us on social media and it was epic, just something nice, just liked that and we slept well, it was really nice, so I’d probably say for terms of camping, probably that, but again it’s more on feelings as opposed to the environment, I think it’s a lot more on feel
Sarah: We were discussing your indoor stay only the other night
Ian: I think that the one that stands out to me, and I think to Eve, coz we were talking about this, was we were on the Great Glen Way and it had been raining all day and I don’t mean just raining, it was bouncing off the ground, coming sideways, it was windy, it was freezing, it was more like frozen rain coming down, it was icy on the ground, it was brutal
Q12 cont.
Eve: It was like hail
Ian: It was hail and we’d been walking for hours, 8 hours, waterproofs totally failed and we get to a wooden lodge that we’d been lent by the owners, and as we walked in, we saw the owners and they said hi and yada, yada, yada, told us where it was and they let us in and it was like a wall of warmth hitting you and it was, we were only there a night, but my, it was, I genuinely can’t describe, my face ached, because I couldn’t get the smile off my face, we walked in and they’d left a massive bar of Cadbury’s chocolate and I carried a massive block of cheese with us and we had macaroni cheese I believe and I grated the entire block of cheese onto it and we sat and we ate that
Sarah: and there was a photo of you snuggled on the sofa with the blanket
Ian: Yeah we snuggled Eve into the blanket, I dunno it was just, but again it’s not the location, it’s because it was kind of how it felt and kind of being necessary
Ian [to Eve]: So I think that’s probably what we spoke about the other night, would you agree? If not, say so
Eve: Yes I would but the only thing I didn’t like about that was I put my waterproof on wrong and bits of it down here [points down front of body] got soaked
Ian: Oh yeah, that bit got wet pretty good, we were all, even our base layers were soaked, everything was soaked wasn’t it? But we managed to dry it out just about in the morning so that was pretty epic but as I said I think it’s more based on feelings. The front was all glass so we actually sat in the warmth, we were both basically in our pants to be honest, coz we were so soaked [Eve: laughing] we were wrapped up in fleeces, watching the rain come down with a full belly, eating, it was just snuggled up, we knew Sarah was at home and safe. It was just nice so I will always remember the feeling, it was just, aw, I love you Eve that was all
Q13: Has the reality exceeded your expectations? I’m sure it has so perhaps I should ask how much has it exceeded your expectations?
Ian: I think it’s different
Eve: Well, I didn’t really think anything, just waited for it to come
Ian: And just see what happens?
Eve: Yeah
Ian: Yeah that’s an interesting one isn’t it. I think emotionally it’s been harder than I thought, to be honest. Physically it’s hard but it’s probably not as hard as I think people expect, from my perspective because obviously I’m only doing what essentially an 8 year old can do, and as keen and enthusiastic as she is I can usually keep up with her to an extent. I think for Eve it’s definitely a physical challenge as well, isn’t it?
Ian [to Eve]: You I think struggle on aspects don’t you?
Eve: And when it’s cold I also really struggle with my eyes
Ian: You do, your eyes stream don’t they? Looks like you’re balling your eyes out crying [Eve: laughs] but it’s just the cold isn’t it? Yeah I think emotionally it’s harder for me and I think physically it’s fairly challenging for you [talking to Eve] and I think you’ve had a couple of wobbles missing mummy and the animals haven’t you?
Eve: Yes
Ian: Which is fair enough. So does that? I’ve forgotten the question
Q14: Are you going to publish an ebook on your route that can be followed in sections and help towards the charity or next year’s adventure?
Eve: Well we were thinking about doing a book once we’ve finished weren’t we
Ian: Yeah we’ve been discussing putting together a book over winter, um, never done it before so we’ll just have to see how it goes won’t we and try and, we’ve got a general idea and plan for how we think we’re gonna structure it already, we’ve discussed and talked about that while walking. So I think over winter we’re going to try and see whether we can put together a book and I know that we can self publish but we might even, I don’t know, see whether we can actually get a publisher. I don’t really know what the difference is, but anyway, so yes the plan is that we’re gonna try to. Haven’t even really thought about the money or the funds, about what it’s gonna cost, how it’s gonna work etc. We haven’t even really discussed that have we? [to Eve].
Q15: For Ella: If you could eat ice cream (I’m guessing it would get your fur too sticky) which flavour do you think would be your favourite?
Eve: Mint choc chip coz she’s green
Ian: Do you want to show Ella? Coz mummy went and got her. This teddy, this beautiful little dinosaur (showing Ella) has seen probably more than we’ve seen as she just sits strapped to Eve’s shoulder strap and I swear that she sees more than we do.
Q16: What part of the country has surprised you the most, as in you thought it wasn’t going to be pretty or nice but it exceeded your expectations & why?
Eve: I think it was all the slopes, where we are now coz walking along the slopes I didn’t think it would be very good
Ian: But it’s beautiful isn’t it, down here, it’s stunning
Eve: I didn’t think it would be very good because we’re walking along slopes basically the whole way now
Ian: So yeah, the cliffs. I think, well I know Sarah was thinking North Yorkshire
Sarah: I was
Ian: coz that’s stunning. I think the county that is nicer than I expected, not necessarily the nicer of the entire walk, was Shropshire to be honest. Never expected Shropshire to be anything really, but walking through there was actually just, pleasant to be honest and nicer than I expected it to be. So there we go, we’ve all got slightly different answers.
Q17: How do you have or find the energy to go and not be completely exhausted?
Eve: I don’t know!
Ian: You just kind of do it, don’t you?
Eve: Yeah
Ian: Yeah, I don’t know really where it comes from for me but I think Eve’s one of these where she can turn it on and off like a tap, so she can slow it down and she can plod at half a mile an hour and then saying that she’s tired and needs food, and then in a heartbeat she can be going like she’s on jet fuel or something. Quite up and down and I struggle with that sometimes coz I can’t get into a rhythm, she’s going for it and then oh god, so yeah can be a bit of a challenge
Eve: [laughs]
Ian: My energy comes from Eve wanting to do it basically and Sarah’s energy and motivation comes from a much, much deeper place, god knows how Sarah does it. Without a shadow of a doubt Sarah has it harder and tougher than me and Eve combined, probably by ten times over
Eve [to Sarah]: Where does yours come from mummy?
Sarah: Deep within coz I know I’ve got to look after you two
[Laughter from Ian and Eve]
Q18: Did you take the scary cliff path to Duckpool or go inland?
Ian: We went inland coz it was really, really windy and I must’ve pulled the plug on that before I’d even stepped on the coastal path
Sarah: Duckpool was
Ian: Was that the one that Eve chose and I didn’t expect her to choose?
Sarah: Yes
Ian: So it was windy but not that bad
Sarah: Oh, no no, the windy one was the first one
Ian: The day before, the next day we gave Eve
Eve: Which one’s Duckpool?
Sarah: Duckpool was the little beach where I parked the van and we were getting there and talking about the naughty overnight campers coz they weren’t supposed to be there
Ian: Yeah the second day we went inland, we gave Eve the choice because we never expected her to choose to go inland, but she chose to go the inland route and it kind of took us both back a little bit. We weren’t expecting that.
Ian: So I think we’ll leave it there for questions. I hope that helps
Sarah: we’ll do some more another day
Ian: Yeah we’ll do some more questions another day. If you’ve got any other questions please send them through. Whether it be about us or whatever you want. I don’t think there’s many questions we’ve got about autism which is a little bit surprising, I think I expected a few about that. Some of the questions have genuinely got us thinking, they’ve not been quite what we expected which is absolutely fine when you sort of put yourself out there and say what do you want to know, you just have to roll with what people want. If there’s anything you want to know send us a message or put it in a comment and we’ll try and remember them, and we’ll try and do another big Q & A video and go from there. But I think this morning we probably need to get going, we’re officially running a bit late now
Eve: We woke up at half past eight
Ian: Was it really that late?
Eve/Sarah: Yeah
Ian: Oh god, so anyway we’ll leave it there, we’ll get going coz we’ve got to hit the trail coz we’ve got about 7 ish miles to do today and it’s up and down today. We’ll say bye and see you all later and have a great day and look after yourselves. Bye [waving]
