Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to quickly tell you about some others.

My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland.

It's a job I really love because we get to tell the stories that really matter to people here,

but which also resonate and apply to listeners around the world.

And because the team has such a diverse

range of skills and strengths, we've trained journalists, people who love digging through

archives, we've got drama and even comedy experts. We really can do those stories justice. So if you

like this podcast, head to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more fascinating stories from all around the UK.

My name's Ailsa Piper. I'm a writer, used to be an actor on Neighbours. I've been a broadcaster,

a director in the theatre. I would define myself, though, as a walker. It's the only real constant

in my life. I grew up in the outback in Western Australia and I suppose I began walking

in the red desert. Walking for me is a chance to still a very overactive brain. If I can walk for

several hours, I don't just mean a little walk in the park, something happens to my mind and it

clears and that's a great relief to me. It's far

better than any other kind of meditation I've ever known. And I've known walking since childhood.

I used to disappear into the wilderness with my little dog for hours and it always felt like

peace. Not long before I turned 50, I took a long hike in Tasmania in the

wilderness, but there was a diary entry one day and what I wrote was I want more of this. As I reach

this new decade, all I want to do is walk. And I went back afterwards and thought, oh, what

a ridiculous thing to write. All I want to do is walk. But in fact, it makes such sense of my life.

And so without really thinking it through very much, I just decided that I would go to Spain.

It was in 2009 that I first met, Gracias Alavida.

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