Hold Fast! 7. I want to hug a cow

Lives Less Ordinary

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.6 • 814 Ratings

🗓️ 25 August 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After 188 days without setting foot on land, the Avontuur finally arrives in Horta, in the Azores. Before the crew can finally get off the ship, there are a few last hurdles to contend with. Ship’s cook Giulia has played her part in getting them here in reasonably good spirits, but now her patience is beginning to wear thin.

15 people, 188 days at sea, one extraordinary ship: how the Avontuur was locked down at sea during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Artwork by Joe Magee Narration written by Laura Thomas For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and the editor, Munazza Khan.

Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.

Got a story to tell? Send an email to [email protected] or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism.
0:08.9	In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero?
0:16.2	Simply doing your job, being a decent human being.
0:20.0	A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by
0:23.1	their own light and that light is to be recognized by others. The long history of heroism with me,
0:28.6	Rory Stewart. Listen on BBC Sounds. Coming up on Holdfast. I'm just done and all my Italian fire is, yeah, it's burning me.
0:42.2	And I see the land so close and yet so far again and again and again.
0:51.0	I'm just going to throw myself into the world.
0:52.8	I'm going to swim ashore.
0:54.6	Try to stop me.
0:56.9	This is the extraordinary story
0:59.5	of sailing cargo ship, the avontoor,
1:02.2	and its crew of 15,
1:03.9	on a wind-powered mission
1:05.2	to transport olive oil, cacao,
1:08.0	coffee and rum between Europe and Central America.
1:12.2	But before they even make it halfway, everything they're counting on is thrown to the winds.
1:19.6	I'm Chauvin McSweeney, and you're listening to Lives Less Ordinary Presents.
1:26.2	Hold Fast.
1:30.1	From the BBC World Service Episode
1:33.2	Episode 7
1:33.7	I want to hug a cow
	...

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