Walking: A Woman's Hour Special

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.2 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 1 January 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On the first day of 2025, Nuala McGovern explores all things women and walking in this special programme.

Comedian and author Miranda Hart joins her to discuss how her battle with chronic illness gave her a new appreciation for getting outdoors and walking, following 10 years out of the spotlight with chronic fatigue.

How can getting outdoors and walking impact us? Qualified GP Dr Lucy Loveday has developed a ‘Nature Toolkit’ and ‘green prescription’ to look at how we can support our mental and physical health by getting outdoors. She joins Nuala alongside Rhiane Fatinikum, founder of Black Girls Hike, to discuss how we can harness the power of nature at different stages of our lives and tackle barriers to getting outdoors.

From writer Nan Shepherd to 18th-century poet Elizabeth Carter – women have been wandering and taking inspiration from nature for centuries. Kerri Andrews, author of Wanderers: A History of Women Walking, tells Nuala about the history of walking as inspiration. And musician Fiona Soe Paing joins us to share her latest project – Sand, Silt, Flint – reimagining traditional folk stories using field recordings from the natural world.

One of our listeners got in touch to tell us about Blaze Trails – a community with over 70 free parent and baby walking groups across the UK, encouraging mothers to get outdoors and go walking. Their walks aim to help women connect with nature, with their babies, and with other families. Nuala headed to Staffordshire to meet them.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Erin Downes

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to quickly tell you about some others.
0:05.2	My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland.
0:11.3	It's a job I really love because we get to tell the stories that really matter to people here,
0:16.3	but which also resonate and apply to listeners around the world.
0:19.6	And because the team is such a diverse
0:21.2	range of skills and strengths, we have trained journalists, people who love digging through
0:26.0	archives, we've got drama and even comedy experts. We really can do those stories justice. So if
0:31.8	you like this podcast, head to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more fascinating stories
0:37.1	from all around the UK. BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more fascinating stories from all around the UK.
0:40.3	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:44.6	Hello, this is Newell McGovern and you're listening to The Woman's Hour podcast.
0:49.8	Hello and happy new year. Have you been out for a stump yet to welcome the first day of
0:56.0	2025? Maybe I'm in your headphones as you take a walk near your home right now. Well today on
1:03.4	Women's Hour we are celebrating the simple joy of walking, what it can do for us and why. So many of you got in touch to share the positive impact
1:13.2	of putting one foot in front of the other outside what that can do.
1:18.4	Here's a little flavour of your stories.
1:22.1	During the spring, it's carpeted in a pretty pink blanket of seethrift and white campion.
1:28.3	And I love that about coming here.
1:30.4	Every time it's different through the seasons, through my own moods.
1:34.7	Whilst here I absorb the natural elements the forest has to offer, from waterfalls, fungi,
1:40.6	trees to all the creatures. It's a really magical place.
1:47.6	Thank you so much for sending those in.
	...

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