Paddleboarding Across England with Jo Moseley

Jo Moseley is a 59 year old single Mum of two grown up sons, living on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales. She’s a paddleboarder, wild swimmer, hiker and beach cleaner. She is also the author of two bestselling books about beautiful places to paddleboard, a speaker and podcast host. Jo started paddleboarding aged 51 simply to heal her knee and help her menopausal insomnia and anxiety.

In 2019 she became the first woman to paddleboard 162 miles coast to coast from Liverpool to Goole, fundraising and picking up litter. A film about her adventure called Brave Enough - A Journey Home to Joy has been screened to sell out audiences online and at prestigious film festivals. In 2022, her first bestselling book Stand Up Paddleboarding in Great Britain was published followed by Stand Up Paddleboarding in the Lake District in 2024.

Jo believes you’re not too old and it’s never too late to have an adventure! She does a headstand a day and has recently taken up skateboarding.

Tune in to learn about the “sit to stand” test, the importance of fitness and mobility for healthy aging, and how Jo's passion for outdoor adventures continues to inspire and uplift those around her.

Map of England

You can find Jo's website here: Jo Moseley
And her Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/jomoseley/
And her book here: Stand Up Paddleboarding in Great Britain - Beautiful Places to Paddleboard in England, Scotland and Wales

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with Kristen and Carol. I am Kristen and I am Carol, and we're two long-term friends with a passion for travel and adventure. Each episode, we interview people around the globe to help us decide where to go next. Thanks, joanna, for joining us today. And where are you calling in from the north of England? In Yorkshire, yorkshire okay, very nice. I always think of like Yorkshire pudding when I hear that, yeah, very good, that's what you're famous for. Okay, very nice. I always think of like Yorkshire pudding when I hear that, yeah, very good, that you're famous for, okay. So our understanding is you did a paddleboard via canals across England and so love to hear, like, what inspired you to do this, and we'll let people know, like what are the resources to look at for additional details, but sounds very amazing. So if you want to, yeah, sure, thank you and thank you for having me on.

Speaker 2: 1:11

It's very exciting.

Speaker 2: 1:12

So, um, I was 54, I'm 59 now and in july 2019, I became the first woman to paddleboard coast to coast across northern england, so from a place called called Liverpool on the west coast so, if you've heard of the Beatles over to the east coast in a place called Gould, and it's kind of as close to coast to coast as you can get.

Speaker 2: 1:34

So that is 162 miles, about 91 no, about 101 lops and about 200 swing bridges, and I was the first woman to paddleboard this distance. One man had done it in the February and I picked up litter and I fundraised for a mental health charity that's around surf therapy, and so I had actually had the idea three years prior, when I was 51 and had just started paddleboarding, but a few people had told me that it was too difficult for a woman of my age and a bit logistically boring and very. Instead of saying oh yes, you know that's your opinion and kind of moving on, I let that their opinion of it and their opinion of me stop me, and so it took me three years to rebuild the confidence and the courage to do it. And so, yeah, I did it and we made a film about it and I wrote it about it in my first book. So yeah, that's what I did. First book I love it.

Speaker 1: 2:34

So Liverpool to what was the other town, greer? No.

Speaker 2: 2:37

Google, so it's not well known um it's g, double o, l, e and it's on the humber estuary and so estuaries are very tricky to paddleboard on, and particularly that one. So um it's on inland um it's on the it's like the most inland port um on the east coast of england.

Speaker 1: 2:55

So it looks very similar to uh northern california we have called it's called the delta, oh, yeah, I surf, so interesting oh fantastic um. I got first in two of my competitions this year that's amazing.

Speaker 2: 3:11

Oh, I tried surfing, but every time I surfed I injured myself, so I stuck to paddleboarding I actually um it's wake surfing so it's behind boats.

Speaker 1: 3:22

So so in the delta and you know it's inland kind of where all the farm areas are, in california there's a canal that goes all the way through. We call it the delta and we surf on the delta oh, that's amazing.

Speaker 2: 3:35

Oh, I'm gonna have a look. Do people?

Speaker 1: 3:37

um paddleboard on the delta. Much, kristin? I don't think. No, there's some inlets that have like little housing areas and everyone in quiet spots do it. But the main delta, I see fishing boats, our surf boats, like you know, big, huge boats, you know.

Speaker 1: 3:53

It's more of that, oh okay, because it's narrow and there's big boats, so there's not paddle boards out there. Okay, so, jo, you went west to east. Then, yes, yes, okay. So, jo, you went west to east. Then, yes, okay, all right. And so that's what? The way the water flows, I guess, right.

Speaker 2: 4:11

It was just the locks. The bridges started in Liverpool. It just seemed like the. Because I don't know why I did it that way. It just seemed that that was just the right way to do it. Some people had said that the wind would be slightly behind me, but the wind didn't make any difference in that respect, it was always against me. So, um, it just felt the, the canal. Actually, actually, I suppose the logic is the canal starts in the west, like it actually starts on a housing estate just outside liverpool. So it's where the canal starts. So that's just the most obvious point to start it and then go sort of off east. So, yeah, okay.

Speaker 1: 4:50

Very cool and I thought it was so fascinating. So you mentioned there's the bridges, and then I saw in your video that there was like some caves One was a mile long and the tunnels yeah, tunnels, but what normally goes through these canals, like, are there good-sized boats?

Speaker 2: 5:08

Not anymore. So the canals were built. This canal was built over 200 and something years ago, part of the Industrial Revolution. So in the past the tunnels were built to go through the land and what would happen would be the narrow boats would go through. Now some tunnels in um within the canal network have a tow path along them so that a horse could tow the narrow boat. But in the tunnel, the the mile long tunnel, uh, what they would do is the men would lie, if you can imagine. They would lie on the boat with their legs on the wall and they would leg it's called legging it and they would leg the boat through. So they would, kind of by human endeavor, get the boat through the canal. Now, obviously, now the narrow boats are motorized, so people just use them for leisure. I don't think there's really any major commercial use of them.

Speaker 1: 6:05

Oh, because they didn't have. They couldn't paddle because it was too low or something, or they didn't have motors, so they just didn't have motors, so the men would like what was called legging it for leisure One of the places.

Speaker 2: 6:16

So, for example, in my first book I went to the middle of London for one of the paddles on Regent's Canal, which is near Regent's Zoo, and there you would see the towpath where in the past the horses would pull the narrow boats. But in this canal tunnel there was no towpath, so it had to be by human endeavor.

Speaker 1: 6:38

So how did you like I see like you blew up your. You had to pump up your paddleboard each day, so did you know where you were going to stay each night?

Speaker 2: 6:48

so yeah, so I had a friend who, um, was the filmmaker, so we stayed in sort of like pubs with rooms and then in. If you can imagine, I live in the middle, in the middle bit between Liverpool and Gould, right, right, sort of in the central bit of of northern England. So the canal went through my hometown. Oh nice, on those days, uh, we stayed at home and and my friends, uh, a daughter of a friend of mine collected me from the canal, took me to my house, then collected me in the morning, and we did it that way for about four nights. What would take my friend's daughter, um lauren, half an hour to drive me had taken me eight hours to paddleboard along, you know, along the same distance.

Speaker 2: 7:32

So wait, wait, say how long to drive so it would take like half an hour, half hour, eight hours of paddleboard. It had taken me eight, you know eight hours to paddle that distance. So, and then we stayed in a little bed and breakfast and so I didn't want to camp, because there's not really any campsites along the route and also at the time I was very, very perimenopausal and I wasn't sleeping and I knew that I wouldn't sleep and then I would go out and have fun. So we stayed in, you know, in proper beds would yeah and have fun.

Speaker 1: 8:08

So we stayed, you know, in proper beds, oh, wow, okay. So I guess let's just back up a little bit. The reason you did this one, just to be like, hey, I just you talked about it was just, you know, you love the challenge of it and you were raising some money, was there?

Speaker 2: 8:18

one was one main motivation um, I think, when I first had the idea in 2016, it was kind of like, wow, you know I could be. Nobody had done it at that point. Um, you know, maybe I could be the first and show people, you know, what I can do. And then, as time went on it it changed because, um, I don't know if this has happened to you, but a number of my friends, my girlfriends, died and only one of them had reached 50. So, yeah, quite, you know, about five or six friends in a very short time, and it was also cancer and one had a heart problem. And it was also the time that my youngest son was going off to university.

Speaker 2: 9:01

And I just think I realized that life is just very short and precious and and if you have, like, the spark of a dream, you should try and fulfill it. So, even if I only ever got to the start line, at least I put myself in a place where I could try and fulfill that dream. I think I think you get that, you know, and and with my sons, my eldest son was already at university, my youngest son was going off to university. You know, I just wanted them to know, and I'm a single mom, I wanted them to know that I was going to be okay. You know that I had stuff going on in my life so it was a big dream to pull me to that future.

Speaker 2: 9:39

So yeah, there was very personal reasons to do it. I couldn't obviously bring my friends lives back, but I could honor their creativity and joy and they were all just really lovely women that if you met them in the street you'd be like, oh, I'm really glad I, you know, I'm glad I bumped into her. Today I just feel that bit better. And some I had known since I was, you know, 14, 15, some were school gate mums, you know school run mums and but they were all just wonderful and I just thought, yeah, I can, I can make a difference and and and kind of honor them really their lives.

Speaker 1: 10:12

Okay, and how many? How much did you paddleboard Like was?

Speaker 2: 10:16

it, your hobby, the road before, right yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:20

Yeah, I'd done the rowing. Yeah, I'd been on. So, yeah, in 2014, I'd done a big indoor rowing challenge in memory of my mum who had died, so I rode a million meters, which is basically like from Paris to Edinburgh. So that's 10,000 meters every other night for eight months and I'd rode a marathon and two half marathons and that was all fundraising in memory of my mom who had died of lymphoma. But then I'd actually started paddleboarding in 2016, had the idea about two months later and then three years later I actually did it. So in that three years I gained my confidence, and paddleboarding at the time was still quite new in Britain. It wasn't as well known in 2000. I think I'd been in the country for about 10 years but it was still quite niche, like sort of racing and things like that, Whereas I was just very much recreational and adventure paddling.

Speaker 1: 11:14

And this fundraising were they part of some organized fundraising that you just jumped on for the rowing thing? Is it just kind of came up with this on your own? Yeah, yeah, no, it was just my own.

Speaker 2: 11:26

it was my own, oh, because at the time, um, as I said, you know, I was very perimenopausal and I'd started indoor rowing in order to help me sleep, and so it did. And then, when mum died, I thought, right, I need to do something that will honor her memory and I need to raise some money for a charity called Macmillan Cancer Support, which helps people who have cancer, not in a medical way, but in other ways. They support them and you know they're not doctors, but they support them in different, in different ways, and I didn't have any idea. What I could do is like well, what, what is there of interest that I do in my life? And genuinely, there was nothing.

Speaker 2: 12:08

It was like I go to, I take my children to school, I go to work, I look after my dad, I have my friends, and then I go to bed at night. You know, it's like that's all I. You know, I didn't have much self-esteem or much self-confidence at the time, and so I thought, right, all I can do is this indoor rowing. And um, and it was amazing, we raised over 10,000 pounds, so that's quite a lot of money, because all I did was go to a rowing machine in a gym. You know, I didn't go anywhere, I didn't climb a mountain, I didn't do anything kind of spectacular, but people really engaged in it and we raised a lot of money that's like almost 13,000, that's six, yeah, yeah and that was.

Speaker 2: 12:49

that was 10 years ago now. So, um, and that was when twitter was like really nice and people were just like, wow, that's amazing, we can sponsor you and and I would sort of show how much I'd run a road if you you imagine, on a row machine there's a little sort of screen that tells you how many strokes you've done, the distance you've done. So I would put that up every night and then I had, like Olympic rowers say, I think you need to get your stroke a bit better, or, you know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it so fast, just slow down. And you know, as I said, twitter was really nice at that point and people were so supportive, it was amazing it was amazing fundraise.

Speaker 1: 13:31

Where was the like, the outlet? Where did they put the money into? Like a page?

Speaker 2: 13:36

yeah, we had a thing called just giving. So they literally I would just put it on my social media. I mean, I, I did a tiny bit of Facebook. Facebook's always slightly confused me maybe one or two pictures on Instagram, but it really came from Twitter and then local newspapers kind of picked up on the story and then they would put my just giving. It was amazing, you know, it was really amazing and I think I was just so focused that I didn't think of anything else because it was really helping and I think I was just so focused that I didn't think of anything else because it was really helping me with my grief. You know, I was just like I'm gonna do this for my mom, whatever anyone tells me.

Speaker 1: 14:12

So I liked seeing the newspaper that you have on your documentary. That was you, just you know just, uh, what you were saying. You didn't have anything and then look, look where it brought you to. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was amazing, really inspiring for others to think about. Like you know, you may not think you have anything going on, but you know, finding something that's a passion for you, yeah, it was amazing. I was curious who did the film, the documentary? It was really.

Speaker 2: 14:44

That was a filmmaker called Frit Tam and they came up and it was just another social media thing. Frit just said, would you like a filmmaker? And I was like, well, I'm a middle-aged woman, I'm quite emotional, you know. They'll stay for about a day and then get really bored of me and that's all I thought was going to happen. And we made this film and and it's been shown at like really prestigious film festivals in the UK and online and yeah, because we sort of delved into the backstory, you know, about grief and loss and miscarriages and menopause and all these things in life, and I guess that was quite unusual really. So, yeah, something I never expected. I thought people would just get really bored of me.

Speaker 1: 15:36

Yeah, no, it's really. I watched. I was only able to watch half of it, so I'll watch the other half soon and I really wanted to watch the rest. So I'll watch the other half soon and I really wanted to watch the rest. Oh, thank you. So, yeah, it's, you know. Just, it's engaging, it's inspiring, thank you. Yeah, there's so many layers there. So you're doing it, for you have a cause, but both for the rowing and this you raise money. But it wasn't like organized where you got a bunch of sponsors before you actually did it. Then, right, it's just as you were doing. People like, wow, cool, here's the money.

Speaker 2: 16:09

Yeah, yeah, I realized that's kind of the way I do things. I just sort of go right, I'm going to have this idea and it's massive. I think what I do is I have really big ideas that I chip away at. So I'm not really like the fastest at anything. I'm not the best.

Speaker 2: 16:31

I'm just a really good Capricorn that just chips away at stuff, you know, big, big idea that other people haven't necessarily thought of, not organized, and then I just chip away day by day, day by day, and and I guess that just shows that if you just keep on going, you know you can make a difference. So, yeah, and people would sponsor me. You know one man, he had some coins on his boat, like a glass jar of just change from his pocket, and he said here, you know, add this to your fundraising. So I had a bit of a bucket on as we went along and um, but yeah, people just were really nice and and a lot of people on the canal didn't know what a paddleboard it was at that time or they'd say what is that? What are you doing, you know? And then I'd say I'm fundraising. And then they'd you know, find my link. And um, yeah, it was amazing, amazing, I was very, very, very especially.

Speaker 1: 17:24

But you know social media. I feel like it's such a bad rap because people are just so addicted to it. But then you're like no, it's actually can be used for good, and that's like yeah, yeah, it can, it can definitely.

Speaker 2: 17:36

And I write a column for a paddleboarding magazine now where I talk about how to make paddleboarding more inclusive, talk about environmental projects, talk about mental health projects, and you know, and I find stories via Instagram and then I like I messaged someone yesterday and she's diabetic and I said, could you talk about your story? Because if it just helps one person to feel like, oh, I could go for a paddleboarding adventure, to feel like, oh, I could go for a paddleboarding adventure. Or I did a story about deaf people who paddleboard and how they teach them with sign language. And then I did a story about women in their 80s who went for lessons. And so it's just like I just try and use social media in a positive way. I still scroll way too much oh, yes, you know, oh, that person's dancing, but I also think it can be very positive as well.

Speaker 1: 18:34

Didn't you say or didn't they say something like you?

Speaker 2: 18:37

you said it because it was your documentary that you were.

Speaker 1: 18:41

You were having health challenges. I don't know if it was your heart as well, but your health weight. So there was something that you also. You were having health challenges. I don't know if it was your heart as well, but your, your health weight. So there was something that you also started not only grieving your mom.

Speaker 2: 18:51

I don't know if that was also perimenopause yeah, um, so mainly it was just the perimenopause. It was anxiety and insomnia. And then just before I uh, before I announced that I was about to do the paddleboarding, so in about the March, I told people that I was doing the paddleboarding challenge in July, just to kind of prime them. Um, I still had a frozen shoulder. I've had two frozen shoulders and so I couldn't actually move my arms.

Speaker 2: 19:19

Yeah, I couldn't move my arms at all. I had one and then that sorted itself and then I had another and that was still problematic and so and I think I've kind of read that that is part of like the muscular skeletal things that happen when you go through, you know, all your estrogen, sort of going on a roller coaster. So I don't think I had, I don't think I had any other plantar fasciitis and things, so it training wasn't easy but in the end it worked out.

Speaker 1: 19:47

Oh yeah, that's a good sport for plantar fasciitis, probably not a lot of high impact on your feet.

Speaker 2: 19:52

Yeah, yeah, and then the standing, though I could kneel and kind of curve my foot, if you can imagine, and then that would like give stretch it. So, oh, so it actually helped. Yeah, so when you're frozen, when my frozen shoulder started easing, the paddleboarding really helped, um, and I know women who have had breast cancer that they say that paddleboarding can help um, after they've had their maybe they've had a mastectomy that it can ease and help them as well.

Speaker 1: 20:20

So, um, yeah, wow okay, and you mentioned your first book, so how many books have you written?

Speaker 2: 20:27

two, oh, okay and what's the topics? Um, so they're both paddleboarding books, um, one is called standard paddleboarding in great britain beautiful places to paddleboard in england, scotland and wales. Um, it's got a nifty title um, all the algorithm for amazon, um, and then. But that book came out in june 2022 and the second book came out three weeks ago today, so it's my three-week anniversary. Oh, congrats.

Speaker 2: 20:56

Um, and that is just about paddleboarding in the lake district. Okay, it's in the northwest um of the country and it's very, very special because it has a lot of lakes, so it's very well known part of the country. So I just specialized on the 10 lakes that were allowed to paddleboard there. So, um, yeah, do you know the lake district at all? No, it's really, it's really famous. It's like a massively famous part of the country. It's very beautiful. What's it called? How do you spell it? Lake L-A-K-E District? Oh, d-i-s-t-r-i-k. Okay, got it Lake District. So William and Dorothy Wordsworth lived there, coleridge, a lot of authors and writers and sort of painters came and it's just very, very famous, very beautiful. Sort of painters came um and it's just very, very famous. Very beautiful. Amazing mountains, beautiful scenery, a lot of sheep, a lot of sort of wild places and then these stunning lakes. So it's got the the biggest lake in the country, it's got the deepest lake in the country way up there, huh yeah, yeah, right up northwest and then basically a little bit further north.

Speaker 2: 22:02

You, you come to Scotland, um, okay, yeah, really beautiful. It's one of the places a lot of people come to when they come to the UK and visit, you know, maybe outside London or maybe outside if they want to go to Stratford-upon-Avon to, you know, to see Shakespeare or um, that sort of thing. So it's a really beautiful, beautiful part of the country. So that's my second book. Yeah, congratulations.

Speaker 1: 22:30

I'm looking actually at the map. I'm always, we're always looking at you know locations and stuff and it's. I don't know if I it's embarrassing, I didn't really look at this, but I know England and then on top of it, right at Lake District, and then above is Scotland. So yeah part of the same landmass. Yeah then, I don't see a distinct line across the two, which I'm sure there is. It's just yes, but we don't have the.

Speaker 2: 22:55

You can just drive from England to Scotland. There's no border checks or anything.

Speaker 1: 22:59

Yeah, yeah, but it's. I'm sure that there's some sort of line. I'm like where's the line? I don't see it because I see Ireland as its island and you guys are right. Next, what's that of man?

Speaker 2: 23:15

um, the isle of man is a. I I've never been to the isle of man, but the isle of man is another island, um, to the west. I'm just getting my geography right but I've never been. So I have seen pictures on twitter and it does look really amazing. They have a very famous um chichi race motorbike race where they close the roads and um, the riders go incredible speeds. I've never been there for that, but I have friends who have. But I didn't include that in my book because the first book I wrote I wrote it just as we came out of COVID in the UK, so I was a little bit limited with time and I didn't include that for my first book, but maybe I could for another one.

Speaker 1: 24:01

I kind of think that there's there's a gosh hopefully I'm not planting a deadly seed, but that you can paddleboard there. I don't know how.

Speaker 2: 24:09

I would imagine the sea is quite rough there. Yeah, I have had friends who've paddled the length of England from Land's End down on the southwest coast and Coral up to John O'Groats up in Scotland and they've gone along the coastline, but I don't know if they've gone across. I will have to have a look. Actually now I don't know if I'll be brave enough, but I will have a look.

Speaker 1: 24:36

I would think so, but the Lake District district much safer yes, much safer.

Speaker 2: 24:42

If something goes wrong, at least you hit land at some point exactly back right and the pictures.

Speaker 2: 24:49

I'm looking at the picture, yeah, the lake district is really beautiful and you have so many different. You have, you know, really long big lakes with really sort of mountainous scenery, and then you have much smaller lakes with sort of more wooded scenery. Some are right in the middle of the Lake District where it's museums, and some are sort of a little bit more out where it's just very much more rural. So there's every lake has like its own personality and I really tried to share that. So in the book.

Speaker 2: 25:20

What I do in each book is I paddleboard with somebody and they talk about why that lake means a lot to them, and so I share their story and I share my own story of the experience of the lake. So it's not just you know, park here, buy cake here, launch here, this is a safety stuff. I have all that. But then I have these stories about these amazing people. So, like on Windermere, which is the longest lake, the largest lake, I paddleboarded with a friend of mine, debbie, who uses a wheelchair, and you know we spent the weekend paddleboarding this massive lake. I spent it with sort of families, yeah, so each one has a story to it, because that's what I'm best at is storytelling, I guess.

Speaker 1: 26:05

Did you say she paddleboarded like on or she was? She's in a wheelchair.

Speaker 2: 26:10

She uses a wheelchair. Now there are some paddleboards which are designed for people who wheelchair the whole time, but doesn't she is able to get out of her wheelchair and get onto her paddleboard. Yeah, she's an amazing woman. She has a degenerative disease that means that she can no longer walk, and she used to be a lovely. She used to love hiking.

Speaker 2: 26:35

So I like telling people stories about what makes something special to them and and then more people can find out about the amazing work that you know she does. She's a wonderful, she was a head teacher. She's a wonderful, wonderful woman. So really special stories that I that I share in the in the book. So, yeah, very fortunate that my publisher took that leap of faith and I said, look, this is the only way I can write books is to um, share stories as well and and have amazing photography. And they were like, yeah, that's okay.

Speaker 2: 27:11

Who did the photography? So the first book, I did most of the photography just standing on my paddleboard saying please, please, wave, don't knock me off. And then, with the second book, we had a professional photographer called James who just took some amazing shots, like blow your mind kind of shots I'll send you a couple where literally all you see is this massive landscape, and then you see this tiny little dot of yellow. And that's me. You know it's like whoa James. You know I would not have got that on my iPhone. Yeah, just amazing, amazing shots that are just breathtaking actually.

Speaker 1: 27:55

Oh yeah, we would love that we could use them for if he gives us permission to post on the instagram when we mention this, yeah, yeah, no, I'll send that.

Speaker 2: 28:03

Um, yeah, he's just amazing. So, uh, we had, we had great fun um doing those. So the ones on the water I generally took, and then the ones on land, these just stunning photos that you know we we got some. We took photos from March to the end of November, so we got summer photos, we've got rainy photos, we got wintry photos, with snow on the mountains and just this really crisp blue winter light. I mean, yeah, it was amazing.

Speaker 1: 28:35

Sounds beautiful. Yeah, I was curious also when you did your documentary. So that was five years ago you said that you did it.

Speaker 2: 28:44

We did the trip five years ago. I did the trip and then the film we worked on were taking time off for work, so you had a time constraint to do it within that time period, rain or shine, so it was awesome rain first couple days and it gave probably more publicity, which it sounded like it did.

Speaker 1: 29:50

And now are you still working full-time or have you transitioned to doing more of this instead of?

Speaker 2: 29:57

time, or have you transitioned to doing more of this instead of working? Yeah, no good question. So I work part-time. I actually work for a church. I'm a parish administrator. So a few minutes before I came onto this call, I was just checking about somebody's funeral. It's a very different life.

Speaker 1: 30:14

Did you do that professionally before with it, or this? No?

Speaker 2: 30:17

no, just completely. Yeah, professionally, um. So before I used to work for um, I worked in construction, so I was like a practice manager for an architect and for a and then for an engineers, and then when I wrote the first book, I had to kind of give up my job because I needed to be all over the country in about five months because we'd been in lockdown for seven of the months that I had the commission to write the book. And then when the book was done, I went and got a job and I wanted a job that was quite people facing. I work with volunteers who are in their 70s and 80s.

Speaker 2: 30:52

So that's really interesting and it's very good, because I do spend a lot of my time, you know, promoting my work and on social media, as I said, you know, scrolling and chatting, and I don't need to be on social media for my job at all. You know I just deal with real people who are getting married or having their child baptized or, you know, a relative's funeral and I'm working with, you know, older adults that are really inspiring. So it's a really lovely balance to have the two things like this sort of world of marketing and research and writing and and all that which has lots of bits in it, and then this world of you know, people's real lives.

Speaker 1: 31:32

I guess you'd say did um, and also just as curious financially, when you were working that and then this has it been I mean, before it was just 100% from corporate job, that kind of thing and has it split to where you make, oh gosh, I don't know.

Speaker 2: 31:56

I think the thing is that your job is regular. Regular, you know. You know that it's gonna, as long as you don't lose your job, it's regular. Whereas the other bit is you might get your royalties twice a year or you get a commission or I do a little bit of sort of um influencer kind of content creation, but that doesn't come up all the time. You know you might get that job and then in six to eight weeks you might get another one. I still need to do my tax return. I mean, it's not due till till January, so I'm still got loads of time. But I think the day job is a little bit less, but it is solid, but it's only part time. And then the other is a little bit more but it's not regular, and I like the regularity of knowing that my bills can get paid. Yeah exactly.

Speaker 1: 32:48

Thanks for sharing, because I think it's just a. You know, I do hear of lots of different things and my kids also are watching social media things and a lot of their people they follow aren't working anymore and do full time, so yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:05

I think you probably would have to spend even more time on social. You know, I don't. I'm not, I don't go viral. Yeah, you know, and I think you know maybe sort of companies want someone who will be prepared to go. You know who can go viral more often?

Speaker 2: 33:20

But I think I think the people that follow me are genuinely engaged in the kind of things I do. So, for example, they will say, oh, I've done work with a holiday company, for example, and they'll say, oh, I just booked a holiday with that company that you recommended, but they maybe then their social media profile doesn't even have a photograph of them. You know, they're just one of those little eggs that are just watching and not posting, and yet they go and actually do the thing, whereas I think some people they're always, oh, I'm going to do that, but they never do it. But the people that follow me are sort of very genuine and very engaged and very kind. I'm really lucky. I have some lovely, lovely people that you know, and I I'm always trying to engage with them back, you know, I I do try and treat it like real people.

Speaker 1: 34:13

You know, nice, yeah, you got back to me pretty quick, that was and the funny story how we connected. I got a magazine from a woman that sells medicare insurance the salesperson and so it's one of these kind of generic you know, for people 50 get these magazines and it has stories about inspirational and like living life to your fullest. And this inspirational um spread for joe about how she went across. I'm like, oh my gosh, this sounds so cool.

Speaker 2: 34:45

And then you saw your little instagram and then, yeah, it was amazing and I must tell the lady that interviewed me actually that that you got in touch because I think she'd like to know um and we. She was lovely, we had such a lovely friendship, a lovely chat, because I studied in America many years ago.

Speaker 1: 35:01

Oh, okay, like 1980 oh yeah, do you mean know what medicare is, when I say that, yeah, I know?

Speaker 2: 35:08

what medicare is. Yeah, they have it in the UK? Yeah, no, we don't know it's different here, but I studied, I went to university, to college in in Virginia in 1986. So we were like chatting, she and I were like chatting about that.

Speaker 1: 35:24

So, yeah, that's so funny, alrighty. Oh, and then you also mentioned this wonderful wild women. What's your affiliation? Are you just someone you know and has like an Instagram or Facebook? Yeah, no, they're like an Instagram or.

Speaker 2: 35:36

Facebook? Yeah, no, they're just a face, an Instagram and Facebook group. They were just um, they were one of the first sort of communities. When I took my very first paddleboarding lesson in the Lake District back in 2016, they saw me post on my Instagram when I had like five followers, you know, and they sort of said, you know, keep going, jo. That's amazing and they've always been so. You know, having someone say that's great that you did that little, that you know you took that lesson.

Speaker 2: 36:04

Yeah, I had injured my knee thinking, but when you talked about earlier about, um, injuries, I had injured my knee prior to taking my first paddleboard lesson, so I'd slipped and so I took. I slipped in the january and I took my first lesson in the September as a way to heal my knee, because I'd heard about all the good things that paddleboarding can do for you. So I had put this up and you know I'd said, oh, my dream is to paddleboard one day. And people were like, oh, that's so great. And then I did it and the wonderful wild women Sarah just said, oh, well done, and just a tiny bit of encouragement just really was so amazing, it just made all the difference.

Speaker 2: 36:44

So I just kept putting pictures up saying I went paddleboarding you know, more and more people would say you know, oh, wow, and, and you know, today I do still get less messages from people saying I took a paddleboarding lesson because of you. And what they say is that because I'm 59 and I'm very ordinary you know, I I'm not like super athletic, I'm not sort of super special, I'm just very ordinary they feel confident that they can take a paddleboarding lesson and you know, I'm not sort of out there saying look at me, I'm just saying, look, this was really fun and I feel better for it. And you know, if I do like my Instagram, I do this sort of sit to stand, which is really a good test of longevity and healthy aging. And I did one in my wetsuit recently and they, they, and you know, I just think it's that kind of very normalness of who I am that I just try and encourage people rather than say, look how great I am. I'm like this is fun, I think you'd enjoy it.

Speaker 1: 37:50

So right, yeah, and it's just exercise. I'm like Chris and I both are very much into exercise, you know. It's just like for mental health, yeah, and you can't sleep, you're having anxiety and people want to like, especially in America, let's take a pill. Let's take a pill, you know, like exercise and changing your diet, and yeah, boom, that's the pill Cut out alcohol cut out caffeine a lot of the basic stuff that people.

Speaker 2: 38:17

Yeah, exactly, Exactly, and so yeah. So I just think Instagram can be really positive.

Speaker 1: 38:24

I have a question what is sit to stand? What is that? So sit to stand.

Speaker 2: 38:29

So there's, if you there's a test I don't know the actual details, but it's a test about sort of your strength, your lower body strength, your glutes, and a predictor of healthy aging and longevity. Okay, and there's a couple that if you follow them, they've written a book called they're called the Ready State, juliet Starrett, and they've got a book I can't remember if it's called Ready to Move or Move. Anyway, I'll send you the link. It's a really good book and there's all these ways that they advise you Shirley Ryan, no Starrett or Starrett. Okay, they do these things about like balance and strength, and if you can stand and then sit and then from a sitting position stand, it's a good test of of healthy aging, I think, with like no hands right, yeah, with no hands at all, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 39:27

So yeah, she's called Juliet Starrett and the book is called Built to Move. Built to Move, and she and her husband, kelly, are founders of an organization called the ready state. They're american, uh, and it's a best sunday times and new york times bestseller, um, and it's the sit to, or sit to run. I call it sit to stand, but I think it's called the sit and rise test or the old man balance test, and it's all about about you know your stability and your strength and that will help you with aging and with your independence as women, so that you know.

Speaker 1: 40:05

Yeah, it's really interesting. Yeah, I see here it's on todaycom or today's show here.

Speaker 2: 40:10

Yeah, they're really well known and they're really nice. They seem really nice people because if I ever tag her, she always goes oh well done, well done, you're well. They have, you know, thousands and thousands of followers. So, yeah, I really like what they do, um and and what they share, because, you know, I'm not sure how old they are, maybe in their 40s or 50s but they speak to an audience that, like me, that's listening, rather than, you know, like they don't look. They speak and say look, these are the things you need to do now to look after yourself in the future yeah, they look pretty young and it's really, uh, yeah, built to move kelly and juliet star it.

Speaker 1: 40:50

Yeah, I'll have to look more into this because this is really yeah it's a really good thing and it's it's just a fun. Exactly, oh, thanks for sharing.

Speaker 2: 41:06

I just assume everybody in America knows about them.

Speaker 1: 41:10

Not at all. Again, social media, but you're going to watch it, all right. So we're moving to some of my rapid fire questions. I didn't prepare you. Joanna. Ok, so what did you have for breakfast every day?

Speaker 2: 41:22

So I have. This is very Instagram influenced. I have Greek yogurt, I have berries, I have fresh ginger, I have a few oats and then I have, like my chia seeds and my pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds and stuff.

Speaker 1: 41:37

So yeah, that's totally Instagram. That's the anti-aging breakfast, awesome those seeds Totally Instagram.

Speaker 2: 41:43

Sometimes I take photos, but mainly I don't. But yeah, that's what I love.

Speaker 1: 41:49

Okay, and how many, like you, were picking up trash. This is more about your thing, like I think. How much trash did you pick up daily? Was it a lot because you couldn't? I mean, how much space did you have?

Speaker 2: 42:00

I didn't have that much space, but what I was really. People would say why have you got all that trash on your motherboard, what's all that? And then they would go and take it away and put it in bins for me, because there is bins along the canal route. If I picked up everything, I would have been there the whole year. But I have had friends who've done the same route afterwards, like a few years after, and they said that where it was really bad, it wasn't as bad. So I think people are much more aware now and people are picking up, which is really good.

Speaker 1: 42:31

Yeah single use plastic yeah, how many hours a day did you paddle?

Speaker 2: 42:37

um, mostly about eight hours, but one day I paddled about 12 hours.

Speaker 1: 42:43

Yeah, my goodness, what was the 12 hours? How come you had to paddle 12? It was just a longer, I think that was yeah.

Speaker 2: 42:50

So I was very, very behind and I wanted to sleep in my own bed that night. So I thought, right, I need to get to the town where my my house is just like a few miles away. So I set off about 10 o'clock and I got into the town about 10 o'clock that night, but I traveled 24 miles but I was still filming along the way and picking up later, so other people could have done it in a much shorter time, but I had all these other like things I needed to do at the same time.

Speaker 1: 43:17

So did you have your lunch and stuff on the paddleboard, or did you?

Speaker 2: 43:21

A company called Papa Nutty, which is a UK based company that make peanut butter. They gave me this massive tin of peanut butter so every morning I would make peanut butter sandwiches and I also made my own bliss, like protein balls, like bliss balls I called them, and I made them before the trip and then I took them with me so and so, yeah, I was just eating kind of really, you know, nuts and seeds and peanut butter and bread and just oh, okay, anything people gave me.

Speaker 1: 43:53

It was great all right and uh, since you're from the UK, uh, coffee or tea.

Speaker 2: 43:59

Tea, that's obvious yeah, there's a very famous tea called Yorkshire tea. That's, that's what I had.

Speaker 1: 44:08

Yeah speaking of that, do people still have like, is you know? They say afternoon tea, like it's like kind of like, it's like a like a big lunch. Is that something?

Speaker 2: 44:20

no, no, no, it's not really lunch, it's like sandwiches and cakes and scones and clotted cream. And how often people do that? Oh, not like every day. Oh, okay, I mean we, you know it's a treat, it's absolutely a. There's a place um near where I live, called betty's, which is very famous. I'll send you a link, because I have friends in america and australia who love that betty's b-e-t-t-y hyphen s. They call it high t. Most people it's like a high t. Most people it's a treat or a celebration. Okay, you wouldn't have it every day yeah, it's like here okay all right.

Speaker 1: 45:01

and then I guess, the final question um, are you going to expand outside the uk? And your little, you're not little, your your big paddleboard adventure, and oh, I'd love to?

Speaker 2: 45:09

Yeah, I would, but I don't know where I have to. I'll have to think about that. But yeah, I have. There are a lot more places I would like to go to and and I've just started skateboarding, so again I'd like to go someplace sort of sunny to go skateboarding, Skateboarding.

Speaker 1: 45:26

I skateboard. Someplace sort of sunny to go skateboarding, skateboarding, I skateboard, I've skated, as in junior high, oh my gosh, yeah, and my son skateboards and yeah, do you have like a longer skateboard I have a popsicle, so it's only quite little, but I think my dream would be to have a longboard.

Speaker 2: 45:42

I have this dream that I'll be on a longboard in the sunshine. That's like my dream, california, yeah come see me wake surf.

Speaker 1: 45:53

Oh, we can meet in San Diego. I could have you like Marco, my friend, he teaches wake surfing, and then you have the strand and you can like skateboard beach and that's that's my dream, so I learned.

Speaker 2: 46:04

I only started just before Christmas, so I'm on a popsicle, so it's really quite little, but it was where I could go for lessons and I knew that I needed lessons. But then I I'm thinking of going on like a longboard camp as well, just because that would be. I just have this. I just want, when I watch people longboard it's just so elegant, women long. Do you longboard then as a skate on skateboard, or is it quite little?

Speaker 1: 46:32

It's just a regular skateboard. I don't skateboard all the time, but I have. I mean, I, I still can, I still do it. I used to do 360s and fun stuff with my son, or well, with my son. He really got into it and so I was all excited. So then I bought my dream skateboard that.

Speaker 1: 46:49

I did in junior high and then I kind of gave it. I sort of gave it to my daughter, but she doesn't use it, so I got it. Yeah, it's a Powell Peralta little skateboard with a skull and something. It's like a rainbow. And I wanted that one in junior high because I was the only girl on my box. All the girls moved away and they all skateboarded. And I started skateboarding because I wanted to hang out with them.

Speaker 2: 47:17

So oh amazing, yeah, so when I went to buy my skateboard and I was like so I've got my birthday money, so it's like my 59th birthday, and I'm like so I've got my birthday money from my dad, do you have any skateboards that don't have skulls on them?

Speaker 2: 47:34

And a helmet and wrist guards I want all the padding, but could I have like a skateboard that doesn't have like rude words on it? And then I had these stickers from when I was in little, from the 1970s. I had these Snoopy stickers that I just kept for years. So I've got my Snoopy stickers underneath my skateboard.

Speaker 1: 47:55

Oh nice, oh my gosh, I want to see a picture. I'm going to send you my phone number and we'll have to.

Speaker 2: 48:02

Yeah, that would be great. So I'm really not good at skateboarding, but I really want to devote part of my when I'm 60 next year. I really want to. I'm 60 at the end of this year, but in my 60th year next year I kind of want to devote more time to my skateboarding because I just think that I would really love it if I just devoted a bit more time to it.

Speaker 1: 48:25

So, wow, Fantastic, that is awesome. I would have never expected you to say that that's great, I love it. Okay, well, thank you so much. So, joanna, it was really nice to meet you. I get to hear more of your story and thank you. Okay, and then we'll yeah, then we'll send a note just to get like links to how to buy your books.

Speaker 2: 48:50

And thank you. Well, have a lovely day. I'm going to go take the dog for a walk before it gets too dark.

Speaker 1: 48:56

All right, thank you so much. Bye. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the podcast, can you please take a second and do a quick follow of the show and rate us in your podcast app. Can you please take a second and do a quick follow of the show and rate us in your podcast app? And if you have a minute, we would really appreciate a review. Following and rating is the best way to support us. If you're on Instagram, let's connect. We're at where next podcast. Thanks again, you.