Belinda Coker (SoulTreader.com), a New Zealand-born Australian currently based in the UK, redefined her life through hiking and travel. Her mission is to get women over 50 outdoors and into the wilderness.
Belinda recounts early solo overland travel through Southeast Asia and India, volunteering on a solar power project in Ladakh, later working in Japan, and eventually entering corporate life and raising three children.
During the 2020 pandemic she realized she’d lost her adventurous self, bought hiking boots, joined a Meetup hike with very fit older hikers, and committed to maintaining health and adventure while advocating for trail safety, proper gear, and group hiking.
She describes a recent near-hypothermia incident on the Canary Islands GR131 when unexpected cold rain and cloud cover forced an emergency exit. She also discusses Europe’s hut-to-hut culture versus wild camping, New Zealand’s extensive trails and huts, and her post-corporate house-sitting work via The House Sitting Collective, including a listener discount code HSTRAVEL.
00:00 Moving Along – ep. 36 – Belinda Coker
00:21 Introduction to Belinda Coker
03:08 The Big OE – Overseas Experience – from Tauranga, New Zealand
06:07 India and Volunteering on the Solar Power Project in Ladakh
06:50 From India Home to Australia
08:04 Look in the Mirror
09:37 One Hike Was All It Took
11:25 Hiking: Where to Start
13:24 Buying Your First Pair of Hiking Boots
14:46 Near-Death Experience in the Canary Islands
21:10 Free Resource about Safety for Hikers
22:05 Hut-to-Hut, Inn-to-Inn Hiking
23:43 Hut Culture
25:06 Getting into the Wilderness for Women
27:13 House-Sitting
31:56 Benefits of House-Sitting
34:36 The House Sitting Collective – Special Promo Code for Listeners
Contact Belinda Coker:
Soul Treader – Belinda’s website
https://soultreader.com/hike-it-right/
(Hike It Right. – Free Resource – 78 Pages of Health, Safety & Hygiene on the Trail)
The House Sitting Collective
https://housesittingcollective.com/
Discount Code for 10% off all House Sitting Courses – HSTRAVEL
CREDITS
Host and creator: Christi Cassidy
Contact: christi@movingalongpodcast.com
Artwork by Phyllis Busell
Music by Eve’s Blue.
Post-production help from Auphonic.com.
Show notes written with assistance from Descript and Claude.ai.
LINKS:
More information and to listen to past episodes: https://movingalongpodcast.com
Past episodes are here too: https://moving-along.simplecast.com/
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