Wander Woman: A Travel Podcast
The Wander Woman Podcast frequently charts in 'Travel and Places' in over 13 countries around the world and, on all of Apple Podcasts, has been ranked #1,345 out of 500,000+. It is the first travel podcast to take on a magazine style - rather than the format of an interview – and has been listened to and downloaded in more than 72 countries from the UK to Australia and beyond, by tens of thousands of people. It has been selected as “Best of” travel podcasts by The Telegraph, The Guardian and The i newspaper, Globetrender and Tech Times - to name a few. Every episode, award-winning broadcaster, travel writer, author and photographer Phoebe Smith offers a behind the scenes journey to a different destination which features interviews with locals, audio clips and vivid descriptions to make the listener feel like they are there too - without having to leave home. The main ‘destination’ story weaves together her passion for finding off-the-beaten track places, undertaking quirky and unusual activities, discovering wild spaces in unlikely mass market destinations, watching wildlife and meeting the unsung heroes behind conservation efforts. Additionally the Wander Woman Podcast’s regular features are: * Wander Woman talks to… a celebrity interview (past guests include Bill Bryson, Cerys Matthews, Ed Byrne and Levison Wood); * Best Travel Gear for a life on the road - a review of a key piece of kit; *Travel Hack of the Month - the hard-won advice to help you get more from your travels; *Top 10 in Travel - a round-up of the best walks, destinations or activities to inspire your wanderlust; *Hidden Hero - an interview with an unsung travel pioneer; *Wander Woman of the Month - the traveller whose name is lost in the history books. Wherever you find yourself - come wander with her…
Wander Woman: A Travel Podcast
How far would you walk for a cuppa?
Deep in the Rockies in Alberta, Canada, is a small unassuming hut that - unknown to many - houses a teahouse that has been serving hikers since 1904. In the heat of high summer the cabin swarms with hikers in search of a brew. Early or late in the season, though, it’s possible to bag the best view in the house on the porch overlooking Lake Agnes before choosing from the impressive menu of loose-leaf teas in relative tranquillity.
Joanna Magee owns the teahouse and has to get up at 4.30am to bake the day’s supply of bread on an old propane army stove (there's no electric in the cabin). Stocking up on supplies are even more challenging - with all dry goods being helicoptered in once a year and members of staff having to hike into Lake Louise to pick up fresh produce and hike all the rubbish back out. I head there and to its nearest neighbour - the Plain of 6 Glaciers Teahouse - to grab a much-needed brew and to meet the staff whose walk to work is one of the longest but scenic in the country.
Also coming up:
Adventurer Aldo Kane talks about why he loves the jungle despite being covered in leech bites; figure out how to cut the crap - literally - to see through greenwashing and ensure you travels are truly as eco-friendly as possible; on our run up to the spooky season discover 10 places in Ireland to celebrate Halloween - the original birthplace of the festivities (yes, really); meet the woman who decided to create hand-crafted dolls to try to share her Garifuna culture in Belize - and beyound; get your packing in the bag with my gear chat's tips on buying the perfect daypack and learn all about our Wander Woman of the Month - the Motorcycle Queen of Miami - Bessie Stringfield.
www.Phoebe-Smith.com; @PhoebeRSmith
On this month's Wander Woman Podcast.
Speaker 2:My best friend is a porcupine, my alarm clock is an avalanche in the morning, and my friends are all hikers from around the world.
Speaker 1:I head deep into Banff National Park on the hunt for a remote tea house to find out what draws workers to a place with arguably the longest commute to work in Canada. I also speak to adventurer Aldo Kane about why he is drawn to a life of adventure, even if it isn't always glamorous.
Speaker 1:I just got back from the jungle last night and I'm still scratching leech bites right now from the last three weeks and I meet the woman whose passion for crafting has enabled her to celebrate her own Garifuna culture through making cultural dolls.
Speaker 4:As a little child, as a child growing up at home, we were taught how to make dolls from socks
Speaker 1:Also coming up.
Speaker 1:My travel hack considers how to cut the crap and see through the greenwashing in travel. In my top ten, as we approach Halloween, I'll be looking at the best ways to celebrate it in Ireland, the actual birthplace of the celebrations, and in my regular gear chat, I help you find the perfect day pack for wonders around the cities and summits. Finally, I'll be revealing this episode's Wander Woman of the Month, the traveller whose name is lost in the history books. You're listening to the Wander Woman podcast, an audio travel magazine with me, adventurer Phoebe Smith, exploring off the beaten track destinations, wild spaces, wildlife encounters and the unsung heroes behind conservation efforts. Come wander with me.
Speaker 2:So in the centre there you have Peter and Joy. They were the ones that bought the tea house in 1959 from the CP Railway Company and they're standing on the porch of the tea house with their kids, Suzanne and Shauna, who are also pictured on the left there together snuggling up all nice. And then on the far right you've got an example of how they used to get all the produce up here. It was all done by a pack train with horses and mules.
Speaker 1:I'm stood inside a tea room, or, more accurately, a tea house, but this isn't a quaint cafe in England or a Himalayan bunkhouse. I'm actually in Canada, in Alberta's Banff National Park, a few kilometres from the far end of Lake Louise, at a place called Plain of Six Glaciers. With me is a manager, Nigel Weir, from Ontario, who came camping here in 2022, discovered this tea room, started washing dishes for a month, then came back again for a second season in 2023 to run it. We're inside the Snug, a staff room where photos of the owners the Kimball family adorn the wall, and he's showing me how supplies used to be transported here in the early days of its operation in 1959. But to really understand this place, I need to rewind a little to my first and the park's first ever tea house, which began here back in 1901.
Speaker 5:So if you just line up, as I said, table service on the right to go on the left, my staff and I will be with you as soon as we can. Thanks very much.
Speaker 1:You're hearing the voice of the owner of Lake Agnes Tea House, Joanna Magee, who is trying to placate the ever-growing line of people waiting to get a cup of tea here. Every single one of them has just completed a four-kilometre walk-in from the car park at Lake Louise to get here, which also means a four kilometre walk back again, and they are thirsty for a hot drink on this cold September day. Ever since Canada's Transcontinental Railway was completed in 1885, and Victorian travellers begun to revisit the newly accessible wilderness of Alberta's Rocky Mountains, the need to ply explorers with tea soon followed by 1901,. This building was made by 1904, the Canadian Pacific Railway, or CPR, company had built it up and ran it as a tea house, Then the only one in the park. As a seasonal offering due into October due to avalanche risk in winter, I caught up with Joanna just days before the end of the season. Her mum worked here in 1973, then bought the place seven years later and had to virtually rebuild it.
Speaker 5:I remember carrying up, you know, two by fours as a little kid with between people. We carried all of that stuff up on our between us. Then all the heavy stuff, like the concrete for the foundation, was flown up by helicopter and then mixed up here, but everything. There's a log builder from BC that built the building down in British Columbia and then numbered all the logs and we flew them up that way so.
Speaker 5:I do remember the process of building it and I remember carrying everything up and nails and things like that because ages but they did it. They took it down in one of the in the fall and then did all the labor for the foundation then and then the next spring did the most of it, except for every year. You know there's always a project because you have to say money. Small business, woman-owned single parent.
Speaker 1:Joanna's mum, cynthia, was by all accounts, and I should say still is she's in her 70s, so does more admin than tea, serving a force to be reckoned with, battling not only with bureaucracy of building and running a business in a national park, but also the extreme weather and being a single parent. She managed to forge an incredible business here and for Joanna, growing up here, the tea house was part of her daily routine.
Speaker 5:The season when I was a child, in May and in June and September and October I would hike up and down to school and catch the school bus. So my mum would do the hike twice a day up and down. So we'd get up at 5.30 and I'd have to get on the school bus at 6.30. So we'd get up, hike down to the Chateau Lake Louise, I'd change down there my school clothes and then catch the school bus to Banff and then go to school and then come back on the bus and hike back up and so my mom would go down with me in the morning, hike back up, work and then down at night and then hike back up with me until I got to the point where I wanted to do it by myself, Like I was, like you know, old enough and 12, and I was hiking that trail, you know, at 5.30 in the morning, all by myself, and hiking back up. And of course that was before cell phones or any of that.
Speaker 6:So I had to come home.
Speaker 5:There were a few instances where I'm like I'm going to stay over at my friend's house, but my mum would never know because she had no way of having a phone, yeah. So there was a few of those where she'd had to hike down and find me, and then she dragged me back up here.
Speaker 1:It's a legacy that Joanna has also continued with her own family.
Speaker 5:I carried my three kids up here. I used to wash dishes with my son on my back and my daughter. So I've been up here about 20 years. My kids are 14, so I'm my oldest. How old is Selah, my youngest Selah? She just turned 10, and she's like I want to run the tea house. So I don't know, my middle child's like not a chance.
Speaker 1:Looking around me at the tree-lined trail beneath the corridor of fir, larch and spruce every so often getting a glimpse of the dazzling emerald blue waters of Lake Louise. Between the crowds, it seems the perfect place to bring your family every summer season. But Joanna's husband, pierre-luc, is quick to point out how difficult life can be here in the wild. What are the sort of things that go wrong here pretty regularly?
Speaker 6:Everything.
Speaker 1:You can't just nip to the shops and get what you need.
Speaker 6:Exactly so. It's a lot of broken tables, broken chairs. Fixing the roof, pumping water, just kind of maintaining. Doing the maintenance around here just requires basically a full time job.
Speaker 1:And I bet you're fixing one thing and then the other thing is broken.
Speaker 6:Exactly, exactly, exactly. So. It's an older building but it's lovely. There's lots of character, but it definitely takes a lot of hours to just keep things punctured.
Speaker 1:And if you find you need something to fix it, is it a run down?
Speaker 6:It's a run down and a run back up. Usually, or we sometimes use, if we need some heavy material, we use a helicopter to bring it up, but most of the time it's all back back and missing a piece of wood or missing a screwdriver or something. You've got to go back down and get it and come back.
Speaker 1:You imagine you're like I know where I left it. Yeah, exactly how many times do you tend to go down the mountain?
Speaker 6:A week, I would say a couple times a week, okay, on average, sometimes more than others, Sometimes more than others.
Speaker 1:What's a bad week?
Speaker 6:I'll come up four times, five times a week, usually, especially with the kids at home when they were younger. I would do a lot of day trips. I would just come up and be here from 10 to 2 and then hike back down. So I do a lot of hiking.
Speaker 1:But he's not the only one for whom a hike up and down to get supplies is the reality of the job. Every season, around 12 to 13 students come here to work for minimum wage, spending a summer with no electric, no hot showers and a gruelling schedule.
Speaker 5:My staff are on at seven and as a baker we're on between 4.30 and 4.45 every morning and we don't stop until the dishes are done by hand at about eight o'clock.
Speaker 1:Baking bread and washing dishes by hand, using propane stoves to cook and boil water is one thing, but how do they get everything up and down here? Once more, it comes down to those staff members who get two days off on a rolling rotor, meaning they are, in effect, the daily supply chain.
Speaker 5:We always have someone coming up in the summer every day with our fresh vegetables, so our cheese, and my husband and my three kids just hiked up the cucumbers and the cheese and the peanut butter and jam because we're getting near the end of the season so supplies are running out, so we have and same as the beginning of the year, like you can't really store everything that you need, so all the fresh stuff comes up on my family's back where all my staff know that you know there's stuff to bring up, yeah, so whenever they come up, they hike something up, and whenever we go down, you're bringing garbage down, like we do all of our recycling things, so that all has to get hiked out by us on our back and while they do have some kind customers who offer to do a rundown of recycling who Joanna calls Sherpas affectionately the job involves a lot of physical labour.
Speaker 1:So I asked a few of them, as they were working on their various tasks, what they liked about the job and the commute. First there was Rocky, from New Zealand.
Speaker 7:It's actually just been really nice. I feel like it's quite soothing to have no time to look at your phone. It's really good.
Speaker 1:Then Shannon from Ontario, who's worked here for a whopping six seasons.
Speaker 8:This feels like home to me the nature of the people. It's a very special environment. There's really a magic element to it and especially the people that I meet I think are the best part.
Speaker 1:And Caitlin from Edmonton, who's on her third stint here.
Speaker 7:It can be long days sometimes, but it's rewarding. And I guess when it comes to the fall too, it gets colder. So it's quite rustic up here, but it's nice because you kind of have to work for everything.
Speaker 1:And finally Laura from the UK, who was terrified of bears on her first commute but now actually quite enjoys it.
Speaker 9:It was
Speaker 9:definitely a struggle the first time and there's been some days where my pack's been particularly heavy and I do struggle with it but it's fun, it's rewarding, you get to the top and it feels yeah it's.
Speaker 9:It's a good way to get to work. It's better than getting on the tube.
Speaker 1:But as you know from the beginning of this story, lake agnes is not the only tea house here in the park. Another seven kilometers, on part of a 19 kilometer circular route, I reached the aforementioned plane of six Glacier Tea House, aka P6. Built in 1927, also by the CPR, this tea house was bought by the Kimball family in 1959, who had immigrated from Scotland with just $2,000 to their name. Their daughter, Suzanne, who grew up on these slopes, still runs the place today, though she was away getting urgent supplies from the town the day I visited, hence my chat to Nigel. I asked him about the hike to this much more remote hostelry.
Speaker 2:Usually at the start it takes everyone. About 90 minutes to two hours is usually what we do, and then I come up in an hour. Now I don't even have to think about it, it's just walking to work. But now it's at the point where we have so little staff members and so much food that we have to hike up, that we've got really heavy bags that we have to bring up to the tea house for us.
Speaker 1:It's a hell of a commute, but it's easy to work.
Speaker 2:It's intense, but yeah where else would you rather be?
Speaker 1:P6 has a very different vibe to Lake Agnes. Rather than a family homestead feel, this tea house is edged with red painted beams and festooned with Nepalese prayer flags a gift from an actual visiting Sherpa and the vibe here is as relaxed as Nigel sounds. The staff all tended to be a little older too, with a forest firefighter university student from France and a seasonal worker who spends the winters in South America and the summers up north. Plus, the visitors are more hardcore hikers, being that this is a little further from the tourist trail. Yet their reasons for being here, encapsulated by regular returner Katie but echoed by everyone I spoke to, are similar to that of those based in Lake Agnes.
Speaker 9:I guess the mountains has always been my passion and I wanted something that I could be most involved in the mountains as possible. And right here I'm surrounded by them and hiking up to work kind of drew me in. Sounds pretty incredible. You make, yeah, lifelong friendships and just get to spend time connecting to nature like no other.
Speaker 1:I sat that afternoon eating chili while Nigel told me about a grizzly bear that passed through camp just days earlier. I watched as a climber passed by with a backpack full of ropes while a porcupine nuzzled the nearby ground looking for food, and a clark's nuthatch bird flew through the balcony poles and tried to grab some of the food from my fork. To spend a summer here would indeed be an adventure, even with the commute. I asked Nigel what drew him back after the first season, though I already could guess his answer.
Speaker 2:I think there's not a whole lot of places like this left in the world. I know that for a fact there's not a lot left in Canada, so I think this place is just full of magic and every single day you walk out and you see, you see some pretty interesting stuff Like my best friend is a porcupine, my alarm clock is an avalanche in the morning and my friends are all just hikers from around the world. So every day I meet 100 different countries and serve 100 different smiles.
Speaker 1:That was me in Canada, undertaking the 19-kilometre round-trip hike to meet the people who choose to work in the remote mountain tea houses during the summer and arguably have the longest commute to work in the world by choice. Although I was glad of just the one circuit, compared to their twice or thrice weekly trip, I can certainly see the appeal of the location as a workplace, and just wish I was a bit younger, because I'd definitely send in my CV Now. There's no denying that walking to work is definitely an eco-friendly activity, one with a minimum carbon footprint. But not every activity or form of transportation is as black and white in its green credentials. So even with the best will in the world, it can be tricky to navigate through the sheer waves of greenwashing. That's where this episode's travel hack comes in, as I help you to cut the crap literally and really understand how environmentally friendly something is.
Speaker 1:It's a tightrope to get involved in a discussion like this, but it's a discussion worth opening. I'm not claiming to have all the answers, but we can ask the right questions. First up is the label eco-lodge or eco-hotel you can pretty much throw the word eco in front of anything, and it seems a little more wholesome If a lodge is off-grid, is it actually using a dirty diesel generator for most of its energy, or is it pumping polluted water into the nearby river? What about the materials used in the construction of this oh-so-rustic lodge? If the eco lodge talks about renewable energy sources, sustainably sourced building materials and sensitive footprints on the land, chances are they've clearly thought out the impact and tried to minimise it where possible. So dig deeper and ask questions. The good ones will be honest about their successes and their shortcomings, as no accommodation is perfect. Once you're at the hotel, check to see if they really do uphold the practices they promise. If you hang your towels up, are they really left alone or do you find them replaced anyway? Is the air conditioner on when you walk back into the room? If so, always call them out on it. If they've made a promise to work with guests to minimise the impact, it's here where the hot topic of recycling or using compostable materials comes up too. But beware, they may not have the facilities to uphold their promises. Convenience isn't an excuse for ignoring sustainability. Of course, there is some onus on us guests too. Don't open that complimentary bottle of water, even if it is made from old, recycled bottles. But hotels that encourage you to help but do little else will make minimal impact to mitigate their own footprint.
Speaker 1:Linked to this is the even more woolly term of being carbon neutral. Every element of tourism, by its very nature, impacts the environment. Being carbon neutral by, for example, offsetting or tree planting is a controversial topic in itself. Sometimes thoughtless tree planting could be worse, and if trees aren't looked after to allow growth into maturity, then they will not be able to carbon capture at all. Any offsetting needs to be part of a much wider strategy.
Speaker 1:Again, those who genuinely care will be honest about the difficulties with being green. Often, the literature on a company's website will be stamped with official looking certifications. Some look official but are not. Most are genuine and worth listing here Green Key, Travel life, Green Globe, Earth Check, Blue Flag, Green Fins and Biosphere. If you're concerned, a quick online search should help.
Speaker 1:Wildlife experiences are particularly rife with misinformation. Watching that elephant in Thailand for the 31st time that day is not doing anything good. Nor is feeding them 10 times a day. Anything involving riding an animal, swimming with them in a confined space or watching tricks clearly a no-no. Again, look out for credible certification agencies. The World Cetacean Alliance, for example, verifies responsible whale and dolphin watching operators. In short, a healthy dose of scepticism is good, as is a quick Google search If you find it not as sustainable. Once you're there, share your experiences or at least ask the provider a question. But remember, travel can 100% be a force for good for the community, for raising money for conservation and for encouraging sustainability. Just tread carefully and hold people to account, just like the Advertising Standard Agency has started doing with airlines who claim they are carbon neutral.
Speaker 1:That was my Wander Woman travel hack, the advice I offer every single episode to help you head to your next destination, ripped with information. Speaking of ripped, if you do a Google search of my next guest adventurer, Aldo Kane, you'd be hard-pressed to find a photo of him with his shirt on. Seriously, though, the proud Scotsman has for years worked behind the scenes to enable celebrities in front of the camera to look tough and like they know exactly what they're doing. Now he's moving in front of the lens and can be seen on Ocean Explorers and Arctic Ascent for National Geographic. He's also an ambassador for Wildmoor Scotch Whisky. I caught up with him to ask how he got his life of adventure. What was your first travel experience that you remember?
Speaker 9:That's a good question. I basically, you know, I grew up in the west coast of Scotland so I spent quite a bit of time when I was a kid traveling sort of in. You know, in my earliest memories of like driving up to Skye and Glencoe for weekends with the family there's five of us kids and and our parents so we'd go up to Glencoe in an old camper van and we'd camp up there for, you know, for like the whole summer holiday. I just remember driving around and being nailed by midges um. But the the first, the first and only um international trip I ever did was with the scouts um, when I was 14.
Speaker 9:So I was lucky enough to represent scotland in a world jamboree over in the states. So my twin and I flew over with with, I think, six other scouts um to this international jamboree in connecticut, up in um, up in the east coast and um. And it was amazing, it's first time I'd been abroad, first time I'd been on an airplane. And then two years later I joined up and joined the Marines and essentially the world of travel opened up from there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you've never looked, I think so. Is that how you? Got into the adventure side of travel was through joining the Marines.
Speaker 9:Yeah, it's a funny one because you know, you kind of get branded as an adventurer or adventurist or whatever the words are, and really that's never what I set out to do. You know, I was in the Marines. I was fairly highly qualified, sort of working in reconnaissance units and sniper, and by doing that I I traveled a lot and I. But I was always into the outdoors. You know, I grew up climbing and scrambling and, and you know, doing some Monro's. When I was a kid I think I did one of the first ones with my dad when I was like seven or eight, um, so so I'd, you know I'd been brought up that way. The marines trained me to be a commando and, you know, be able to operate in these super harsh environments. But you know, I was always in the background, keeping up my skills, becoming a mountain leader, becoming a climbing instructor, you know, like paddling, all of the various bits and pieces. I just loved doing that and I think because I was following a passion. Really I wasn't doing anything to become someone, you know, I was just very, very passionate and driven about being outdoors and that still is what drives me now more than anything. So it was by following that that I've become. You know I've become very, you know I guess I've become very successful at doing that as a job. You know, when I was 16, if you told me what I'm doing now and have done for the last 30 years, I'd be blown away. You know I'm 46 now.
Speaker 9:I joined up when I was 16, so it is 30 years of of doing this, basically and um, but I think, yeah, to answer your question, it was probably a passion and drive for being in outdoors early on.
Speaker 9:It was much more about exploring physical space and you know, like myself, against the environment, um, and I think you know maybe I'm just getting on a bit, but you know, the last, the last few years, certainly the last five years, have been much more about exploring me in that space, if that makes sense. Um, but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, um. So so yeah, you know, but, but I actually got into doing what I do now in the TV world by offering a service. You know I've never wanted to be in front of the camera, never wanted to really be doing what I'm doing, but what I have always wanted to do is help other people do their things and that's kind of what I've done, you know, from the very start and the very first job in television was helping other people get into really quite extreme situations and to look after them while they're doing some cool stuff.
Speaker 1:I asked Aldo at this point what terrain he found to be the most challenging.
Speaker 9:I just got back from the jungle last night and I'm still scratching leech bites right now from the last three weeks. So I always say the jungle is probably the hardest environment to operate in. Personally, I find cold quite easy because you can wrap up. I don't find that too challenging. But I think if you can work in the jungle it's hot, it's humid, you know there's lots of things sting or venomous and just general sort of objective dangers of fast moving water, deadfall, trees, like it's just tricky. But, um, yeah, I love the jungle. I don't know whether it's because I've spent so much time in the jungle anyway so I've become indoctrinated into it. But yeah, I like that and I like the, I like the high mountains, I think.
Speaker 1:Um, both of them are equally, equally as interesting for me, if you had to do just one terrain for the rest of your life for fun, which one would you go for?
Speaker 9:that's interesting. One terrain for the rest of my life, it'd have to be mountains. I think the jungle's amazing, but it's super claustrophobic and I always think, like the more time you're in the jungle, the more worn down you get and you don't get. You know, like when you're in a place where you can have a view of the mountains, like I think that's also very good for your soul as well. You know, being able to stretch your eyes to the horizon, the awe of these huge feasters and views, so probably mountains.
Speaker 1:And you've done some pretty epic expeditions and broken some records doing it. Did you ever set out to be someone who broke records, who did, like you know, the hardest things, or were you just sort of following the passion again?
Speaker 9:Just following the passion, really, and I don't care about records. You know I really don't. Yes, we've got records for doing things or being the first to do things, but you know I don't really care too much about them. Like, for example, I climbed Everest in Lhotse last year and, like loads of people have done it, it's not that difficult. You get lots of help doing it, um, but it was amazing and it was the first time that I had ever seen, ever since, first time that I had ever seen that view from the top, even though it's like a well-worn path, so like I don't I'm not massively snobby about it what's the one piece of travel gear that you never go anywhere without?
Speaker 9:Do you mean outside a bottle of Wild Moor whisky?
Speaker 9:Do you mean a piece of kit that I actually take with me. I have a medicinal whisky that comes with me on expeditions. I actually, just, on this last one, removed two or three leeches with a little finger dab of whiskey on it. Yeah, I mean you can just pull them off. I just did it with the whiskey because it looked cool.
Speaker 9:I do get asked this quite a lot and it's quite a boring one, but it's my Obviously. Obviously I always have a knife, I always have somewhere to sleep, whether it's a bivy bag or you know a hammock or a tent but but really the thing that I take with me that is ultimately the best tool that I have is my brain, is my mind like open mind for expeditions? Because you know, like this last three weeks I've just done has been incredibly difficult, incredibly challenging for lots of different reasons, and you know just hard work and you really do have to have a dialed mindset that allows you to operate in these extreme environments, because you know there's one thing going to somewhere and just surviving but to go somewhere and then tell a story or to do a thing there, it requires you to be at a much sharper level.
Speaker 1:That was adventurer Aldo Kane, a man who is on the road even more than me and has a whole host of scary tales from his escapades. Now, speaking of scary, it's October and Halloween is nearly upon us. But did you know that the birthplace of Halloween is actually in Ireland? Me neither, but I went in search of his oldest origins and made a special Wander Woman Extra episode all about it in a place called County Meath, which you can listen to now To whet your appetite. Here's this episode's top ten, featuring a spooky selection of places in Ireland to pay homage to Halloween's authentic roots. Woooohooooooo.... That is, the utterly fake sound of a scary ghost in Ireland. I asked my producer to find a frightening clip sound effect, but he just asked me to do it myself. I call it laziness. He also promised to bleep out any ghost puns. We'll see how that goes In this episode.
Speaker 1:Top ten places to celebrate Halloween in Ireland. At 10, it's the Haunted History Walking Tour of Dublin. Ireland has been described by some as the most haunted country on earth. This walking tour covers all the otherworldly folklore of the city and includes tales of witches, the paranormal and something rather evil called the Dolocher. At nine, visit Derry and what is billed as Europe's largest Halloween festival. The walled city celebrates through its gates in an evening of light, music and pyrotechnics. At eight, visit Seafield House in County Sligo. The house is now a spooky shell, abandoned, we're told, because no one could bear to live in such a haunted house. No priest, it is said, could exercise the poltergeist within, such was its notoriety that this grand house became worthless. But on Halloween that makes it priceless. At seven, turn up at dusk.
Speaker 1:At Duckett's Grove in County Carlow. The gothic ruins of a 19th century house are haunted by a banshee, a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member by screaming, wailing, shrieking and making all manner of other ugly noises she can muster. It's also home to two rather lovely walled gardens. At six we're spying through the halls of Ballygally Castle in County Antrim for the spectre of the lady of the castle called Isabel. This 17th century castle features in a book called the World's Most Haunted Places and it certainly looks the part. It has quite the history beyond anything spooky. But today it's a lovely four-star hotel on the sea. At five it's the really terrifying Magnus Halloween Parade in Galway City. This Halloween parade is put on by a renowned theatre company. Don't expect rubbish masks. This is the real deal with film quality, make-up fire and vivid interpretations of Irish folklore. Film quality, make-up fire and vivid interpretations of Irish folklore In.
Speaker 1:At four, it's the Bram Stoker Festival, celebrating the spine-chilling legacy of the author of Dracula, held at the end of October each year. This festival is four days and nights of deadly adventures. It's an expansive festival with loads of mostly free events, from talks to tours, film to music. At three, we're heading to Kilkenny and the town's ghost tours. Every night at 8pm you can join a tour through the medieval capital of Ireland, among its cobbled lanes, learning about the curse of Sir Richard Shee and the first ever witch trial of the notorious Dame Alice Kyteler. At two, we're staying home.
Speaker 1:Yes, you can join in with Ireland's Halloween traditions from anywhere in the world by baking barmbrack, a traditional Halloween fruit loaf that could contain all items ready to tell the future: A ring, a thimble. You can probably guess the predictions. Find the recipe at Irelandcom. And at one it's straight to the origins of Halloween itself and the Puca Festival. This is the Celtic New Year, or Samhain, a time of change and uncertainty. The period lifts the veil between the worlds of the living and dead, and strange and mischievous creatures appear. The heritage towns of Trim and Athboy are the focal points for the 21st century traditions, where you can celebrate the gathering of the spirits, procession during several nights of music, comedy, fire and dressing up in really weird costumes. That was my regular top 10, and I have to say just how much I enjoyed journeying into Ireland to unpick the history behind the Americanised celebrations of Halloween. I can't make it for Puca this year, but I am definitely adding it to my list for 2025. Join me in the build-up on my Wander Woman extra episode.
Speaker 1:Now, while we're talking extras, the one time you should avoid packing anything extra is when you're travelling, as less is most definitely more. As such, I often like to challenge myself to go only with a day pack. That is, a small rucksack that doubles up as hand luggage and the perfect package to wear on a city tour or short hike. But there are so many choices out there, with not only outdoor brands but all luggage manufacturers and fashion labels trying to sell you one, so how do you know which is worth shelling out for? Listen up with this month's Gear Chat... Ah, day packs. Is it just me, or are these small rucksacks perfect for every single occasion. Apparently it is. As a colleague told me. When I showed up to a formal evening in a dress and still had my trusty pack on my back rather than a designer handbag. But each to their own. I say so will come as no surprise that I know how to pick a decent day pack.
Speaker 1:First thing to consider, as with any gear, is weight. Pre-packed, the last thing you want is something that is heavy before you even filled it, so consider this first. Next up are the shoulder. Comfort is important, so look for some with padding and ventilation so that you don't get too sweaty. Some will come with hip belts, but they are not necessarily needed unless you're going to be using it on some bigger walks. Whenever a rucksack is mentioned, you'll hear talk of back systems. This is basically how they are ventilated to stop you getting a wet back when walking. Some use sculpted foam and mesh panels. Others opt for curved static frames that hold the pack away from your body so that the air can circulate, whereas others go for the minimal approach. Think about what activity you plan to use it for the most. If you're very active, these systems are useful. If not, then you can probably skip them.
Speaker 1:On either side of the pack you will likely find what is known in the trade as wand pockets, as they were traditionally designed for alpinists who carried metal ones to mark routes. Now they are super handy for water bottles and tripods and even selfie sticks. So look out for them. You will miss them if they're not there. With the usual size of a day pack, around 15 to 25 litres, they probably won't have lids, being more likely zip openings or roll tops. The one advantage of a lid, if it is available, is the extra pockets it provides and you can stuff them to a larger capacity often if needed. Otherwise, a roll top fits in more.
Speaker 1:Think about the number of pockets you need. Some bags go simple with just a main compartment, whereas others do all bells and whistles. Just remember pockets aren't waterproof and all zips leak in heavy rain and pose a security risk or just a faff when you're on the go and trying to find something. So don't be sold on them by a smooth salesman or woman. Finally, do think about the fit. Some packs are sold as unisex, which means they're based on an average man's back, but others offer a women's specific version. They're certainly worth trying, no matter what your biology, as they're cut differently, with narrower shoulder straps and weight distributed more on the hips. As with all travel gear, it has to be a personal choice, but hopefully, with these top tips, finding the right day pack for you will quite literally be in the bag. That was my regular Gear Guru section, where I try and make the heady world of travel kit just that bit more accessible.
Speaker 1:Now, one inspiring woman I met recently who was trying to make her own Garifuna culture accessible to more people was a lady called Mercy Sabal who I met in Belize. Listen to the upcoming season three to hear all about that bewitching place. She noticed that people's knowledge of their own culture was fading. Garifuna people are the descendants of the Afro-indigenous population from the Caribbean island of St Vincent, who were exiled to the Honduran coast in the 18th century and escaped to Belize, and so she set about learning to hand make dolls in order to preserve it, starting with children. 40 years on, I chatted to her, surrounded by her beautiful handiwork, to find out how she got started. Okay, and how long have you been into crafting and art?
Speaker 4:Almost 40 years, wow Because as a little child, as a child growing up at home, we were taught how to make dolls from socks, ah, okay. And then you get the old cloth and you cut it up if you choose, or you're just tough, and then we play with it, tug and war, because it's heavy. It's heavy, and then when it's knackered it's thin, okay.
Speaker 9:Okay.
Speaker 4:So you know, growing up, and then, as a young woman, I joined Belize Rural Women's Association.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, okay.
Speaker 4:That was an organization in Belmopan. That was an organisation headed by Cynthia Ellis and Lucia. It was very nice and they made it possible for me to go to Scotland Half Moon to learn quilting. Learn quilting but me being me I don't like to imitate people's things. Yeah, I like my own.
Speaker 4:Thing and my biggest thing was what can I do to keep my Garifuna culture alive? What more can I add to these dolls that it will be today, every time, every time, I do better and I do better. And I started to mix salad and floral. I taught myself how to blend material, and so I go into the store and I would see this floral and then, okay, I will make two dolls. That is just floral and then, but I will use this floral with salad and see what will come out of it. Then came along my designer and then he made a whole new pattern, and then he made a whole new pattern. That's why these are Mercy Sabal's original.
Speaker 4:My dolls are all over the world. Places I don't even know. My dolls are there. Whenever I sell a doll or one of my work, I feel proud of myself because that adds something my work. I feel proud of myself because that adds something a little more material and something food or something that I need in the house. So I am my own boss, not hired, cannot be fired, but work very hard to earn what I do.
Speaker 1:And the dolls themselves. Where did the original idea come from? Are they just how dolls were made? Did you make them the garifuna, like you said?
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 1:They weren't traditional from your culture or anything.
Speaker 4:No, they were just dolls. They were just dolls, yes, because, you know, not in the rich line, not well poor, but rich with love.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:So then, if you want something to play with, you have to learn how to make it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, no, it makes sense.
Speaker 4:So then from there I.
Speaker 1:And it's whatever fabrics you could find at the time.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes, yes. I will be receiving an award for Yasser Moussa from the Image Factory. He brought quilts for me and one went to New Orleans to represent Belize in an exhibition and it won first prize. Well, congratulations. And that's the good. Wow, that's again from my Garifuna culture.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a huge part of what you do.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes, yes, yes. This is how I offer my culture to the public in art.
Speaker 1:That was this episode's hidden hero, the person doing incredible work in the communities they work in to preserve culture, wildlife or community. And already it's nearly the end of the episode, so time for me to share with you my utterly incredible Wander Woman of the Month. I hope you've enjoyed what you've heard. Please do subscribe so you never miss an episode and please, please, please do leave a review. It means so very much. You can follow me on Instagram @Phoebe R Smith. Go to my website, phoebe-smith. com, where you can sign up for my occasional newsletter and, of course, send me a message.
Speaker 1:Now this episode. We jump aboard two wheels to meet the motorcycle queen of Miami. The air is alive with the roar of a motorcycle engine. The beast it belongs to is a fire engine. Red Indian scout, long and loud. Being 1928, you'd be forgiven for assuming that its rider would be a man, and a white man at that. Yet here in North Carolina, it's a proud 16-year-old black woman who straddles its horsepower. We are witnessing the beginning of the journey of one of the most prolific motorbike riders ever to have taken to two wheels.
Speaker 1:Bessie Stringfield, aka Bessie Beatrice White, was born in North Carolina in 1911, although she later told journalists she was born in Kingston, Jamaica. Her origin story is uncertain and she often hid the realities of her early life. There are stories of her family moving to Boston, dying young and being brought up by an Irish woman, something the public record denies. However, it didn't matter, because when she discovered the motorcycle, she only looked to the road ahead. At the age of 19, now on a Harley Davidson, she started her travels across the United States and never looked back, covering all of the lower 48 states, as well as jaunts across Europe, Brazil and Haiti. She would flick a penny on the map and ride there, no matter how far or how dangerous. She became known as the motorcycle queen of Miami and roared throughout her life. She was the first African-American woman to ride alone across the United States. She performed motorcycle stunts in carnival shows, riding the wall of death, and worked as one of the few dispatch riders for the US Army during World War II. She'd clocked up more than a million miles on two wheels across the country and rode 27 Harleys throughout her nine exuberant decades on earth. Months before she died, aged 81, she was still riding her Harley to church.
Speaker 1:Anne Farrar, a journalist and rider herself, interviewed Bessie during her final years building up a picture of her life that would have largely been lost otherwise. Anne asked how she learned to ride and Bessie responded: "I wrote letters to the man upstairs. I put the letters under my pillow and he taught me. One night, in my sleep, I saw myself shifting gears and riding around the block. When I got out on the street, that's just what I did. The man upstairs was her constant companion, despite her being married six times, taking the name from her third husband in the process. She was no stranger to intense tragedy either, losing her only three children at a young age.
Speaker 1:Through her travels, bessie had a front row seat to the troubles of Jim Crow America reportedly saying that if you had black skin you couldn't get a place to stay. If I found black folks, I'd stay with them, if not, I'd sleep at filling stations on my motorcycle. In 1950, she moved to Miami, where she settled down and became a nurse. Her love of bikes never abated, however. She founded the Iron Horse Motorcycle Club and travelled everywhere on a Harley. The police in Miami took umbrage at a black woman riding a bike and she was apparently pulled over again and again. At one point she was deliberately knocked off, but marching into the man's office. She demanded she showed the police captain her skills and was never bothered again.
Speaker 1:She died in 1993 from a heart condition, leaving a legacy behind. In 2002, the American Motorcyclist Association inducted her into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame and created Bessie Stringfield Memorial Award, which recognises outstanding achievements by a female motorcyclist. But despite this accolade, her biggest achievement was perhaps having the courage to jump on her bike before there were even interstate highways and in a time before civil rights. Yet how many people know her name In the motorcycling community, in the travel world? I hope this insight into her incredible life begins to change that, and that's why Bessie Stringfield is this episode's ass-kicking Wander Woman of the Month. That was my ever-inspiring Wander Woman of the Month, the hidden heroine that's been lost to the history books. I hope word of her courage, tenacity and skill travels faster than she did on a Harley, though I doubt any of us could ever keep up.
Speaker 1:This is the last episode of Season 2 of the Wander Woman podcast, but coming up in a couple of months. In season three I meet the inspiring people of Belize who, through tourism, are working to save the seas, preserve their culture and empower women. I cannot wait to share that story and many others with you very soon. See you next time. Wander Woman out. The Wander Woman podcast is written and edited by me, phoebe Smith. The producer and writer of additional material is Daniel Nielsen. The logo was designed by John Summerton. A final thanks to all the people I met on my journey and were willing to talk to me. It's because of you that this podcast is able to happen at all.