Sarah Williams

Sarah Williams 🎙️3x Award Winning 🏆 Tough Girl Podcast 🔥800+ stories 🎧3.6M+ ⬆️
👊Smashing stereotypes in adventure
🥾 Hiking the GR5 - 2,200km from Holland to Nice

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Day 55 🥾GR5 - 2,200km from Holland 🇳🇱 to Nice 🇫🇷 ℹ️Stats: Weather: sunny ☀️ 19 degrees From: LandryStart time: 9.05amTo:...
16/09/2026

Day 55 🥾GR5 - 2,200km from Holland 🇳🇱 to Nice 🇫🇷

ℹ️Stats: Weather: sunny ☀️ 19 degrees
From: Landry
Start time: 9.05am
To: past Tignes le Lac
End time: 8pm
Accommodation: wild camped 🏕️
Terrain: Rocky, grassy, mountain tracks
Cicerone guidebook stages: 9 & half of 10

🥾Km: 28.47
🥾Miles: 17.7
🦶Steps: 32,750
Ascent: 2,282m
Descent: 797m

Total Distance 1795/2,200 km
81.6% Done ✅

💰Costs: €11.21 - cookie, quiche, muffin, drink & sweets
€42.25 - wrap, snickers, crisps, chocolate, yogurt, 2x protein drinks, protein bars.

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 10/10
Fatigue: 4/10
Ease of terrain: 4/10

⭐️Highlights: the views were amazing, the valley walking - stunning, crossing the high passes, just beautiful.

🏔️Challenges: finding camping towards the end of the day. No flat ground - all boulder fields.

💭Thoughts: after tomorrow- if I do the rest of stage 10 and 11. I will only be 2 stages behind. Because I’m camping. It will be easier to get going earlier in the morning.

Day 54 🥾GR5 - 2,200km from Holland 🇳🇱 to Nice 🇫🇷 ℹ️Stats: Weather:  sunny! ☀️ 20 degrees From: Gîte d’alpage de Plan Mya...
15/09/2026

Day 54 🥾GR5 - 2,200km from Holland 🇳🇱 to Nice 🇫🇷

ℹ️Stats: Weather: sunny! ☀️ 20 degrees
From: Gîte d’alpage de Plan Mya
Start time: 8.01am
To: Landry
End time: 5.56pm
Accommodation: Hotel - bed 🛌
Terrain: Rocky, road, forest, slate
Cicerone guidebook stages: 8

🥾Km: 25.68
🥾Miles: 16
🦶Steps: 28,880
Ascent: 1,150m
Descent: 2,235m

Total Distance 1,768/2,200 km
80% Done ✅

💰Costs: €13 breakfast
€104 hotel

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 10/10
Fatigue: 4/10
Ease of terrain: 5/10

⭐️Highlights: reaching Col du Bresson (2,469m) stunning views walking down the valley. Having sun again - the rain is very demoralising.

🏔️Challenges: the downhill really worked my quads! They feel very tight!! I need to do some stretching!

💭Thoughts: still 3 stages behind schedule! I need to do some more planning!!!

Day 53 🥾GR5 - 2,200km from Holland 🇳🇱 to Nice 🇫🇷 ℹ️Stats: Weather:  rain all day - apart from 30 mins when the clouds cl...
14/09/2026

Day 53 🥾GR5 - 2,200km from Holland 🇳🇱 to Nice 🇫🇷

ℹ️Stats: Weather: rain all day - apart from 30 mins when the clouds cleared. 15 degrees. Much cooler than normal.
From: Les Contamines
Start time: 9.30am
To: Gîte d’alpage de Plan Mya
End time: 5.33pm
Accommodation: camped - outside a gite
Terrain: mountains, rocks, shale, grass, gravel, roads
Cicerone guidebook stages: 7

🥾Km: 21.03 + 1.9‎ = 22.93
🥾Miles: 13 + 1‎ = 14
🦶Steps: 24,298 + 2,331‎ = 26,629
Ascent: 1,593m + 47m ‎ = 1,640 m
Descent: 836m + 101m ‎ = 937 m

Total Distance 1,741/2,200 km
79% Done ✅

💰Costs: €5 camping
€3.50 hot chocolate
€1,50 juice drink
€23 dinner - 4 courses - hot food!

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 10/10
Fatigue: 3/10
Ease of terrain: 6/10

⭐️Highlights: meeting Viv Vivien & Jason Day on the trail and her awesome group of badass women hiking the TMB. Adventure Travel, Retreats, Camps & Workshops for Women
Dinner at the gite. Met a lovely group of Chinese-American women - we had a fun dinner 🥳 It was great to eat hot food! I feel replenished!!

🏔️Challenges: the mist, the rain, the lack of visibility- has to do a road walk instead of a ridge walk due to the weather. Started to get really cold and needed to stop ASAP & get my tent up. The area I was walking through, you weren’t allowed to camp. So I knocked on a gite - and they had camping for €5 - plus they were able to get me in for dinner.

💭Thoughts: might have to start staying at more gites - the food was epic plus able to set my tent up before 7pm! It does make life easier. I’m also getting breakfast in the morning. A good way to start the day.

“As a woman I have no country. As a woman my country is the whole world.” - Virginia Woolf
14/09/2026

“As a woman I have no country. As a woman my country is the whole world.” - Virginia Woolf

Day 52 🥾GR5 - 2,200km from Holland 🇳🇱 to Nice 🇫🇷 ℹ️Stats: Weather: non stop rain 🌧️ From: before Col de Voza Start time:...
13/09/2026

Day 52 🥾GR5 - 2,200km from Holland 🇳🇱 to Nice 🇫🇷

ℹ️Stats: Weather: non stop rain 🌧️
From: before Col de Voza
Start time: 7.56am
To: Les Contamines
End time: 2pm
Accommodation: apartment - bed 🛌
Terrain: roads, tracks, forests
Cicerone guidebook stages: stage 6

🥾Km: 8.6 + 6.23 ‎ = 14.83
🥾Miles: 9
🦶Steps: 9887 + 7,713 ‎ = 17,600
Ascent: 248m + 217m ‎ = 465 m
Descent: 764m + 168m ‎ = 932 m

Total Distance 1,722/2,200 km
78.2% Done ✅

💰Costs: €12.80 - bakery
€21.79 resupply
€101 accommodation

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 5/10 - the rain made it miserable
Fatigue: 6/10 - it was not a restful night!
Ease of terrain: 4/10

⭐️Highlights: getting an early check-in and having a hot shower! Almost a rest day!

🏔️Challenges: last night was utterly horrendous with the rain, the thunder and the lightning. I was lying in my sleeping bag just repeating I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m fine over and over again wondering what would happen if the tent gave up? It didn’t - so I was fine, but I was thinking I might have to crawl under the locked cabin, which was next to me - to survive the storm.

💭Thoughts: what a night and what a day. I’m not where I need to be, but I also am where I need to be. It would’ve been such a struggle to do any more walking in this weather. Tomorrow is a new day.

COMING on 15th September!Natasha Sones – Wild Swimming, SUP Adventures and Writing Swimming Wild in London and South Eas...
13/09/2026

COMING on 15th September!

Natasha Sones – Wild Swimming, SUP Adventures and Writing Swimming Wild in London and South East England

Natasha is a year-round wild swimmer, qualified Stand-Up Paddleboarding instructor, freelance travel writer, and outdoor adventurer with a deep love of water in all its forms. Based in Suffolk, she is also a volunteer for the Bluetits Chill Swimmers and an Ordnance Survey Champion.

Natasha’s journey into the outdoors began early, swimming in the sea as a child, but like many people, her connection to sport and adventure faded during her 20s and 30s. It wasn’t until her 40s that she rediscovered the water, found her community, and stepped into a completely new chapter of adventure.

In this episode, Natasha shares how she went from feeling like she wasn’t “outdoorsy” to becoming immersed in wild swimming and paddleboarding, including getting involved with inclusive swimming communities, discovering cold water swimming, and building confidence in outdoor spaces. She opens up about being diagnosed as autistic in her 40s, and how understanding herself better helped her find her tribe and her confidence.

We also talk about her progression into Stand-Up Paddleboarding, from early lockdown experiments to completing endurance challenges such as the Race to the Castle, and preparing for a 162-mile coast-to-coast SUP journey across England. Natasha shares what it’s really like training around work and family life, the realities of cold water swimming, and why time on the water has become so important for her wellbeing.

Alongside her adventures, Natasha is also the author of the upcoming guidebook Swimming Wild in London and South East England, featuring 100 incredible swimming spots across beaches, rivers, lakes, lidos, and hidden wild locations.

Listen to this episode to hear how Natasha found confidence through cold water and community, why it’s never too late to become an adventurer, and how simple steps—like saying yes and asking for help—can open the door to a whole new way of living.

***

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Day 51 🥾GR5 - 2,200km from Holland 🇳🇱 to Nice 🇫🇷 ℹ️Stats: Weather: sunny ☀️ 25 degrees From: Pont d’Arlevé (1,579m)Start...
12/09/2026

Day 51 🥾GR5 - 2,200km from Holland 🇳🇱 to Nice 🇫🇷

ℹ️Stats: Weather: sunny ☀️ 25 degrees
From: Pont d’Arlevé (1,579m)
Start time: 7.17am
To: before Col de Voza
End time: 7.42pm
Accommodation:wild camped 🏕️
Terrain: Rocky, mountain paths, forests, rooty.
Cicerone guidebook stages: 5

🥾Km: 20.79
🥾Miles: 13
🦶Steps: 21,808
Ascent: 1,658m
Descent: 1,615m

Total Distance 1710/2,200 km
77.7% Done ✅

💰Costs: €45 new trainers - just need them for 19 days!
€4 drink, yogurt, 2x croissants
€24 resupply - protein bars, chocolate croissants, energy gels, water, blackberries.

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 10/10
Fatigue: 5/10
Ease of terrain: 8/10

⭐️Highlights: amazing views of Mt Blanc, incredible mountain scenery, good chats with lots of interesting people.

🏔️Challenges: big thunderstorms and winds coming in… not sure I want to be camping in this! But not much I can do now! I’m set up - the tent is pegged down. I’m sure it will be fine.

💭Thoughts: another good day. the TMB has jumped to the top of my hiking list. The section I did which crossed over was epic!!!

Day 50 🥾GR5 - 2,200km from Holland 🇳🇱 to Nice 🇫🇷 ℹ️Stats: Weather: sunny ☀️ 24 degrees From: past SamöensStart time: 7.5...
11/09/2026

Day 50 🥾GR5 - 2,200km from Holland 🇳🇱 to Nice 🇫🇷

ℹ️Stats: Weather: sunny ☀️ 24 degrees
From: past Samöens
Start time: 7.50am
To: By Pont d’Arlevé (1,579m)
End time: 6.37pm
Accommodation: wild camped 🏕️
Terrain: gravel, rocks, grassy tracks, more rocks.
Cicerone guidebook stages: stage 4 & start of stage 5

🥾Km: 20.45
🥾Miles: 12.7
🦶Steps: 18,484
Ascent: 1,774m
Descent: 923m

Total Distance 1688/2,200 km
76.7% Done ✅

💰Costs: €4 apple juice
€6 apple juice (at 2,000m)

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 10/10
Fatigue: 4/10
Ease of terrain: /10

⭐️Highlights: I seem back to normal! Honestly not sure what was going on yesterday it was just the weirdest thing. Had such a better day today.
😊Also met a TGP listener!! Always amazing to meet people out in the mountains!
🏕️ Setting up the tent at 7 pm was amazing. I can’t remember the last time I set up the tent so early.

🏔️Challenges: just trying to take it really easy today and listen to my body. I kept hydrated, I ate food. I took it slow.

💭Thoughts: the mountains are absolutely incredible. I’ve had so many moments of pure joy and those feelings of awe.

Day 49 🥾GR5 - 2,200km from Holland 🇳🇱 to Nice 🇫🇷 ℹ️Stats: what a day - the worst day Weather:  sunny ☀️ 26 degrees - hot...
10/09/2026

Day 49 🥾GR5 - 2,200km from Holland 🇳🇱 to Nice 🇫🇷

ℹ️Stats: what a day - the worst day
Weather: sunny ☀️ 26 degrees - hot 🔥
From: before Refuge de Chésery
Start time: 6.58
To: just past Samöens
End time: 8.08pm
Accommodation: wild camped 🏕️
Terrain: mountain tracks, rocky, roots, gravel
Cicerone guidebook stages: stage 3

🥾Km: 28.72 (2km going the wrong way)
🥾Miles: 17.95
🦶Steps: 33,111
Ascent: 899m
Descent: 2,126m

Total Distance 1,667/2,200 km
75.7% Done ✅

💰Costs: €4 apple juice
€12 pizza
€24.67 resupply

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 5/10 - worst day I’ve had hiking for a while - not the terrain - me.
Fatigue: 9/10 - felt horrible most of the day.
Ease of terrain: 3/10

⭐️Highlights: making it to the town - there still being a supermarket open. Getting a pizza (only managed 1 slice - have packed the rest out) also got some resupply. Not sure what my body wants.

🏔️Challenges: everything - felt so rough - though I was going to be sick. Wasn’t sure what was wrong with me. Kept having to stop (6hrs 40 mins resting/paused) this is the worst ive felt for a very long time. Also managed to go a few km off trail - which really pi**ed me off.

💭Thoughts: what a crappy day. I should have smashed it - it wasn’t hard walking - it was downhill on tracks. Easy compared to previous days. I’m really annoyed, at myself. Such an incredible day (views etc) crossing the border back to France. I couldn’t enjoy it as I felt so rough. Tomorrow is a new day so hopefully things will be better.

Day 48 🥾GR5 - 2,200km from Holland 🇳🇱 to Nice 🇫🇷 ℹ️Stats: Weather:  sunny ☀️ 22 degreesFrom: Chalets de NeuteuStart time...
09/09/2026

Day 48 🥾GR5 - 2,200km from Holland 🇳🇱 to Nice 🇫🇷

ℹ️Stats: Weather: sunny ☀️ 22 degrees
From: Chalets de Neuteu
Start time: 6.29am
To: before Refuge de Chésery
End time: 7.02pm
Accommodation: wild camped 🏕️
Terrain: mountains tracks and gravel roads, grassy, rocky, a few steep forest sections.
Cicerone guidebook stages: end of stage 1 & 2 🙌

🥾Km: 28.77
🥾Miles: 18
🦶Steps: 29,933
Ascent: 2,020m
Descent: 1,738m

Total Distance 1,569/2,200 km
71% Done ✅

💰Costs: €14.90 cheese sandwich, 2x cookies, 2x chocolate croissant
€22.78 - drink, chocolates, gummy sweets, m&ms, Oreo biscuits
€11.20 - apple juice, chocolate crepe, & 2x small packs gummy sweets.

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 10/10 it’s incredible 🥳
Fatigue: 4/10 - felt better after eating.
Ease of terrain: 3/10 - it’s not hard walking - but some sections require more concentration because they are very rocky especially when you are descending.

⭐️Highlights: Charging electronics at the tourist office - gives me a few more days of camping. Getting resupply, completing stage 2. Really impressed with how much climbing I’m doing!

🏔️Challenges: my ground sheet smells like donkey poo! And I’ve been carrying it on the outside so now I smell of donkey poo too. I really need to have a shower at some point. I’m not sure the wet wipes are helping anymore. I think it is 12 days since I had a shower…. I also need to wash my socks.

💭Thoughts: I’ve spent a lot on food today! Good thing I’m wild camping! lol!

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