The Wellbeing Wire

#38: How walking saved one man's life

July 03, 2023 Jonathan Pittam & Dave Askew
The Wellbeing Wire
#38: How walking saved one man's life
Show Notes

I'm joined by Dave Askew from Northamptonshire Walks to hear his story of corporate burnout and how walking brought him back from the brink

We cover the following areas:

Benefits of walking
Community
Matching your walks to your unique temperament
Getting outside on your work breaks
Why counting steps isn't ideal
Mindfulness
Dave's advice for getting started

And much more...

Dave Askew has lived in Northamptonshire for over forty years and has
always had a keen interest in walking, photography, nature and local history.
In 2013, after experiencing a health scare, he decided to start the walking
blog northamptonshirewalks.co.uk to share his love for walking in
Northamptonshire. The blog quickly took off & today his website has more
than 200 walks he’s done in Northamptonshire on it, plus another 165 outside
the County, including those from his travels all over the world. In 2022 alone it
received more than 1 million views! All the walks are done by pictures, not
maps & are completely free to access.

In May 2022 Dave started taking people on Group Walks and now runs around
25 per month. All the Group Walks are totally free, but you can make a
donation to the day-to-day expenses if you’ve had a great time. In 2022 over
4,000 people came on one of his walks.

The Northamptonshire Walks Facebook Group has become recognised as a
highly positive and supportive community that grew at an incredible rate
throughout the Covid pandemic and currently stands at almost 33,000
members (all with some link to Northamptonshire). You may have seen one of
the 700+ Northamptonshire Walks hoodies and polo shirts out on there on the
footpaths!

Dave can be heard regularly on BBC Northampton & has appeared on both
BBC & ITV television. He also writes articles for many local magazines & has
featured more than once in the Daily Telegraph, promoting
Northamptonshire’s hidden secrets. He’s also available for talks.
Dave has won several awards for the help his website and social media has
given to people, all of which is done purely as a hobby. Indeed the Group
was privileged to receive ‘The Together’ award at the BBC Make a
Difference Awards and, more recently a ‘Highly Commended” Award from
the Countryside Charity Campaign to Protect Rural England.

As Dave always says…”If just one of my walks has helped just one person,
then it’s all been worthwhile

https://northamptonshirewalks.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/222661047933104
https://twitter.com/northantswalks

To book one of our Talks, Workshops, Podcasts, Articles or Drop-in clinics for your organisation visit https://www.mindbodyconsulting.co.uk/services