It has been two months since executive coach Claudia Unger packed up her life and set out to live a life on the road and walking to Inverness from Gloucestershire – and she’s already reached her first destination.
It is in her second month of travelling with her two Labradors, Dr Watson and Captain Hastings, that Claudia has completed the goal and walked a total of 594 miles to get to the beautiful Scotland destination.
“It was quite emotional, the last two or three days. It was quite sad that this time was coming to an end and I wished that it would go on longer…the goal was really to live on the road.”
Claudia noted that the greatest challenges of the last few days towards Inverness was the road surface condition on the Great Glen Way as the tarmac and sharp gravel road weren’t the best conditions for her hiking boots or her dogs’ paws and joints. Especially for such a long journey.
“It was difficult to see the dogs struggling.”
In total, Claudia has so far lived on the road for 53 days and completed a hike of 955km and has taken her whole life with her. She faced many challenges on the way including:
- It being one of the wettest summers on record.
- Finding out that her planned route had to change several times due to a lack of dog-friendly accommodation along the way.
- Discovering that carrying a tent in bad weather for days was not practical or possible.
- Change still needs work: even when turning her life upside down she had to be disciplined about the things she wanted to change – it does not just happen.
“Was this journey what I expected? Not all of it. It was physically and emotionally challenging. Walking every day, rain or shine, with two dogs and a large backpack was not easy. Not every route was easily accessible, sometimes overgrown, hard to follow and even flooded. I had many arguments with stiles which can often be challenging obstacles to climb with two large dogs.
“Yet with all of that the UK countryside is staggeringly beautiful, I met some wonderful fellow hikers en route, often from other countries, I kept working with my clients to help them and began to form a plan as my future life that’s going to be at least partly nomadic.”
Her coaching remained business as usual and she worked with clients on the road and was quite literally walking them towards their goals. Now that she has halted her big walk, what are the next steps for the Wanderlust Coach?
“When it comes to the business, I was thinking a lot whilst walking. I will be offering bespoke Wanderlust hiking adventures for up to five people who want to combine their love of the outdoors with coaching – so much clarity comes when you are literally on the move.
“A week-long adventure of hiking and coaching and this may be in the UK or it may be overseas. I will be supporting people to discover what a purposeful life looks like for them in their lives, jobs, or their business and by showing them what that looks like through hiking. It is in finding and confronting challenges that the exciting moments in life appear to help move you forward.”