Phillipa in her own words:
“I’ve been an OS GetOutside Champion since 2020, I’m the Chief Volunteer Queen for Adventure Queens South Wales and deputy chair of the Brecon Beacons National Park LAF.
I’ve just turned 50 and am not your stereotypical outdoor type. I’ve never been great at sports and I’m not a pretty sight puffing and panting up a mountain. But being outdoors makes me feel alive – it’s my soul food.
My goal is to encourage more women of every age, size, ability and background to participate in outdoor activities and that’s what I do for Adventure Queens South Wales.
Adventure Queens is an online UK-based community of more than 20,000 women. Its goal is to encourage, inspire and educate more women to get outside.
Over the past four years I’ve organised weekends away (camping, surfing, scrambling, climbing, hiking, climbing, kayaking and wild swimming), day walks, social evenings and walked the 99-mile Beacons Way. On top of that I’ve given live online talks, organised virtual meet ups and mentored new members.
AQ has transformed my own life. I was a cautious day walker before I joined, but since then I’ve become a seasoned camper, I’ve completed multi-day hikes, learned scrambling, climbing, surfing and paddle-boarded – I keep pinching myself as I can’t believe this is really me!”
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Show notes
Who is Phillipa?
Being the Chief Queen for Adventure Queens, South Wales
Working as a journalist
Spending all her free time in the mountains
How life has changed over the past 4 years
Growing up in Hampshire
Her passion for the outdoors
Wanting to do more stuff outside - but not knowing how to go about it
The start of her journalism career
Meeting her partner who was outdoorsy at 28
Her gateway to the outdoors
Developing new skills and building confidence in navigation and map reading
Staying in her comfort zone
The Beacons Way - 99 mile thru-hike
First hearing about the Adventure Queens
Being inspired to say yes and take on new challenges
Deciding to run the Adventure Queens South Wales Group
Finding people to walk the Beacons Way with
Connecting with like minded people
The first weekend of the challenge
You have to start somewhere
The sense of achievement at the end
Learning to camp and wild camp
Advice for women who do want to start spending time in the outdoors
The benefits of social media and how it can be used to connect with others with similar interests
Dealing with her fears before her first meet up
Being inspired by Kate Adie
Her role as the Chief Queen for the South Wales Group
Her dreams for 2023
Cycling in Bosnia
Documenting the journey and speaking with ITV
Advice for planning events and challenges
Fitness regime and doing what she loves
Getting into running during lockdown
Reframing running to trotting
Final words of advice - “think about what you want to do and if you don’t know what you want to do, try lots of different things”
The support from women in all women groups
Think about what you want to do and give it ago
Social Media
Instagram @phillipacherryson
Adventure Queens - Non-profit women’s adventure community
Website: adventurequeens.co.uk
Instagram: @adventurequeensuk
Facebook: @AdventureQueens
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