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Rosie continues UK to Mongolia run – in search of ‘New Stories’

Written by Fiona

July 23 2020

Rosie Watson, a 25-year-old runner from The Lake District, has restarted her long-distance adventure from the UK to Mongolia. Running mostly-solo and unsupported across Europe and Asia, Rosie had to temporarily abandon the adventure, which she started in August 2019, due to Covid-19 lockdown.

She is now back on track and spends her time running and “searching for – and telling stories – of better ways of living, working and meeting needs in a climate crisis”.

Her run is also twinned with the New Story Ride. In November 2019, Mike Elm set off from Austria on the New Story Ride, also to reach Mongolia and “to meet the people creating a new story of how we can prosper into the 21st century”. His bikepacking adventure has the same aims but mostly takes a different route, although he meets with Rosie at various points.

Rosie’s New Story Run

Rosie left form her front door in the Lake District to run to Kosovo . Over seven months, she covered 3500km. Then came the Covid-19 lockdown, which saw both Rosie and Mike halted in their tracks.

This month Rosie resumed her journey from Albania. Through her running adventure, she wants to tell stories that show a “new story”.

She says: “The new story is about how we can live in a more sustainable, healthier, more equal and more fun way, while also tackling the climate crisis.

“I also want to show how these stories exist across many different cultures, and I try to tell them in a way that focuses on personal, individual stories, which people can hopefully connect to emotionally. I also love running adventures and being on trails and in the mountains.”

So far there have been many highlights. Rosie sys: “I loved the Dinarican Alps, especially the long Via Adriatica trail in Croatia. The wilderness of the whole Balkan area is amazing.

“It has been great meeting so many people and they have all been so generous. I’ve been hosted by more than 90 people, and 22 of those were totally unplanned. People offered me a bed to stay in when I asked where I could camp, or when I met people by chance.”

The hardest part of the journey was crossing the Alps as winter hit. Rosie says: “The trails were cut off by a huge snow dump so I had to run along very busy main roads with no pavement. It was also eye opening to see and learn about the destruction of the Alps through commercialisation and massive ski developments.”

You can follow Rosie’s story: New Story Run and Mike’s New Story Ride.

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