What would happen if you set off alone to walk the entire length of Europe?
Kit Birks found out.
She spent 343 days walking from Nordkapp in northern Norway to Gavdos, the southernmost point of Greece, covering more than 5,000 miles. She spent 308 days walking completely alone, often carrying around 20–23kg and sometimes going for days without seeing another person.
But the walk wasn't simply an attempt to complete an enormous endurance challenge. Kit was using it to raise awareness of suicide prevention, drawing on her own experiences of mental illness, addiction and recovery. She wanted to turn advocacy into activism and use an adventure big enough to get people talking.
In this episode, Kit talks about the reality of life on the trail: waking up alone in the Arctic, walking 20 miles a day, dealing with swollen rivers and knee-deep snow, and carrying a pack that could weigh 23kg.
She also talks openly about loneliness and solitude, the terrifying moments when being alone became genuinely dangerous, and the point in Austria when her mental health deteriorated so badly that she stopped for three weeks and realised she needed help. Asking for that help, she says, was one of the bravest things she has ever done.
And then there are the people she met along the way — strangers who offered food, water, shelter and companionship, including a German couple who drove to meet her and walked with her through Slovenia and Croatia with their four dogs.
Kit also explains why she believes getting outside can help when you're struggling with your mental health. For her, walking doesn't magically cure anything. It gives the brain space to slow down and notice something beyond the negative thoughts — a bird, leaves moving in the wind, or simply the beauty of the world around you.
It's an extraordinary story about walking across a continent. But ultimately, it's a conversation about fear, recovery, loneliness, resilience, kindness and what happens when an adventure becomes bigger than the person who set out to do it.
See more from Kit at https://www.instagram.com/kitbirks/ and support Stride Beyond Silence here.
To find out how to do your own solo adventure, head to https://bigtrailadventures.com/solo-friendly
