In Part 2, the origin stories. Fitch has been traveling since 21, lives a leap-before-you-look life that has taken him on a borrowed bike from Paris to Italy at 18 (with a paper map bought the day before leaving, phone signal incompatible with France), a cruise from Spain to Brazil for €144 at a music festival, and a hitchhike across South America that ended in the back of a pickup truck full of sofas, bought them whiskey, and terrified them by pulling off the road under a bridge first. Fab's origin story is different. She burned out in Hamburg at 27, went to Australia for three years, came home, and her husband received a terminal diagnosis. He died when she was 32. She was a widow sitting in a Hamburg park when thousands of hikers walked past. She asked what they were doing. Three months later she walked 100 kilometers on Nick's birthday, with Billie, and hasn't stopped walking since. This half of the conversation also covers how their different relationships with the road fit together, the chicken-farm trespass on their Brittany training hike, and what they're doing next: a 200-year-old farmhouse next door to Fitch's parents, and a life built around adventure rather than a desk.

If you haven't listened to Part 1 yet, start there — it dropped 10 minutes ago.

Show Notes

About the Guests

Fab (from Berlin, Germany) and Fitch (from the UK) met in Australia a year ago on a group hike at Pages Pinnacle, Gold Coast — a Facebook meetup they both almost didn't attend. They are currently thru-hiking the HexaTrek, France's Grand Traverse: roughly 3,000 kilometers across the entire country, from Wissembourg to Hendaye at the Atlantic Coast. They are doing it with Billie — Fab's eight-year-old Australian kelpie cross cattle dog — on their first thru-hike as a couple. They are in Stage 4, about 1,500 kilometers in, and in the process of buying a 200-year-old farmhouse in Brittany. They post on Instagram as @FabandFitch.

What's Covered in Part 2

How the Relationship Grew

Fitch's Origin — Leap Before You Look

Fab's Origin — A Park in Hamburg

How Their Two Relationships With the Road Fit Together

The Brittany Training Hike — GR 380

Would You Do It Again — Honest Answer

What's Next — The Farmhouse

Hiking Hacks — Two for One

Off the Beaten Path — Dust on My Shoes

Pay It Forward — The Sugi Project

Links & Resources

  • Fab and Fitch — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fabandfitch
  • HexaTrek — Official Website: https://www.hexatrek.com
  • Dust on My Shoes — Peter Pinney (1952). Fitch's media recommendation — a minimalist traveler's journey from Yugoslavia to Zanzibar.
  • The Sugi Project — Pocket Forests: https://www.thesugiproject.com

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

  • Email: mailto:hikertashradio@gmail.com
  • Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio.

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