EP-221 CROSSING THE PYRENEES: Nikita Grachev’s Solo Journey on the HRP

EP-221 CROSSING THE PYRENEES: Nikita Grachev’s Solo Journey on the HRP In this episode of the 10Adventures Podcast, we dive into one of the most demanding and spectacular long-distance treks in Europe — the Pyrenean Haute Route (HRP), with hiker and filmmaker Nikita Grachev. Starting with just four days of backpacking experience, Nikita set out to walk across the Pyrenees from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. Along the way, he navigated unmarked trails, carried everything on his back, and captured the entire journey in a stunning seven-part YouTube series. Nikita shares what makes the HRP special — from remote wilderness and few resupply points to dramatic shifts in terrain and weather. He also opens up about his love for wild places, the joy of solitude, and how he’s preparing for his next big trek in Sweden.   To learn more, visit: 🌐 Website: https://www.youtube.com/@morkani 📷 Instagram: @morkani.trail   About Us 🌍   10Adventures 🌟 was founded with one goal in mind: to make active travel accessible, promoting mental and physical well-being. 🚶‍♀️🚴 Our mission is to eliminate the stress of holiday planning, allowing you to focus on the excitement of your journey. We offer seamless trip coordination, handling accommodations, meals, transfers, and guides 🗺️ through our network of vetted local tour operators in over 80 countries. For those who prefer a lighter load, we arrange luggage transfers, ensuring a stress-free biking or hiking experience. 🧳🌄   Specializing in private and personalized travel experiences, our team 🧑‍💼🌐 is dedicated to tailoring trips to your preferences. We understand that travel is more than just a trip; it's an opportunity to build stronger relationships and create lasting memories. As fellow active travelers, we provide genuine, human support to ensure your journey with 10Adventures is as unique and fulfilling as possible. 🤝✨   To learn more, visit https://www.10adventures.com/ 🌐 Or contact us at https://www.10adventures.com/contact/  

 In this episode of the 10Adventures Podcast, we head to southern Japan to explore Kyushu — one of the country’s most beautiful and least-traveled regions. Our guest, Max Wall, is a Swedish-born cycling guide who has called Kyushu home for over seven years. He shares what makes this rugged, culture-rich island a paradise for adventure travelers, food lovers, and seekers of authentic Japanese experiences. Max shares how he discovered Japan through manga, became fluent in Japanese, and built a life leading travelers through remote towns, volcanoes, and hidden hot springs. From scenic cycling routes to gourmet meals made with local produce, Max brings Kyushu to life — and explains why this region should be on your list for your second (or even first!) trip to Japan.   To learn more, visit:   https://www.10adventures.com/tour/rural-kyushu-bike-gourmet/ https://www.10adventures.com/tour/volcano-kyushu-hiking-cycling/   About Us 🌍   10Adventures 🌟 was founded with one goal in mind: to make active travel accessible, promoting mental and physical well-being. 🚶‍♀️🚴 Our mission is to eliminate the stress of holiday planning, allowing you to focus on the excitement of your journey. We offer seamless trip coordination, handling accommodations, meals, transfers, and guides 🗺️ through our network of vetted local tour operators in over 80 countries. For those who prefer a lighter load, we arrange luggage transfers, ensuring a stress-free biking or hiking experience. 🧳🌄   Specializing in private and personalized travel experiences, our team 🧑‍💼🌐 is dedicated to tailoring trips to your preferences. We understand that travel is more than just a trip; it's an opportunity to build stronger relationships and create lasting memories. As fellow active travelers, we provide genuine, human support to ensure your journey with 10Adventures is as unique and fulfilling as possible. 🤝✨   To learn more, visit https://www.10adventures.com/ 🌐 Or contact us at https://www.10adventures.com/contact/  

⚠️ Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of addiction, suicidal ideation, and self-harm. Listener discretion is advised. International: https://findahelpline.com USA and Canada: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 988   In this deeply moving and inspiring episode of the 10Adventures Podcast, we sit down with Pawel Durakiewicz — a multiple Guinness World Record holder who turned his life around after battling addiction and suicidal thoughts. Once on the brink of self-destruction, Pavel found healing through nature, movement, and radical resilience. He shares his journey from the depths of alcohol addiction to running barefoot marathons on ice, walking over 3,000 kilometers without shoes, and founding a recovery center in Sicily. Pavel speaks powerfully about how nature, yoga, and community helped him transform psychological pain into purpose — and how he now helps others rediscover the miracle within themselves.   To learn more, visit:   🌐 Website: https://diamondsoul.org 📷 Instagram: pawel_durakiewicz About Us 🌍   10Adventures 🌟 was founded with one goal in mind: to make active travel accessible, promoting mental and physical well-being. 🚶‍♀️🚴 Our mission is to eliminate the stress of holiday planning, allowing you to focus on the excitement of your journey. We offer seamless trip coordination, handling accommodations, meals, transfers, and guides 🗺️ through our network of vetted local tour operators in over 80 countries. For those who prefer a lighter load, we arrange luggage transfers, ensuring a stress-free biking or hiking experience. 🧳🌄   Specializing in private and personalized travel experiences, our team 🧑‍💼🌐 is dedicated to tailoring trips to your preferences. We understand that travel is more than just a trip; it's an opportunity to build stronger relationships and create lasting memories. As fellow active travelers, we provide genuine, human support to ensure your journey with 10Adventures is as unique and fulfilling as possible. 🤝✨   To learn more, visit https://www.10adventures.com/ 🌐 Or contact us at https://www.10adventures.com/contact/

In this episode of the 10Adventures Podcast, we travel to one of the most underrated adventure destinations in the world: Jordan. Our guest, Ayman Abd-AlKareem, co-founder of Experience Jordan, shares his passion for hiking, cycling, and connecting travelers with the rich culture, history, and landscapes of his home country. Ayman tells the story of how he helped build Jordan’s premier walking and cycling holidays from the ground up — from mapping trails and launching homestays to guiding travelers into Petra through the “back door.” He shares the true magic of the Jordan Trail, the rise of Jordan’s bikepacking culture, and how tourism is empowering local communities across the country. Whether you’ve dreamed of hiking in Wadi Rum, floating in the Dead Sea, or experiencing Bedouin hospitality, this episode brings Jordan to life in a whole new way.   To learn more, visit:   🎬 YouTube: @experiencejordan 🌐 Website: www.experiencejordan.com   About Us 🌍   10Adventures 🌟 was founded with one goal in mind: to make active travel accessible, promoting mental and physical well-being. 🚶‍♀️🚴 Our mission is to eliminate the stress of holiday planning, allowing you to focus on the excitement of your journey. We offer seamless trip coordination, handling accommodations, meals, transfers, and guides 🗺️ through our network of vetted local tour operators in over 80 countries. For those who prefer a lighter load, we arrange luggage transfers, ensuring a stress-free biking or hiking experience. 🧳🌄   Specializing in private and personalized travel experiences, our team 🧑‍💼🌐 is dedicated to tailoring trips to your preferences. We understand that travel is more than just a trip; it's an opportunity to build stronger relationships and create lasting memories. As fellow active travelers, we provide genuine, human support to ensure your journey with 10Adventures is as unique and fulfilling as possible. 🤝✨   To learn more, visit https://www.10adventures.com/ 🌐 Or contact us at https://www.10adventures.com/contact/    

In this episode of the 10Adventures Podcast, we’re joined by Beverly and Julian, a couple in their 60s who decided it was time for a radical reset. Instead of easing into retirement, they set out to cycle from the UK all the way to New Zealand, a bold adventure that redefined their lives, their careers, and how they spend their time.   What happens when you decide not to retire, but to reinvent?    They dive into the highs and lows of the trip, from quiet backroads in Europe to stunning coastal rides in South Korea, less-traveled roads in Japan’s Honshu island, and rugged routes in New Zealand. Whether you're dreaming of your own long-term adventure or simply want to hear how bold life changes really happen, this episode is a must-listen.     To learn more, visit:   📷 Instagram: @cycling_into_our_60s   About Us 🌍   10Adventures 🌟 was founded with one goal in mind: to make active travel accessible, promoting mental and physical well-being. 🚶‍♀️🚴 Our mission is to eliminate the stress of holiday planning, allowing you to focus on the excitement of your journey. We offer seamless trip coordination, handling accommodations, meals, transfers, and guides 🗺️ through our network of vetted local tour operators in over 80 countries. For those who prefer a lighter load, we arrange luggage transfers, ensuring a stress-free biking or hiking experience. 🧳🌄   Specializing in private and personalized travel experiences, our team 🧑‍💼🌐 is dedicated to tailoring trips to your preferences. We understand that travel is more than just a trip; it's an opportunity to build stronger relationships and create lasting memories. As fellow active travelers, we provide genuine, human support to ensure your journey with 10Adventures is as unique and fulfilling as possible. 🤝✨   To learn more, visit https://www.10adventures.com/ 🌐 Or contact us at https://www.10adventures.com/contact/    

In this episode of the 10Adventures Podcast, we’re joined by Will Gadd — elite ice climber, Red Bull athlete, paragliding pioneer, and National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year. Will is best known as the first person to climb Niagara Falls, but his true legacy is built on decades of bold expeditions, thoughtful risk-taking, and helping others reframe challenge as opportunity. Will shares stories from wild adventures — paragliding hundreds of kilometers, climbing icebergs, and exploring remote corners of the World, and offers deep insight into why he chose these audacious goals. But this conversation goes beyond the extreme: Will reflects on how we teach kids to engage with the outdoors, how climate change is reshaping the wild, and what we lose when remote places become crowded. We talk about fear, resilience, and the value of pushing through discomfort, not just in the mountains, but in life. If you’ve ever wondered how to lead better, live more fully, or face your own personal “ice climbs,” this episode is a must-listen.   To learn more, visit:   🎬 YouTube: @willgadd2187   🌐 Website: willgadd.com  📷 Instagram: @realwillgadd    About Us 🌍   10Adventures 🌟 was founded with one goal in mind: to make active travel accessible, promoting mental and physical well-being. 🚶‍♀️🚴 Our mission is to eliminate the stress of holiday planning, allowing you to focus on the excitement of your journey. We offer seamless trip coordination, handling accommodations, meals, transfers, and guides 🗺️ through our network of vetted local tour operators in over 80 countries. For those who prefer a lighter load, we arrange luggage transfers, ensuring a stress-free biking or hiking experience. 🧳🌄   Specializing in private and personalized travel experiences, our team 🧑‍💼🌐 is dedicated to tailoring trips to your preferences. We understand that travel is more than just a trip; it's an opportunity to build stronger relationships and create lasting memories. As fellow active travelers, we provide genuine, human support to ensure your journey with 10Adventures is as unique and fulfilling as possible. 🤝✨   To learn more, visit https://www.10adventures.com/ 🌐 Or contact us at https://www.10adventures.com/contact/  

In this episode of the 10Adventures Podcast, we sit down with Charles Achampong, speaker, author, and father, who made the life-changing decision to step away from a high-powered career to travel the world with his wife and two daughters. Over the course of a year, Charles and his family visited eight countries across four continents, carrying only backpacks and a commitment to reconnect with each other and the world. Their sabbatical wasn’t an escape — it was a deeply intentional pause designed to build memories, spark curiosity, and slow down in a fast-paced life. Charles shares what it was like to say goodbye to stability, how they traveled on a budget, and how worldschooling transformed his kids’ education. He also opens up about rediscovering presence, parenting with awareness, and writing his first book, not to publish, but to remember.   To learn more, visit: 📖 Around the World in Family Days – Buy the book on Amazon 🌐 Website: charlesachampong.com 📷 Instagram: @aroundtheworldinfamilydays 🔗 LinkedIn: Charles Achampong About Us 🌍   10Adventures 🌟 was founded with one goal in mind: to make active travel accessible, promoting mental and physical well-being. 🚶‍♀️🚴 Our mission is to eliminate the stress of holiday planning, allowing you to focus on the excitement of your journey. We offer seamless trip coordination, handling accommodations, meals, transfers, and guides 🗺️ through our network of vetted local tour operators in over 80 countries. For those who prefer a lighter load, we arrange luggage transfers, ensuring a stress-free biking or hiking experience. 🧳🌄   Specializing in private and personalized travel experiences, our team 🧑‍💼🌐 is dedicated to tailoring trips to your preferences. We understand that travel is more than just a trip; it's an opportunity to build stronger relationships and create lasting memories. As fellow active travelers, we provide genuine, human support to ensure your journey with 10Adventures is as unique and fulfilling as possible. 🤝✨   To learn more, visit https://www.10adventures.com/ 🌐 Or contact us at https://www.10adventures.com/contact/

In this thrilling episode, Ricardo Kaljouw joins the 10Adventures Podcast to share his incredible journey of climbing the highest volcano on each continent, known as the Volcanic Seven Summits. With his final summit of Mount Sidley in Antarctica, Ricardo became the first person from the Benelux region to complete this unique and demanding global challenge. We hear about the rugged jungle terrain of Papua New Guinea, the extreme altitude of Chile’s Ojos del Salado, the kindness of strangers in Iran, and the logistical feats of reaching Antarctica’s most remote peak. Ricardo also opens up about physical limits, mental endurance, and the deep personal growth that comes from pushing beyond comfort zones.   To learn more, you can   Visit his website: https://sevenvolcanicsummits.com/ Or, connect on Instagram: @sevenvolcanicsummits   About Us 🌍   10Adventures 🌟 was founded with one goal in mind: to make active travel accessible, promoting mental and physical well-being. 🚶‍♀️🚴 Our mission is to eliminate the stress of holiday planning, allowing you to focus on the excitement of your journey. We offer seamless trip coordination, handling accommodations, meals, transfers, and guides 🗺️ through our network of vetted local tour operators in over 80 countries. For those who prefer a lighter load, we arrange luggage transfers, ensuring a stress-free biking or hiking experience. 🧳🌄   Specializing in private and personalized travel experiences, our team 🧑‍💼🌐 is dedicated to tailoring trips to your preferences. We understand that travel is more than just a trip; it's an opportunity to build stronger relationships and create lasting memories. As fellow active travelers, we provide genuine, human support to ensure your journey with 10Adventures is as unique and fulfilling as possible. 🤝✨   To learn more, visit https://www.10adventures.com/ 🌐 Or contact us at https://www.10adventures.com/contact/

In this awe-inspiring episode of the 10Adventures Podcast, we meet Pascale Marceau, a former engineer and tech startup leader who walked away from a high-powered corporate life to chase polar dreams. Pascale’s story is one of reinvention — trading stability for freedom, and fluorescent lights for frozen landscapes. Pascale Marceau left her role as a pioneering engineer at a green energy startup to live in a tiny cabin, sail to Greenland, and explore the Arctic by ski, sled, and sailboat.  Hear how she trains sled dogs in the Polar Night, preps for months-long unsupported expeditions, and lives with radical intention. Plus, get the inside story on her sailing trip across the Labrador Sea — and what’s coming next in her 5-year Arctic plan.   To learn more, you can Visit her website: https://www.pascalemarceau.com/ YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@pascalemarceau Or, on Instagram: @pascale.marceau     About Us 🌍 10Adventures 🌟 was founded with one goal in mind: to make active travel accessible, promoting mental and physical well-being. 🚶‍♀️🚴 Our mission is to eliminate the stress of holiday planning, allowing you to focus on the excitement of your journey. We offer seamless trip coordination, handling accommodations, meals, transfers, and guides 🗺️ through our network of vetted local tour operators in over 80 countries. For those who prefer a lighter load, we arrange luggage transfers, ensuring a stress-free biking or hiking experience. 🧳🌄   Specializing in private and personalized travel experiences, our team 🧑‍💼🌐 is dedicated to tailoring trips to your preferences. We understand that travel is more than just a trip; it's an opportunity to build stronger relationships and create lasting memories. As fellow active travelers, we provide genuine, human support to ensure your journey with 10Adventures is as unique and fulfilling as possible. 🤝✨   To learn more, visit https://www.10adventures.com/ 🌐 Or contact us at https://www.10adventures.com/contact/

Meet Roz Brooks, a woman who discovered hiking in her 50s and then said “yes” to everything. In this inspiring episode of the 10Adventures Podcast, Roz shares her journey from Las Vegas city life to climbing mountains, leading hundreds outdoors, and founding Blacks in Nature. You’ll hear about her first time seeing Alaska, the challenge of backpacking the John Muir Trail, and her accidental path into urban farming and nonprofit leadership. Roz’s story is funny, soulful, and deeply motivational. Don’t miss it! #hikingover50 #JMT #blacksinnature #tenadventurespodcast #rozbrooks #outdoorleaders #communitygardens   To learn more, you can Visit Blacks in Nature: blacksinnature.com Visit Together We Can: https://www.vegasroots.org/ Find Roz on Instagram: @blacksinnature   About Us 🌍 10Adventures 🌟 was founded with one goal in mind: to make active travel accessible, promoting mental and physical well-being. 🚶‍♀️🚴 Our mission is to eliminate the stress of holiday planning, allowing you to focus on the excitement of your journey. We offer seamless trip coordination, handling accommodations, meals, transfers, and guides 🗺️ through our network of vetted local tour operators in over 80 countries. For those who prefer a lighter load, we arrange luggage transfers, ensuring a stress-free biking or hiking experience. 🧳🌄   Specializing in private and personalized travel experiences, our team 🧑‍💼🌐 is dedicated to tailoring trips to your preferences. We understand that travel is more than just a trip; it's an opportunity to build stronger relationships and create lasting memories. As fellow active travelers, we provide genuine, human support to ensure your journey with 10Adventures is as unique and fulfilling as possible. 🤝✨   To learn more, visit https://www.10adventures.com/ 🌐 Or contact us at https://www.10adventures.com/contact/