Action Packed Travel

Welcome to Action Packed Travel! Our podcast features amazing travel stories...without having to go anywhere. The episodes are interviews with people who've been inspired by their adventures. They're also full of information and useful links, all of which you can find on our Show Notes. Our podcast can be used for future travel ideas and plans for the days when we can explore the world again! About us: we're Felice & Peter Hardy and we've spent half a lifetime travelling to just about every corner of the world, making a living as travel writers out of what we like doing best – and that's skiing, biking, hiking, eating, exploring, city breaks, seaside…and a whole lot more. We've had lots of favourable reviews, such as: "What an interesting and diverse world you are opening up for us in a nicely laid back way. Very informative and some are also wonderful archive material."

Minty Clinch: Age is No Barrier to Adventure

Minty Clinch, who died this month, was a good friend of ours for more years than we can remember. She was a fine writer and witty to the very end. We have decided to re-release an interview we did with her five years ago. The episode is about her adventures on horseback to some of the wildest corners of the world. To Minty's many friends: we hope you enjoy listening. Music © Barney & Izzi Hardy.

11-13
30:14

Cycling From Antarctic To Arctic

We're giving this episode another airing. It's what might best be described as a rather long bike ride. Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy 

10-31
32:17

The Ski Tour Operator Revolution

One of the first tour operators to give away the company to their staff. Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy 

09-15
26:17

Final Battle of the Countryside

Because this means so much to us, we've repeated the episode! The Somerset town of Frome has seen many battles in its history, from the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 to a campaign to win Packsaddle Community Fields in 2025. Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy  Support the show

08-14
20:51

Is Japan The New Ski Capital?

This week we're talking to Jay Stevens, CEO of Wayfairer Travel, whose passion is snowboarding in Japan. Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy  Support the show

07-30
41:55

Midlifing on the South West Coast Path

Zoe Langley-Wathen walked 630 miles around the coastline of Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Dorset – and then she wrote a book about it.  Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy  Support the show

06-22
33:29

Battle of the Countryside

The Somerset town of Frome has seen many battles in its history, from the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 to a campaign to win Packsaddle Community Fields in 2025. Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy  Support the show

05-11
20:51

Walking Across Africa

Forty years ago, Patrick Nash took a ten-month walk through the heart of Africa. We talked to him about the journey that inspired his latest book, Shots Across the Water. Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy  Support the show

04-28
45:43

Writing Around The World

Jean McNeill, author of Latitudes: Encounters with a Changing Planet, is an award-winning Canadian-born writer, the first-ever female director of creative writing at the University of East Anglia, and a professionally qualified safari guide. Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy  Support the show

03-19
33:28

Alice's Journey Through Saudi Arabia

Scottish explorer and Arabist Alice Morrison decided to take a long hike to talk to the ordinary people, particularly the women who live there. Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy   Support the show

02-28
30:35

Valentine Warner's Wild Kitchen

Valentine Warner is a celebrity chef who's made no less nine TV series, and has written five books. He likes to cook in remote and beautiful corners of the world. His new venture, Kitchen in the Wild, is set in a private safari lodge with views of Mount Kenya.   Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy  Support the show

01-30
30:37

Wild About Croatia

Travel writer and author of My Family and Other Enemies, Mary Novakovich, explores her homeland, including the hinterland of Croatia most foreigners never visit.  Music: © Barney and Izzi Hardy Support the show

12-20
34:28

Joanna Penn's Pilgrimage

Author, podcaster, and creative entrepreneur Joanna Penn is a best-selling and award-winning writer of horror, thrillers, dark fantasy and travel memoirs. She's also taken up going on pilgrimages. Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy  Support the show

11-13
35:28

A Ride Across America

Simon Parker has cycled in this election year across the whole of America, from the northwest coast of Washington state, all the way to the most south easterly tip of Florida. He's written a book about it.  Music: Barney & Izzi Hardy Support the show

10-23
36:44

Ride Like A Gaucho

Sophia Ashe, hooked on ponies and horses since childhood, joined a team of gauchos at a ranch in Argentina and wrote a book about her experiences.  Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy Support the show

09-29
35:11

Bletchley Park Revisited

Bletchley Park is a country mansion 35 minutes by train northwest of London, where Alan Turing and his team of cryptanalysts cracked the complicated codes of the German Enigma machine.  Music © Barney & Izzi Hardy  Support the show

08-27
22:17

Loneliness of a Long-Distance Sailor

How do you survive on your own for days on end? So far, seven women have completed the Vendée Globe, the toughest round-the-world race. Joan Mulloy, a brand ambassador for Helly Hansen and a mother of two from the west coast of Ireland, is determined to become the eighth woman to compete and the first to win it.  Music: © Barney & Izzy Hardy  Support the show

07-30
36:00

The Whale in the Living Room

Veteran underwater cameraman, John Ruthven, talks to us about his book and a lifetime of exploring the deep. He is also a producer of Sir David Attenborough's The Blue Planet, a zoologist, film director, writer, editor and stylist. Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy  Support the show

06-30
25:28

A Century of Cottar's Safaris

This week we're in Kenya talking to safari camp owner, Calvin Cotter, whose family came here from the Great Plains of the Midwest in the years before World War One.  Support the show

05-22
31:37

The Ultimate Childcare for Skiers

This week, we're exploring the fraught subject of taking small children skiing for the very first time. We're going to start and end with a warning to listeners: If you want to book a nanny service-inclusive holiday for the coming winter, there is really no time to waste. You need to book right now.  Support the show

04-29
29:00

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