Epic Trails and Electric Tunes: The Heartbeat of Love Trails Festival

Date: 11th – 14th July

Location: Gower, Peninsula South Wales, UK

Love Trails Festival is a unique event that combines trail running, adventure, and music. It takes place in beautiful, natural settings and includes a variety of activities such as guided trail runs, adventure talks, workshops, yoga sessions, and live music performances. The festival is known for its community atmosphere and focus on outdoor adventure and fitness.

Setting the scene: Beautiful landscape of the Gower coastline. The picturesque castle in an atmospheric scene reflecting both natural beauty and historical significance. One of the highlights of the weekend was visiting Weobley Castle. Absolutely stunning views from the estuary with a 14th century historical building. A place of history that meets the tranquil beauty of the Gower Peninsula.

Weobley Castle 

Personal connection: I have been to Wales a few times and South Wales has to be my favourite. If I could live here, I truly would. I also would love to come back and spend more time here to enjoy the outdoors and visit the beaches.

Festival experience

Arrival and first impression: I arrived on Thursday evening with a few friends. I didn’t know what to expect as this was going to be my first full weekend at the festival and this will also be my first time camping since school days! A great tip for you in regards to camping…. Keep reading!!

Event highlights: Hands down, the whole experience is a highlight. If I had to pick one, it has to be the community and the people I met throughout including the dogs. Everyone that was there talking about a cause and actioning it was a WIN for me. Sophie Powers, Bethan Taylor-Swaine, Alpine Run Project, Andrew Wang to name a few.

Trail runs: Central to the festival there are numerous trails runs of different distances set in scenic landscapes. Let me tell you, it is BEAUTIFUL! Festival goers can join guided runs which is included in the price of the ticket or you can explore the trails on your own or with family and friends.

Views for days 

Loved reading the notices around the trails 

Beautiful sunsets. The best thing about camping! 

Music performances: Live music is on every day of the festival hosting a variety of artists and genres. Some of the artists this year included: JOY (Anonymous), Stornoway, Riot Jazz Brass Band, Cherise Aleighcia Scott and many more. Imagine a festival that has it all.. Love Trails it is!

Workshops and activities: There were many inspirational talks, workshops and panel from Lucy Bartholomew, Billy Yang, Hillary Yang, Sophie Power, Mark Shayler, Allie Bailey, Andre Coggins and many more. There is something for everyone and so much to take in and listen to. I would say have a small notepad and pen with you. Really useful as it is such a great learning experience and you will be provided with information you want to find out more about. I mean you could use your phone for note-taking but it was all about conserving our mobile phone battery life as there are no charging points.

Adventure activities: In addition to all of the above, festival goers had the opportunity to participate in activities like yoga, wild swimming, rock climbing, foraging walks, coasteering led by experienced instructors. Unfortunately I was too busy to join any of these but I will definitely be back next year!

Community: A great place to meet old friends and forge new relationships. The atmosphere is immersive and the energy is wholly positive. Everyone is super friendly and helpful. A great chance to meet like-minded individuals. I honestly did not stop smiling the whole weekend. Even as I write this now, a real beautiful experience.

Food and drink: Plenty of choices of food and drink to buy. I took along some of my own snacks and food pots to try and save money over the weekend as I know buying breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks throughout the 4 days would turn out rather expensive. Alternatively some people cooked their own food with camping stove etc. But if you know me, I have not reached this level of a camper just yet hahaha! Really glad I took what I did. There's only so much festival food I can eat before my stomach say... 'what's up?!' Hahaha

The food I took with me as extras to the meals I bought at the festival. 

Panel Speaker Experience

Preparation: So how do you prepare for a panel talk x 3? The great thing was that I knew what the topics were and what we would be talking about. All topics I am truly passionate: Discussing the impact of the discovery of historically considered ‘white people’ sports in marginalised and diverse communities, A woman’s place is on the start line, Why being over 40 is no barrier to starting your run journey.

Thoroughly preparing for my talk definitely boosted my confidence as it is all in the preparation. One tip you usually hear is rehearsing in front of a smaller audience to get comfortable. I didn’t have time for this plus I really didn’t feel I needed this as when you are talking from your heart, you don’t really need a rehearsal. Just go with the flow, answer the audience and be in the moment. Maintaining a positive attitude and focusing on the benefits of the experience really prepared me for what was ahead. The experience was incredible and having the opportunity to share my story and experience to an audience who have chosen to attend is always appreciated. These topics affect us all in one way or another. What was great to hear was the honesty of the audience when they said that it is not something that they have ever thought about but NOW they will ask those questions, be an ally and now have a better understand of the barriers faced by marginalised communities.

Title: A woman's place is on the startline. Hosted by Ellen (in photo above)

Title: The Outsiders Project - Remarkable People doing Remarkable things. Hosted by Phil Young

My final talk was titled: The Speed Project - Why being over 40 is no barrier to starting your run journey.  Hosted by Nick Kershaw we talked about my running journey and where it has taken me including sharing my experience of The Speed Project and my advice to women starting their running journey. 

My takeaways:

 Understanding Audience Dynamics: Audience interaction is really important. This is a conversation with the audience. I learned that it is all about learning how to read and engage with an audience.

Co-speakers – we learn so much from each other’s experiences and I am always super grateful to be invited into these conversations. 

Of course I was writing in my tent! 

Run Coaching Session Experience

Preparation: I planned my sessions using the England Athletics session plan templates which made me feel better prepared. The template had details such as session goals, personal coaching goal, equipment, safety key points, coaching points etc.

Delivery: I delivered 5 coaching sessions over the weekend covering speed, drills, hills, warm up, cool-down etc.

Delivered all of my run coaching session in this amazing hub called Flex. 

Saturdays schedule for Flex

Personal Reflections: Before each session there was definitely some anxiety about teaching these ‘pro’ runners, ‘experienced’ runners and a sense of imposter syndrome. However, I was there to do a job, I had a plan to execute and that’s exactly what I did. I most definitely reflected on every session whilst laying down in my tent afterwards. I literally went to take a nap after each session!! I felt a sense of accomplishment and pride in delivering each session.

Delivering a cool down session. My biggest audience with people also out on the grass outside the hub. All the races ranging from the Beer Mile Relay to 27km Golden Trail race had taken place earlier in the day so I guess that was perfect timetabling.  Let's just say it took me by surprise!! 

Rungrateful signs by Mark White

Group session on Drills for Hills. My favourite session to deliver.

Key takeaway

Impact on me: Coming out of your comfort zone, especially in front of hundreds of people, is a significant personal achievement and can lead to substantial personal growth.

Future plans: Never stop saying yes to brand new experiences and opportunities even if I am not 100% sure how it is going to work out. It was also important for me to recognise my growth and how it contributes to my overall personal development.

Ways to build confidence

Realising that you are capable of handling situations that initially seem daunting.

Gaining self-assurance from successfully engaging with a large audience. Just do it! It is never half as bad as you ever imagine!

Practical information

Tentshare: I discovered this organisation by chance on Instagram whilst reading someone else’s request. If like me you don’t have camping gear readily available you can rent what you need, collect and return at a reasonable cost. Check out www.tentshare.co.uk . They are passionate about transforming unused camping gear into cash = great sustainability. Camping kit owners simply list their unused camping items, set the price, and wait for a booking. I hired online, met the owner outside Swansea Station on arrival and then met him back at Swansea Station before I caught my train back to London.

Add-on: Luxury shower pass: If you are not a hard-core camper or haven’t done it for a long time but you still want to feel luxurious then treat yourself to a luxury shower pass. I paid £55 and I had access to a luxury shower and a pamper room for the whole weekend. Now this was bliss!

The Love Trails site is only a 15 minutes’ walk end to end.

 

Conclusion

Final thoughts: Broadening your social and professional network is so important to enhancing resilience. I truly live by this. What is F.E.A.R? F.E.A.R. is an acronym for False Evidence Appearing Real. There's no true threat of immediate physical danger, no threat of a loss of someone or something dear to us, actually nothing there at all. F.E.A.R. is an illusion. Something we fabricate in our own minds and pretend is real. The people you surround yourself with inevitably shape you so go ahead and put your best foot forward.

I learned that that even if things don’t go perfectly, you can recover and learn from the experience. Building a thicker skin to handle potential setbacks or negative feedback is something I am good at. I am also readily available to receiving and using feedback to be better and improve my work and delivery. I received lots of positive feedback which wholeheartedly boosted my confidence and also made me feel that I was able to put my points and share my feelings and experience with clarity.

Stepping out of my comfort zone, especially in a public setting, can be transformative and highly rewarding. I wholly appreciate this experience to deliver sessions to amazing participants and speak to an incredible audience. I could not have asked for a better experience. I mean how often are you truly able to talk about subjects that you are passionate about and hope to affect change.

My values and intentions: Continue to promote empowerment and participation and the idea that the outdoors is for everyone regardless of age or background. Women are just as strong as men and are capable of adventures at any stage in their life and we deserve the same respect and opportunities. I will continue to advocate for making the outdoors more accessible to all. I will share and promote practices that protect and preserve natural spaces. I will continue to be a role model for other women and girls, showing what is possible through our own actions and achievements.

Call to action: Do more of what you love and leave that comfort zone behind. We grow out of that zone!  

#grateful to Haidee and Portia for their support over the weekend. Gloria, you were missed! 

Portia, Haidee and me 

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and  share my thoughts. Your feedback, stories and experiences enrich this space and inspire me to keep sharing my own journey. Please feel free to leave your comments below or reach out to me directly. Your feedback will help shape the future of this blog and ensure it continues to be a place where you can find inspiration, information and community.