41:06
This doesn't really bode well for my barefoot hike tomorrow. Have a look. It is chucking it down. Obviously, nobody likes to hike in the rain, but hiking in the rain with no shoes on, like that's a whole new level of suffering. Barefoot hike, you say? Yep. I've been dreaming of doing a hike without any shoes on for a good few years now. You might wonder, what is the point of doing that in a world where you can buy a 100 different models of hiking shoes from 100 different brands? Well, that's kind of the point. For 4 years now, I've been diving deep into the mysterious world of shoes. And I've come to learn that the modern shoe isn't just an innocent part of your wardrobe. Most modern shoes have
an unnatural fit which constricts your feet and can lead to so many problems down the road with your feet, your ankles, even knees, hips, and spine. So, what is the answer to this problem? an adventure. Obviously, this adventure is brought to you by the partner of today's video, Asus and AMD, with their beautiful Creative First PC, the Pro Art P16, which is powered by the advanced by AMD Ryzen AI processor, and which has some incredible creator tools we'll take a look at later. So, my plan is to make this into an actual challenge. I don't want this to be easy. I want to challenge myself. I want to make things a little bit difficult and a little bit spicy. So over the course of two days, I
want to cross a distance of roughly a marathon. That's about 42 km or 26 miles. Not only that, I will also be crossing this distance on really rough mountainous terrain. I'll be hiking along paths that are rocky, muddy, there's plenty of stones, there's going to be plenty of dirt, plenty of puddles. I mean, just imagine like an actual mountain trail. That's the kind of terrain that I'll be doing this challenge on. I don't know, maybe it's too much. Call me crazy, but I feel like I just really need to give it a go. Okay, hiking completely barefoot is probably not the answer for everyone, but over the last few years, I've basically lived in minimalist or so-called barefoot shoes. These shoes have a natural fit, a wide toe box, and a thin sole to help mimic a more natural
position for your feet as you walk through life. You know, I'm just really curious to see what it's like to go right back to the basics. Well, nothing left to do now but pack. And I need to pack carefully in case of possible emergencies. One thing that could quite easily go wrong on this hike is I could get injured on my feet. I mean really anything could injure my feet like a sharp rock. Um my toe getting stubbed. Um I step on something sharp like a thorn or a piece of glass. There are so many things that could go wrong. So, I'm going to bring a lot of these um tissues to like sanitize wounds. And then I've got my little first aid kit here. This here is some antibiotic
ointment. That could come in handy. Oh, band-aids. Yep. Emergency blanket. I'm going to grab a couple of gauze pads. They weigh nothing, but they could come in really handy. And then some tape. This rain has not let up in like an hour now. So, I'm a little bit concerned, but I can't really move the track because I've got so many other things going on that this is the only date that I can do it. So, rain or sunshine, I just have to go tomorrow. Rain brings cold and wetness and mud. All of this means that I risk getting much colder than expected without any protection from the ground. Not exactly a walk in the park.
The one very important thing that I am not bringing on this hike is obviously shoes. Though tomorrow is going to be a whole other challenge. Smashed cucumbers, dill, pistachios, feta cheese, lemon, olive oil, pepper, and salt. Oh my god, so good. As always before an unknown adventure, I couldn't really get to sleep. My head was spinning with questions. Would it be painful to walk a marathon barefoot? Would I get hurt? I guess all these questions will be answered soon. You want to go for a run? You want to go for a hike? You want to go for a big hike? Where you go?
Okay, so the barefoot part of the hike starts at the trail head, but I actually need to drive to the trail head. It is not around here. So, I'm gonna put on some socks and some shoes. And this is just because I don't want anything bad or weird to happen before I even get to the starting line. You know what I mean? I kind of like don't want to jinx it. But before we head out, I want to introduce you to one of my current work tools and the partner of today's video, ASUS. This is the new ASUS Pro Art P16. And it's honestly an amazing tool. If you're anything like me and you're obsessed with immortalizing all of your adventures, your hobbies, and your trips on photo and video, the Pro RP16's
creator tools make it super easy to organize, edit, and share the stories that you capture on your GoPro. This is Story Cube, your creative hub of the Asus Pro Art P16. It connects with the cloud, so you can either store your content on the cloud or locally. The AI powered features of Story Cube help you find the files you need faster and more easily. And that's before you even sit down to do the editing. You can easily sort through all of your footage with timeline browsing. You can even browse by device and by location. I love this memory. The workflow is intuitive, and Story Cub's AI album even allows you to find individual people across your footage or pick out specific activities and types of scenes. No more
trolling through endless hard drives to find what you need. From here, you can easily import your footage into editing software like Adobe Premiere, where you can then process it for YouTube or for social media. And yes, the Pro RP16 comes with the famous ASUS dial, or as I like to call it, the creative magic button, which brings so many creative controls right to your fingertips. Story Cube is such an elegant solution to a problem that all creators eventually run into. Now, you can finally let AI do the boring backend work so that you can focus on making an impact with your storytelling. And yes, we've got a special offer for you. If you get a Pro Arch laptop, you can get six months free
on your GoPro subscription as well as 15% off on your next GoPro camera. Thank you so much, ASUS, for partnering up with me on this adventure. And now, let's go back to the video. All right, let's get going. You got a big stick. Oh no, it broke. Jam, jam. I just want to put it out there that I am bringing emergency shoes. barefoot sandals just in case something happens and I cannot continue barefoot and I have to get out of somewhere on foot.
Why always so heavy? So, my first steps are on parking lot gravel. Not the most pleasant surface. And then my next steps are about to be on asphalt, which is also not great. But soon enough, I'll get to the trail and I guess that will be the real start. Okay, obviously I'm not doing this completely fresh. I've been trying to toughen up my feet by spending as much time as possible barefoot, running barefoot in the grass, walking on my land without any shoes, toughening up those soles. Basically going deep on every pedicurist's worst nightmare. And I've had some issues along the way, too. We have a problem. And this wouldn't normally be like a massive problem, but in the context of what I'm about to do
with my whole barefoot expedition, this is actually a pretty big problem. My toenail is coming off in a really bad way. I kind of want to spare you the gory details, but I also need to show you what it looks like. So, here goes nothing. See, it is coming right off the toe bed. It is literally just hanging on by a thread. And you know, it's been in a kind of bad way since March when I did this like 500 km, 300 mile race in the Arctic. Um, and now it's finally decided that it wants to come off, which is just phenomenal timing. Um, obviously I can't really walk around barefoot with this thing on. So, I'm going to have to take it off because every time I walk on grass, you know, it catches on like a single little
blade of grass and then that's really painful. So, I just need to get rid of the problem. I need to get rid of the nail. I believe that was once a form of torture, wasn't it? All right. All right, I'm going to put my foot in a bit of water just to kind of like soften the skin around the nail. And I've also got a few tools to help me pull the nail. And they include some tissues, some disinfectant and nail clippers, and a pair of what are these called? Tweezes. They're tweezers. They're called tweezers. I speak English. Okay. All right. I'm going to like sterilize the tweezers.
I don't know if this is how you sterilize things, but we'll just assume that this does something to clean them a little bit. Going to do the same to the nail. Oh god, am I actually about to pull my own nail? This is freaking horrendous. I'm willing to bet that this is not the content you signed up for when you went on YouTube today. Come on. Just It came off. It came off almost by itself. There we go. That is my old nail. And now I have no toenail. It is not my intention to gross you out. I just wanted to show you proof that I had in fact taken it off. Haha, victory.
Ah, it doesn't hurt anymore to walk, which is amazing. Yes, trail. I guess wet trail equals mud. But we're here for it. Come on, buddy. And so it begins. From the very first steps, I realized that this trail was not going to make things easy for me. But I had about three uphel miles before I got to my first stop along the way, a watchtowwer where I could take a quick break. Some of these are really sharp. That was pretty tough that section. Lots of sharp rocks. Pretty steep. I don't know how V does it. Dogs are amazing. They'll just bound up a path filled with rocks like that without a care in the world. I'm kind of jealous.
I really had to think about every single step there just to make sure I don't get hurt. This was not going to be an easy start. Not only were we climbing uphill, but the terrain kept getting progressively worse. That is a lot of loose rock. Let me show you from up close. V's like, "What were you waiting for? This is fine. I'm going to channel my inner vil and just go for it. Let's do Sometimes we do things for reasons that have little to do with rational sense. In that moment, I did wonder whether
this whole thing was in fact a good idea. Let's go. You want to help me? You want to help me, buddy? Yes. You want to help me? Though I suppose not everything we do in life has to make perfect rational sense. I must have chosen the most rocky trail in the entire world because oh freaking hell. Look at that. All the way to the top. Probably like another half a mile like this. It's nuts. Okay, I think we're out of the woods grass. Oh, that was tough. I felt like I was about to start crawling at a few points there. So steep, so rocky.
I'm going to sit down, take a little break, keep going. We just made it to the first stop, the watchtowwer. Neither the trail underfoot nor the weather made this journey any easier. But every rainy day is an opportunity to find a silver lining, right? At least it's not boiling hot. At least the trees and the grass can soak up some water. At least it's not a storm. So after sitting in the rain for a few minutes, it was time to keep going. Don't pull me. Don't pull me cuz I The problem is that whenever V pulls me on the lead, I kind of like slide down which is really bad because then that is really risky. That is really bad for my feet. But I can't let him off the leash
because there's a lot of dogs around. Um so we're just going to have to try and go slow. Slidy slider. Oh my god, this is so slippery. It's like staging the camera feels like on a whole other level without shoes on. But I found blackberries. Oh my god, look at these. Yes, please. Oh god, this hurts. Like I'm going to end up with pretty sore feet just because of this bit. Oh god, it is flat. We've got plants and we've got grass. Oh my god, it feels amazing.
Honestly, there's like nothing like the feeling of walking over wet, dewy grass. Oh. So, Vil has been walking into every single puddle along the way. And since my feet are now quite muddy, I'm going to follow him into a puddle and see what the fuss is all about, cuz he makes it seem like so much fun. Let's go. That was so much fun. I'm not inventing anything new here. I feel like we've all done these things as kids. You know, we've run around barefoot. We've jumped straight into deep puddles and had so much fun doing all those things. And then at some point, the world tells us that we should not do those things anymore. And I'm like, why not? It's still just as much fun, if not more. You know, you can always
wash clothes. You can always take a shower. I feel like we've lost a little bit of freedom along the way. It's nice to reclaim it. I just stubbed my toe. I was looking at V. I wasn't focused on where I was going and this is the culprit. And I got a bit of blood. It doesn't hurt very much right now. It kind of feels like a stubbed toe. So, not very pleasant, but not horrible. Uh, but I want to make sure that I can keep going today and tomorrow. So, I'm going to uh have a quick look.
Well, there is a bit of blood on it, but I think it's okay. Just a little clean and I'll be good to go. Aside from my little injury, I was just having so much fun. I gave myself permission to just be unfiltered and a little unhinged during this hike. And when do we ever get to do that? Ah, still going. We're about 23 km in, still barefoot, and we're about to arrive at our spot for the night, which I'm so excited about cuz I Oh my god, he will not stop ambushing me today. He must be in a really good mood. Hey buddy, are you in a really good mood?
So, I saw this little shelter on the map and I wanted to hike up here and see if it's possible to sleep inside it. I have no idea. It looks pretty dilapidated. Let's take a look inside. Is that an ambush? That is an ambush. You're nuts. Okay, huh? It's basically a barn. An old barn. Oh, there's a bed. What on earth? That's awesome. Yeah. So, this is a legit little shepherd hut. Um, I'm assuming that this would have been used not that long ago by shepherds. There's a little table, a little bed to stay the night. It's actually pretty well equipped. And I'm
guessing the sheep would go in here. But I am not going to sleep here cuz I'm sure there's mice here. So, I'm just going to go and set up my tent outside. Usually when you get meadows and shepherd's huts like these, when you go to the top of the meadow, there is some kind of fire pit. So, let's see if there's one up here. Yep, there it is. Perfect.
You bring a beginning. You spark a heart that's gone to line. Well, this may not end up being the world's greatest fire. But hopefully it'll do. Hopefully it'll By the way, my dog is obsessed with the tent. He'll just sit there and wait for me to open the tent door and watch what happens when I do. Wait, wait, wait. You ready to go to bed? Yeah. Good boy.
I need a fire pretty badly tonight because I don't have my gas stove with me. So, the only way that I can heat up water in order to have dinner is if I make the fire. But everything is wet, which makes this quite difficult. Okay, I don't think this water will ever actually boil because the fire just keeps coming going in and out. So, I'm going to have to take whatever I've got and hope that it suffices to make me dinner. Perfect. Just the right amount. You know, by the time that I sat down here and started making a fire and started making dinner, I'd completely forgotten that I'm barefoot.
It just feels so normal and so natural just sitting here in the meadow not wearing shoes. Like seems like a pretty normal thing. No. M. Oh, this is really good. What is this? Buckwheat palenta with cheese. So good. Good morning. What a an amazing night of sleep. I slept for like 9 hours. Hey, buddy. You don't want to wake up just yet.
You're still sleepy. No, we're not going to play with this ugly stick. It's too big and it's just too crazy. Go get that one. Leave this one. Go get that one. That's also not a great stick, buddy. Come on. You can drop it. Leave it. Okay. Oh my god. This is awesome. Yes. Yeah. Twist middle. Yeah. Round.
Okay. Three. I need coffee. I need Oh god, cold instant coffee tastes like hell. One question that I get a lot is like, aren't you scared of camping alone in these like remote wild places? And I guess the answer is I used to be quite scared. I definitely used to not sleep very well in tents, wake up at every single little rustle, every single little sound outside. Um, yeah, definitely. I used to be, you know, I used to imagine all the worst case scenarios like murderers wielding axes and mountain lions and wolves and, you know, ghosts. I'll admit that. But somehow I think just I just got so used to it. I spent so many nights in a tent. And I think honestly that may be the only solution if you're
worried or scared of sleeping alone in a tent is just do it over and over again in places that feel safe and then maybe in places that feel a little bit less comfortable and eventually you kind of get used to it. It definitely helps to have vil around, I'm pretty sure. But I'm also sure that I would be just fine without him. Though he is my bodyguard, of course, and for that I thank you. Here you go, little egg. Oh yeah. Today we've got about 23 kilometers to go back. That's about I don't know 15 miles or so. And uh I'm obviously aiming to do it all barefoot all over again. And in a way it should be easier today because there's more desense than
asense, like a lot more. But at the same time, doing the descents barefoot is a little bit harder. So I don't know how it's going to go. Um but we're just going to have to try it. Let's go. But this morning was not to go smoothly. Okay, first steps out on the trail. Okay, so here's what happened there. So I'm walking with Vil. He's on a leash and we turn a corner and there's two huskies there and they immediately charge us. They attack Vil and I'm like what the [__] Like this really came out of nowhere. So I'm like trying to hold on to Vil because obviously he starts defending himself. So I'm holding on to him. I'm trying to like fend off the other dog. the dogs. This there's one
that was particularly aggressive. And I'm like, where the [__] is their owner? They're just off leash, just there. And then I look up and then the owner is like way up on the trail and he's not doing anything. I start screaming at him. I'm like, get your dogs. And he's just not doing anything. Nothing. Eventually, like I pick up like I pretend to pick up something from the ground. And the dogs I think they got scared cuz they thought it was a rock or something. So, they kind of back off. Vio is still barking like crazy. I'm like, "What the fuck?" And this guy is still doing nothing. Um, and basically, he's like, "You should unleash your dog." And I'm like, "Yeah, I'm not going to unleash my dog
in front of your two freaking attacking hell hounds." And I'm just like, "Okay, whatever, man." Like, I like I'm not like, at that point, I was like, "I just want to get out of there. Like, I don't want to get into [__] arguments with a guy that has two aggressive dogs." like I'm all alone. I'm leaving. So, I um start heading in the opposite direction to the dogs with my dog again, still on the leash. And then these two dogs charge me again. And he's like, you know, they're they're service dogs. They're allowed to be off leash. I'm like, no, that's [__] First of all, they're definitely not service dogs because service dogs do not behave like that. And second of all, it doesn't matter if it's a service dog or not. It needs to
be on a leash. You know what I mean? If you're out on an off leash walk with your dog and for some reason your dog charges another dog, whatever. It happens. But then take over, take ownership of the situation. Get your dog, put him on a leash. Couldn't be easier than that. This guy just didn't do any of that. He just didn't care. I now have 8 hours to walk off this newly built anger inside me. Yay. I had designed this challenge knowing that it would get tough. So, I was here to go through the pain no matter what.
Is that an ambush? Experiences like this really go to show just how relative everything is. This would have been a breeze with shoes on. But that's not why we're here. So nice. So nice and cool. Oh, glorious. There is definitely a big difference between yesterday and today. Like I feel like yesterday my feet were still quite strong and fresh. And now they're much more sensitive after an entire day of walking after basically a half marathon yesterday barefoot. Right now they feel quite sore, quite sensitive, and I can feel every tiny little rock underneath my sole whenever I step on something. So it feels Yeah. more painful today. Definitely feeling a bit of pain. But I'm so close now. I have like
10 km left, something like that. Maybe 12. So it's really not that much. And I think I can make it. I just need to push through. Just push through. I had managed about 34 km or 20 m barefoot over the course of 2 days. And with every single step, I felt the pulse of the ground underneath my feet. It didn't always feel good. It's tiny little rocks. Those are the worst. She can't avoid them. She can't see them. Then the next thing you know, they're digging into your soul.
I didn't have any serious injuries. Nothing was broken or sprained. It was just this acute soreness and sensitivity in the soles of my feet. I tried hard not to fantasize about putting on a pair of shoes just to separate me again from the harshness of the terrain. I'm a little tired and my feet are giving me a little bit of grief, but we're not far now. I can make it.
Despite the pain, I feel so connected to the path beneath my feet. It's such a raw feeling to be so aware of every little pebble, of the ground temperature. It almost feels like I'm getting a gauge of the mood of the earth as I walk. But at the same time, the soles of my feet feel sore and bruised. Every step feels like bliss and agony wrapped in one. But I breathe through it and I keep going. This might just be the most painful part so far. Aspel, come on.
I'm at the parking lot. I made it. But I still have to cross a sea of gravel. before I can reach my car. Why didn't I park it here yesterday? I don't know. But this is Oh my god, this is horrific. I could just go without getting this extra footage. Oh. Oh my god. Ow. My feet are in so much pain. When I got back to my camp that afternoon, I felt so much more drained than I expected. Happy and connected and exhausted all at the same time.
I've been waiting for this moment for hours. So good. So, I feel really exhausted. My feet are feeling quite sore and quite raw, but I'm also feeling really accomplished because this is something that I've been wanting to do for years now, and finally, I got to do it. I know that to some of you it may seem silly or extreme, but for me this was such an amazing way to like just reconnect to my body because every single step over the last 45 km I felt it. I felt it deep inside me with my whole body and sometimes with my soul and my heart especially when it was painful towards the end. You know, I feel like I have a new found even deeper appreciation now for what the human body is capable of. And really, I just want to say that it's
so easy to fall for the trap of like really good marketing. It's really easy to believe that we need all these things to make our lives better, to make our hiking experience better, to make this and that better. But really, sometimes we don't need all those things. Sometimes all that we need is just our own two feet and the will and the desire to get out there. And I just love the fact that you can hike barefoot over the mountains for like a marathon distance and it's it's fine, you know. It's fine. But I am quite happy to be wearing shoes tomorrow. I feel like I need a few days in shoes now. Need some like soft souls under my feet for a little while.
Thank you feet for carrying me all that way. You are awesome.
