julia bradbury's icelandic walk

I've walked that route, and to be quite honest, very little of it appeared on the show. Too much of it was done using vehicles, and large chunks were completely omitted. Overall, the show did very little justice to the route, which is actually incredibly scenic and interesting.

On the other hand... if the little bits of the route that WERE seen are enough to encourage others to follow the route... then all well and good!

Bear in mind that the Laugavegur and Skógar trails get very busy, so that the huts are often full and the campgrounds very cramped. There are lots of other trails in Iceland that are just as much fun to follow, and on some of them you feel as though you have the whole trail to yourself. Give me the Lónsöræfi Trail any day, with its lack of markers, no trodden path, glacier crossings, river fords, and all the time knowing that if it all goes wrong, you're completely on your own!

Very little of our passion makes the mainstream so if it takes alluring looks of eye candy to get the finance to be made then that's the way it is.Still more entertaining than 90% of the crap on tele.

p.s think shes Pretty hot myself.

Julian (world cup winners 2003) wrote (see)

Very little of our passion makes the mainstream so if it takes alluring looks of eye candy to get the finance to be made then that's the way it is...

To be fair...

The weather seemed to be pretty lousy and there's precious little you can do with a camera and crew in those conditions. On the other hand... that's what you get in Iceland!

The first time I walked that trail, the weather was horrendous, and they actually closed the trail while I was on the highest part. (I don't think they've ever done that before... and I just kept walking!) I hardly got any pictures, and if anyone had asked me to tell them what the scenery was like, I wouldn't have been able to. Clearly, that's no use when I was supposed to be checking the route for a guidebook, so I made it an absolute priority to walk the route again during a guaranteed spell of good weather.

All I can say is... it was well worth the wait... and well worth the extra effort. I was fortunate to start at the very beginning of the season, which had been delayed anyway because the mountain roads were opened a month later than they should have been. Large numbers of people had cancelled bookings in the huts because the access roads were closed, so I was able to take advantage of cancellations and book all the necessary huts the day before starting. Please note... that isn't normally possible... I just got lucky! I didn't feel that camping was an option, though four American lads camped, and while I was full of admiration for them digging into the snow, one of their later camps was completely trashed.

and i remember Cameron on here complaining about the difficulty getting finance to make tv programmes unless it had a celebrity involved in it.Considering the millions that walk still very little on the mainstream.

Enjoyable though it is... the actual mechanics of walking don't make for a particularly exciting show. I've heard plenty of people say that they didn't enjoy the Lord of the Rings movies because most of the time the characters were just on some boring long walk!

Personally... I hate seeing the outdoors squashed onto a small screen!

Paddy's right, walking just doesn't come across right on screen. It takes someone like J Bradbury or someone quirky like Weatherman Walking to make it sellable to the TV people.

To be honest, I would hate it if walking somehow became all the rage and everybody was out there. Half the attraction for me is getting away from it all.

ExperienceTheBivvy wrote (see)

  A Helium rucksack that bounced all over the place?

Folk have been wishing for 'lighter than air' kit for generations.  Now some has actually arrived the disadvantages are kinda obvious.  I think as the rucsac will always be trying to float away the straps are used differently.

 FWIW it's worth I saw who was presenting it & gave it a miss.   She's on a list of TV folk who I'll only watch reluctantly - Trevor McDonald & Richard Hammond being 2 others.

I have just watched it on iPlayer.  I thought is was an ok programme.

I'll come out of the closet: I like Julia Bradbury!

I have to admit... given the weather I experienced on that trek the first time I walked it... I would have cheerfully accepted the offer of a ride in a truck and a helicopter!

The second time I was on the trail... it was so good that I never expect to see it like that again... and watching it on a small screen is an anti-climax.

ed h wrote (see)

It's illegal to use iPlayer without a TV licence Paddy

Only LIVE stuff... everything else is free... unless you live overseas in which case you can't get it at all.

Kelvin wrote (see)

Small screen Paddy? You mean to say you don't have a gadzillion inch plasma!?

My brother does... but I can't say the scenery looks any better even on that!