Hike

How to Stay Warm Outside in Winter

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Hiking in winter can be splendid, but how to stay warm outside, walking in cold or rainy weather?

I live near the North Sea coast in Holland, so the winters are moderately cold, no extreme temperatures here. Rain, fog and strong winds are more regular companions during the winter months. Even in these weather conditions, a good preparation before a long hike is necessary.

Staying Dry is Vital to Stay Warm

Getting soaked by rain during a citytrip with my mom, I was glad to wear a waterproof jacket!

You want to make sure that you don’t get wet, not only from the outside, but especially from the inside. So a good raincoat is essential. But if you sweat easily and plentiful, like me, staying dry from the inside out can also be a challenge, even in dry weather!

According to the weather and the circumstances, I either use breathable sport shirts from high tech materials, that transport any produced sweat swiftly away from the skin to the next layer of clothing, or a first layer clothing of good quality merino wool .

Whatever you choose, make sure to keep away from cotton!

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Strolling through the streets of Athens

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Quick post, to share some pics of my visit to Athens.

I have been to Athens several times before, so I didn’t feel the urge to visit all the historical sites in the 5 days I spent with my dad at the beginning of April 2022.

We revisited quite a few of them anyway, focusing on 1 museum/ historical highlight a day. For the rest of the time, we just followed our feet, randomly strolling through the city.

Akropolis - view from Balcony

*This is the view from the balcony, I literally saw the Parthenon / Acropolis on waking up and before going to bed, how cool is that?

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About Kadanza

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Hi there, it’s Kadanza from The Netherlands!

My whole life, I took a walk when I felt stuck.

When I didn’t know how to shape my future in my early twenties, I flew to Nepal with minimal preparationMe as a cartoon walking in the woods and absolutely no hike training and went trekking in the Himalayas for nearly 3 months. Quite drastic, looking back.  But it worked out that first time, and it did again all the other times that I put my hiking shoes on and just started to walk.

For the last 20 years I have lived near the beach, so at least 3 times a week you can find me strolling there, right after breakfast or during my lunch break. Walking at least 10.000 steps a day was my normal. During hiking or city trips, I walked a lot more steps a day.

Then Covid-19 came and hit me hard.

Because of Long-Covid, I couldn’t hike for months.

Walking the stairs to my apartment got me completely out of breath, grocery shopping was too much effort, I was exhausted all the time, suffered from brain fog and headaches, my muscles felt sore and weak, and to make matters worse I developed serious edema, so walking became very painful.

While my health deteriorated, I gained 22 kilos, due to emotional eating combined with being a sudden couch potato…

With fascia therapy, energy management, and a healthy and clean food regime, I slowly got over my long-covid symptoms. But my stamina and fitness still were nowhere to be found. Then, one day, I just had enough. At the beginning of October 2021, I made a vow to myself:

I am getting my vitality back, by hiking!

I had to start all over again. A 15-minute walk in the first week drained all my energy. So I decided 2 things:

  1. Every improvement counts, even the smallest step forward is a victory, as long as I keep on going. If I do 100 steps more today than I did yesterday, I will call it a win.
  2. I am not going to do this alone. I am going to create a community of hiking buddies, on my path back to health and happiness. For accountability, sure, I know myself. I am not very disciplined. But mostly, because it is more fun, sharing goals, getting fit, and walking together with friends.

I share my hiking pitfalls, victories, tips, and stories here.

I know how it feels to start from scratch, not knowing if you ever get your stamina back. The silent desperation. The feeling of giving up, because it seems just too much effort…

I hope you find the information, motivation, or inspiration here to hike yourself back to health. This way I am able to expand the hiking- buddy- community online. Feel free to contact me with comments or questions.

You never walk alone! Me as a cartoon pinned on the map

All the best,

KaDanza

kadanza@hikingbacktohealth.com

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