Tough Girl Podcast Fredi Chohan: Adventure Queen Grant Winner – Hiking the Pennine Way on Her First Multi-Day Adventure at 54
Fredi Chohan is a sports enthusiast and advocate for embracing new challenges, proving it’s never too late to take on something extraordinary. At 54, she became an Adventure Queen Grant winner, using the support to embark on her first-ever multi-day hike: the 268-mile Pennine Way.
Growing up with a passion for sports like hockey and football, Fredi carried her love for physical activity into adulthood, playing hockey at the club level and coaching under-7s football. After losing her mother and finding herself at a crossroads in life, she was inspired by a friend to step into the world of long-distance walking.
The Adventure Queen Grant gave her the push she needed to train, plan, and undertake this life-changing journey.
Starting from Kirk Yetholm and walking south, Fredi faced both triumphs and challenges, including overpacking, embracing her slow pace, and navigating the outdoors solo as an Asian woman. While a family emergency initially prevented her from completing the final two days, Fredi later returned to the trail with friends to finish her Pennine Way journey and celebrated her 55th birthday with a renewed sense of purpose and accomplishment.
In this episode, Fredi reflects on her Pennine Way experience, how she captured it in a documentary with Frit Films, and her advice for women—of any age or background—who are dreaming of taking their first steps toward adventure.
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Show notes
- Who is Fredi?
- Growing up and being into sports (hockey, football) from a young age
- Going walking with her friends
- Wanting to do a challenge for herself
- Carrying on sports into adulthood
- Playing hockey to club level
- Her passion for cricket and football
- Being encouraged to play sports by her family
- Being a football coach and working with the under 7s
- Thinking about the Pennine Way and wanting to take it on as a walk
- Being at a crossroads in her life
- Losing her motivation
- Loosing her mum and working a zero hour contract job, with no direction
- Being inspired by a friend to do a long walk
- Learning about the Adventure Queen Grant
- Meeting the filmmaker and the sponsors from Sprayway
- 54 years young
- Planning to finish on her 55th birthday
- Getting £500 plus other benefits from the grant
- Gaining new skills and starting to train
- Starting from Kirk Yetholm walking from the North, down to the South
- Being a very slow walker
- Wanting to be out in nature and seeing the beauty
- Overpacking at the start!
- Filming the challenge and making it into a documentary
- Frit Films
- The difficult parts of filming
- Dealing with a challenging family situation and needing to leave the walk 2 days before the end
- Sharing her adventure with friends
- The Pennine Way - Step by Step, Side by Side
- Finishing the walk
- Highlights and magical moments from the walk
- Being an Asian woman and walking alone in nature
- Advice for Asian women who want to take on a solo adventure
- Starting small, with baby steps
- Walking on a regular basis
- Watch the film on Youtube
- Being new to social media
- Why age is a number
- Make it your adventure
Social Media
Instagram @fchohan66