Would you like to go on an adventure? With Me?!
Launching Save Me From The Waves: The Adventure Retreat in association with SwimQuest
Dear Big and Brave Family
I have something exciting to announce.
Well, I’m excited. Here’s hoping you might be.
Today - for your eyes only - I’m launching my first ever in person ‘Adventure Retreats’ and because places are limited I’m giving you – my B&BF - the chance to book before anyone else (although I have a confession to make on that front…which I’ll come to further down this post).
If you don’t want me to ‘bury the lede’ because you’re the sort of person who likes to ‘cut to the chase’, then go straight to the links below for all the delectable details.
Save Me From The Waves: The Adventure Retreat - Formentera, May 2025
Save Me From The Waves: The Adventure Retreat - Scotland, Dec 2024 & 2025
But because you’re my dearest Big and Brave Family, I’m hoping you might be interested in hearing the whole story about how this all came about. So why not read on, and then click the links (I’ve re-posted them at the bottom too).
ALL GOOD STORIES SHOULD HAVE A BEGINNING
This story starts over twenty years ago - back when Peter and I first got together. (FYI Peter is my former partner which, if you’ve read my books, you’ll know). Before we dreamed our dream of making a baby, we had another dream as well: of running a creative retreat together somewhere fabulous. We spent several lovely summers trailing around France, Italy and Spain looking for the perfect place. Suffice to say we never found it and then a lot of other stuff happened in our lives – some of it shit, some of it sublime - fast forward to (nearly) now.
I say ‘nearly’ because first I had to climb a certain mountain, listen to over 3000 episodes of a certain radio podcast, and write a certain book. But all the while I was doing that I had a question in my head: ‘When I’ve finally finished this, what next?’
One of the new adventures I’ve known for a while that I wanted to go on is the ‘Your Shit is Your Superpower’ project that I’m now developing with my friend Tara (more on how that’s coming along next week). But another thing I’ve always wanted to do is revive my long lost ‘Retreat’ idea. Without Peter obviously, although the dreams we had are always in my heart.
ALL GOOD STORIES SHOULD HAVE A MIDDLE TOO
So last November, I conducted an experiment (what we call in the theatre world ‘R&D’ – Research & Development). I invited a small group of friends to a beautiful house that I had rented for the weekend around my birthday. The deal was that for their birthday present to me they had to participate in an adventure I had carefully curated for them. We walked in the woods, we swam in the sea (yes, in November and not all of them are wild swimmers by any means). We listened to music. We danced. We sang. We talked about BIG stuff (because I’ve never been interested in small talk). And, of course, we ate and drank deliciously.
At the end of the weekend, I asked them to each give me three words (my favourite number) to describe the experience we’d been through together. The words they sent me included: ‘Unlocked’, ‘Core-exposing’, ‘Seen’, ‘Connected’, ‘Inclusive’, ‘Joy’, ‘Laughter’, ‘Tears’, ‘Enriched’, ‘Grateful’, ‘Refreshed’, ‘Reinvigorated’, ‘Ready-to-Adventure’, ‘Big-and-Brave’.
And here’s one of my favourite comments from my dear friend Vicky:
‘So much laughter, so much sadness, so much fun. Full of moments where you don’t want to be anywhere else but where you are right now.’
ALL GOOD STORIES SHOULD HAVE A FABULOUS ENDING – AND THIS ONE HAS AN EXCITING NEW BEGINNING…
The R&D showed me that this idea of mine was special. Part creative journey, part adventure challenge, part soulful wellness retreat, it brings together everything I am. But then 2024 arrived, I had a book to promote, and not much time to progress it. Until something serendipitous happened. Which weirdly might never have happened without THAT New York Times Article (if you don’t know what that means then go through the rabbit hole of the link). But the important point is that it precipitated me meeting up with the person who told me about that article, who also happens to be one the first people who joined my ‘Big and Brave Substack Family’.
And that person is Alice Todd - the lovely Co-Founder of SwimQuest holidays which is the fabulous company that supported a lot of my Channel training and I have subsequently swum with all over the world on some of the best adventures of my life. (Including the Bahamas (a treat to myself for swimming the Channel) and the Maldives (my trip to a desert island that I wrote about at the end of Save Me From The Waves and my treat for summiting Chomolungma) and the amazing Scilly Swim Challenge last year. Anyway. Following that NYT article, Alice and I arranged to meet up one day in June for a long walk through Richmond Park. And it was there that I told her about my Retreat R&D, and she spontaneously said: ‘Why don’t you do your Retreat with us?’.
The suggestion felt amazing. The timing felt perfect. And now here we are launching – Save Me From The Waves: The Adventure Retreat – hosted by Jessica Hepburn in association with SwimQuest
So I’ve come to the end of my story which is excitingly just a beginning. Plus, we’re not just launching one retreat, we’re announcing two different locations - a three day retreat on the stunning West Coast of Scotland. And a week-long retreat on the idylllic island of Formentera in Spain. Both places have immense meaning for me. Scotland is where I did a lot of my training for Chomolungma; and Formentera is where I did a lot of my training (with SwimQuest) for the Channel. Both places feature in my books 21 Miles and Save Me From The Waves. And what’s even more perfect is that Alice is going to be co-leading both retreats with me (which is quite a coup because she’s not only the Joint CEO of SwimQuest, she’s also mum to toddler twin boys and two Siberian Husky girls which doesn’t give her a chance to get away much). It truly feels like a collaboration made in sea-to-summit-heaven.
You’ll find all the details - including accomodation, itinerary and price - through the links below. We’d love you to join us. I promise you it will be a unique and unforgettable experience. A journey of joy that will be an adventure in itself - from sunrise dips to starlit strolls, inspirational talks, creative reflection, and plenty of time for rest and rejuvenation.
Save Me From The Waves – The Adventure Retreat - Formentera, Spain (May 2025)
Save Me From The Waves – The Adventure Retreat – Scotland (Dec 2024 & 2025)
[And finally my wee confession…We initially started planning just one retreat (the three day one in Scotland this coming December 2024). We advertised it to the SwimQuest mailing list a few weeks ago on a Thursday (and I was planning to tell my own mailing list about it a few days later on the Sunday). But I couldn’t because it sold out within 48 hours which was both unexpected and incredible! The only answer was to go large, and we immediately started planning the week in Formentera followed by another three day retreat in Scotland in 2025. This time I’m telling you my Substack Family first in order to give you Exclusive Priority Booking - for the next two weeks after which we’ll advertise it more widely. (And if by any chance you do fancy Scotland this winter, we’ve just had a cancellation so there is now one female shared room place left – feel free to snaffle it!)].
PS. Thank you to the wonderful Sam Mould - SwimQuest guide and artist - for painting our beautiful retreat image. We love it (so much, here it is again!)
