For at least one year, a Cumbrian woman plans to share the stories of grassroots activists from her home in Cumbria all the way to the furthest reaches of Mongolia.

Rosie Watson, 25, has undertaken the massive challenge of running from her home in Cockermouth, through Europe all the way through to Mongolia.

Her journey began in August 2019 and so far she has run the length of Europe to the coastline of Croatia with the help and hospitality of those she has met along the way.

Rosie said: “I think it’s been one of the best experiences of my life so far really.

“Being outside every day and going through different countries but seeing it all on foot because you get such a better perspective of that country because you’re not just hopping between different tourist hot-spots.”

Her plan for this project, called New Stories, is to discover new ways of living and working to meet our needs as climate changes make its mark on the world.

Throughout each country and region, she has visited, the evidence of changing weather is evident.

In Croatia, the local people tell her that there should be snow on the mountains at this time of year - yet there is none.

“They are usually covered in snow by now and they’re usually really cold so they can have temperatures down to minus 20 on the tops,” she said,

“So many people have just constantly been saying that this isn’t normal, it didn’t use to be like this but the last couple of years we have had really strange weather and that’s been a theme across lots of different places”

As she travels further away from the UK she will encounter vastly different landscapes that show how climate change has impacted the environment.

When her journey takes her through Uzbekistan, she will pass by the Aral Sea which has been shrinking and slowly turning into salt and dust.

According to regional experts, this has impacted climate change as the dust and salt storms have altered the atmospheric levels.

“I think the impacts are being felt in different ways in different countries and more, for example, in Mongolia,” she said.

“A lot of people there rely on the land and the seasons and farming and everything - I think it will be more obvious the more I go along.”

Rosie has heard the incredible stories of people who are raising awareness and actively fighting against degradation of their environment.

In Cumbria, she met with Amy Bray who has set-up her own charity to encourage sustainable living.

She stayed in a sustainable hotel while in Slovenia in December.

“It is the variety between them that I have found the most interesting,” she said.

“I went to the most innovative solar research centre, I also visited the UN centre in Bonn and then I also visited some protestors who live in trees in this forest which is being cut down by a coal mine.”

The route she plans to take is ambitious and at times she has had to make changes in order to ensure she is travelling safely.

This can make the journey difficult, both physically and psychologically.

Whilst travelling across the Alps, she had to run along the main road as opposed to the more direct route through the mountains.

She said: “It was really horrible and it’s really damaging to your legs because it’s the same movement over and over.

“I was trying to save my legs by only walking that bit which I think was a bad idea because when I actually ran I ended up pulling something.

“It was psychologically challenging to keep going through that bit when it was a really draining route.”

You can read her story online at https://newstoryrun.wordpress.com/