A Cockermouth woman who has run more than 3,500km through Europe in a bid to highlight the climate crisis has had to put her plans on hold - in Kosovo.

Rosie Watson, 25, set off last August from her parents home near Lorton with the intention of making it to Mongolia. Along the way, the experienced runner has been meeting people who are creating a new, more sustainable, way of living.

She has been wild camping and enjoying incredible hospitality while sharing her experiences on The New Story Run website.

However, following the corona crisis, Rosie is in lockdown in Kosovo.

She is grateful that she has been able to meet up with her partner, Mike Elm, who is cycling through Europe.

“Thankfully Mike had not left the country, and I managed to get to the hostel where he was staying in Prizren - a beautiful town backed by mountains,” said Rosie.

“The two young guys who run it obviously have no other guests, so we can have our own room and they’re happy for us to stay as long as we need to.

“We are expecting the restrictions will make continuing impossible for at least three months. The current plan is to wait it out, at least until there is more of a solid idea of how long measures will be in place.”

During the past seven months progress has been going well. “I am potentially over a quarter of the way to Mongolia; what I originally thought could be a year long trip, I quickly realised would take at least two years,” said Rosie.

“I have covered 3,570km, which averages to 17km per day every day (although I usually did longer days and have a couple of rest days per week).”

She has covered a huge variety of terrain.

“I made it through the flat and hot-ness of the Netherlands, the rainy forests of Germany, to the Alps of Switzerland and Austria, through the snow and minus temperatures.

“I started the trip totally alone, but in Austria was joined by my partner Mike who had decided to return from his trip to China and start a ‘twinned’ bike packing adventure, the New Story Ride.

“From this point on, we have met every week or few, whenever our routes crossed paths - and are able to brainstorm and work together on the overall telling of stories of people trying to make the world a better place - the New Stories!”

Rosie ran over the rocky mountains of Croatia, through Montenegro to Albania, through the wild northern part of the country, and on to Kosovo.

“Then, the world started changing very quickly. The borders, shops, restaurants and transport of Kosovo closed and the busy city of the previous day, where I had arrived and sat outside a full bar drinking a celebratory beer for my longest day so far (43km), was gone, and replaced with a full shut down, and panicked looking people in face masks,” said Rosie.

“There was only one confirmed case in the country but the government cracked down immediately overnight.

“We are feeling pretty lucky - it’s an idyllic place, we are together, we have everything we need, and I think we are also ‘shielded’ by some of stress and anxiety about it by being here.

“We can use the time to have a proper rest, do some rehab on niggles, catch up writing and research the rest of the trip properly.”

Rosie has wild camped at least 70 nights and been hosted for over 90 nights.

“Twenty two of those nights were people who just opened their doors and gave me a bed, when I knocked to ask where might be okay to camp, or if I could camp in the nearby field, or who just got chatting as I passed them. People have been incredibly generous, and meeting them has been the highlight of my trip so far,” she said.

“The ideas we continuously hear from the news about it being dangerous to travel alone, that women are at constant risk, and that people are generally a bit dodgy, is totally untrue in my experience. The majority are brilliant, and the world is a much safer and nicer place than we think.”

To follow Rosie go to: https://newstoryrun.wordpress.com.