Routes

Double Olympic gold medallist and nine-time world champion cyclist Victoria Pendleton joins Jenni on Routes from LNER to talk about a life built on chasing new challenges. Victoria traces her journey from touring the UK on the back of her dad's tandem to racing across five continents, and reflects on the surprising imposter syndrome that shadowed her right up to becoming world champion.

She opens up about two of her boldest post-cycling pursuits — training to become an amateur jump jockey at Cheltenham in under a year, and an attempt on Everest that tested her in ways she didn't expect.

Victoria also shares how writing her new book, The Fear Opportunity, became an unexpected form of therapy following the loss of her twin brother, and why she believes stepping outside our comfort zones is one of the most important things we can do.

Plus: skydiving on her first holiday as a couple, surfing in the Algarve, and the story of the day her dad accidentally ended up on a train to Peterborough.

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Race Across the World winner and self-confessed adventurer Alfie Watts joins Jenni on this Quiet Coach episode of Routes from LNER to share the snacks, tracks and hacks that fuel his life on the move.

Expect a firm stance on the age-old Pringles-versus-Haribo debate, a very specific idea of what his 100th country needs to be, and the truth behind a passport story that isn't quite what it first seems.

Alfie also opens up about the song that instantly takes him back to the trip that changed everything, plus a heartfelt reflection on why, after 3,500 miles by tuk tuk for mental health charity YoungMinds, nothing beats coming home to the UK.

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At just 23, Alfie Watts has visited 96 countries, become the youngest ever winner of BBC's Race Across the World, and driven a tuk-tuk over 3,500 miles from London to Norway's North Cape for charity. He joins Jenni to talk about how travel transformed his life, from a disastrous first flight to Barcelona at 13, to a life-changing trip to Croatia that opened his eyes to how accessible the world could be.

Alfie shares stories from his tuk-tuk adventure, including being challenged to a race by a Dutch police officer, and reflects on his time on Race Across the World with best friend Owen. He also opens up about his work with mental health charity YoungMinds, and why he's now touring UK schools to show young people that travel is more attainable than they think.

From Petra at sunrise to a surprisingly pink sunset in Aruba, Alfie takes Jenni through some of his most unforgettable travel moments, plus a surprising confession about his secret love for Tenerife. Adventurous, honest and full of energy, this is a conversation about chasing the unknown and finding home in unexpected places.

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Dr. Amir Khan takes Jenni through his essential travel toolkit in this Quiet Coach episode of Routes from LNER, covering the snacks, tracks and hacks that get him through life on the road.
On the food front, Amir shares his love of air-fried chickpeas and reveals his mum's habit of packing enough home-cooked kebabs and samosas to feed the whole train carriage. Musically, he's an unashamed devotee of 90s R&B, and tells the story of once storming the stage at a TLC concert, determined to be serenaded by Chilli, only to be rugby-tackled by security along the way.
There's also a genuinely useful tip for anyone who gets eaten alive by mosquitoes on holiday, plus a confession about the time he nearly missed a flight in South Africa after squeezing in an airport massage.

From a childhood trip to Pakistan met by fifty excited relatives to a middle-of-the-night bear encounter in the Canadian Rockies, Dr. Amir Khan's life has been shaped by family, adventure and the pull of travel. In this episode of Routes from LNER, the GP and broadcaster joins Jenni on the train to Bradford to talk about growing up as the only boy among six sisters, why Yorkshire will always be home, and the trips that have stayed with him.

Amir reflects on his father's three-week bus journey from Pakistan to the UK, long before Amir himself made the trip and was welcomed with flower garlands and endless home-cooked meals by relatives he'd never met. He shares stories of backpacking through Central and South America during his medical elective, and working as a GP in the same Bradford community he grew up in.

There's plenty of talk about switching off too, from early starts on the LNER to London and his devotion to seat L13, to recent holidays in Mallorca and a bucket-list dream of tracing the Silk Route through Kazakhstan. Amir also opens up about the volunteer medical work in Malawi that humbled him, his love of running before sunrise, and why, no matter how far he travels, he could never live more than 40 minutes from his mum.

lner.co.uk/destinations/travel-inspiration/podcast/