Like many captivated readers of “The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean,” I was inspired by the adventure travel narrative to embark on my own midlife project involving a “sea change” and with it a new career direction.

This personal life-altering experience began when I finished the book and joined author Joel Stratte-McClure on his walk around the Mediterranean Sea in southern Italy last year. Watching The Idiot in action, and getting a taste of the trail, eventually led me to an exciting new job managing the extension of a ten-kilometre walking track in Bridport, a delightful seaside holiday town
on the northeast coast of Tasmania, Australia.

My literary and personal familiarity with the conditions and hazards of MedTrekking not only helped me land the job but will give me the capability of implementing many things that I have learnt about trekking by reading “The Idiot and the Odyssey” and in walking the Mediterranean with The Idiot himself.

On the Path with The Idiot in Italy

The million-dollar Bridport project will encircle the town and offer walkers and nature enthusiasts commanding views over Anderson Bay and the mountain ranges beyond. The track experience will take hikers through varied and contrasting natural features including coastal landscapes, beaches and wildflower reserves, river and forest sections, and there are historic features to ensure a multi faceted experience for tourists and locals alike.

The path might not be quite as lengthy or challenging as the Mediterranean but locals can’t wait for its completion and I’m thrilled and honoured to help lead them on the way.

The Bridport project also provides a value-added training opportunity for 30 participants to learn skills and experience in track work construction. A Certificate in Land Conservation Management is gained upon completion with pathways to careers in “Green Jobs.”

One of them might even take up The Idiot’s suggestion to design and create a path around the entire Mediterranean Sea using “The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean” as a guide.

Judy Barnett preparing to blaze a new trail in Bridport, Tasmania

Photos: Joel Stratte-McClure, Mark Wright

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About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."