Did you know that you can listen to many of your favourite podcasts first on BBC Sounds?

Like Desert Island Discs, where you can hear castaways like Cher, Gareth Southgate and Nick Cave,

and enjoy longer versions of the music they've picked. Good things come to those who don't wait.

Listen to your favourite podcasts first on BBC Sounds.

This Scotland Outdoors podcast from BBC Radio Scotland.

Can you imagine giving up everything you own, and I mean everything, packing up just the essentials,

climbing into a kayak and heading off onto the water knowing that it would be a year until you returned home?

That's exactly what Nick Ray has done aged 59. For Nick, these choices have literally been life-saving.

As a result, he now has an enormous social media following across the world

from people who are supporting him not just in his physical journey around the coast of Scotland,

but also his mental health journey as well.

Music but also his mental health journey as well. I'm Mark Stephen.

This is the Scotland Outdoors podcast from BBC Radio Scotland.

Recently I met Nick on the shores of Loch Levin,

where we discussed his adventure

and his very real struggles with mental health and suicide. So there are

aspects of this that you might find a wee bit disturbing. When we met in January 2023, what I really

wanted to know for a start was the nuts and bolts. What do you have to take with you on a year-long

kayaking adventure? I have my tent and I've got a lovely down sleeping bag and a sleeping mat,

plenty of warm clothes, lots of thermal clothing cooker and I carry three litres of

fuels. I use a trans-a-stove, it's bomb-proof and reliable. I have books to read and I've got my

journal, pens and all my electrical items. You know, I'm a bit of a gadget freak. So I've got my

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