The D Tour podcast reaches the top 1% of global downloads

The D Tour podcast reached 6,945 downloads last week, placing it in the top 1% of global podcast downloads.

The podcast explores dementia issues and documents Harriet Thomas’ 900 mile journey from Land’s End to John O’Groats to raise £25,000 for Dementia Adventure – she is currently only halfway there.

The podcast captures the highs and lows of Harriet’s 90-day journey to John O’Groats and also features conversations with celebrities such as singing legend Tony Christie, who has dementia, interviews with experts in the field of dementia and stories of human resilience and hope affected by the disease.

Harriet also chooses the music that accompanies each episode, with her latest episode featuring “The Bonny Banks of Loch Lomond” by Ella Roberts to celebrate her arrival in Scotland.

Harriet said: “We had our sights set high when we launched the D Tour but it has exceeded all expectations and we are truly overwhelmed.”

“Through my stories about my journey and all the lovely people we met along the way, we sought to encourage listeners to embrace the present moment and find joy in simple pleasures.

“It was also our aim to challenge perceptions of dementia and encourage listeners to donate to the excellent charity Dementia Adventure. It’s heartwarming to see that the D Tour does all of this and more.

“This walk was in honor of my mother Susan, who lived with dementia for nine years. She loved nature and even when she became non-verbal and didn’t recognize who I was, she felt the sensory power of nature – the temperature of the air, the breeze in her hair and in her nostrils, the scents, the color of the flowers – everything awakened something in her.

“That’s one of the reasons I’m raising money for Dementia Adventure, which provides supported outdoor holidays for families living with dementia.”

Dementia Adventure secured a streaming partnership with the Music for Dementia campaign, which operates m4dRadio.com, a free online streaming platform that plays decade-specific music for people with dementia.

m4dRadio.com streams “The D Tour” podcast weekly on its platform. This is the first voice-based show to air.

Sarah Metcalfe, managing director of Music for Dementia, said: “m4d Radio has been considering trying voice-based programming for some time and The D Tour seemed like the perfect opportunity to see if our audience would be receptive to this type of content .”

“We are very happy about such good listener numbers. This is the first content partnership of its kind and we are very pleased with how well it has gone so far.”

The episodes, sponsored by Mac’s Adventure and produced by Charlotte Foster, will be released every Friday through November.

All episodes of The D Tour can be found on the Dementia Adventure website.