Great British Adventures

“Despite all our accomplishments, we owe our existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.” – Paul Harvey Claire Mackenzie and Colin Ramsay are the visionary filmmakers behind the independent, British documentary, " Six Inches of Soil" , that is pioneering conversations about the future of farming and the environment not just in Britain, but around the world. Their film foll...

Jen Lowthrop is a travel blogger and adventurer who craved more time outdoors and wanted to learn more about our beautiful National Parks. So she set herself the challenge to walk across each of the 10 English National Parks across 10 weeks. Together with her rescue dog, Cookie, they hiked over 1,000 miles and raised over £10,000 for the Peak District Foundation, a charity that cares and improves...

Michelle Beaver is someone who cannot say no to a life challenge. As someone who was once scared of flying, foreign food, and camping, she has spent the past 10 years conquering these fears through grand adventures, from trekking the Great Wall of China, scaling Kilimanjaro, and camping in the Grand Canyon And her secret in how she has found the confidence in putting herself out her comfort zone?...

Sarah Lister is a Life Coach who facilitates outdoor conversations with clients by taking them on a hike. She believes clarity can be found by saying things out loud in an outdoor environment. And Sarah has been on her own journey of personal transformation, growth, and fulfilment. After pursing a life in the city that on the surface looked safe and secure, she soon realised it was making her unha...

Patrick Davies OBE is a former UK Diplomat with 25 years of service representing Queen and Country in the UK and abroad. In the fallout of Brexit, and caring for his father who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Patrick sought a profound change, embarking on an incredible journey that took him across the length of Britain on foot, tackling each of the three nations highest peaks along the way. I...

Amy Harris has a way with words that will touch the depths of your soul and take you on the wildest of journeys. As a poet based in Manchester, Amy’s has used poetry to explore the complexities of human emotions through her own experiences of love, loss, heartbreak and social justice. She’s a regular on the spoken word scene and last year her poem titled, “My Kind of Heaven” was chosen to be sold...

Pelumi Nubi might just be the inspiration you need to go on your next adventure alone. She is proof that you don't need much to go far, and doing it solo can build strength and resilience. Recently, Pelumi drove from London to Lagos, connecting the two places she calls home. She undertook this 6,200 mile journey in her tiny, 12 year old, Peugeot 107, passing through 17 countries, taking on some di...

Danny Bent has lived a thousand lives. And you can feel this in his presence. His smile lights up a room. His positive energy is contagious. It's hard not to feel like something incredible is about to happen when he's around. He's also driven to take bold actions in setting up projects that create positive change whether that is the free fitness community, Project Awesome, or One Run For Boston -...

Adrienne Gordon loves growing veg.  And after touring the world by bike, volunteering on organic farms along the way, she returned to the UK with a wealth of knowledge and experience in how best to turn seeds into food. This is the story of how Adrienne found a plot of land close to where she lived and turned a plain 4 acre field, that only grew one crop, into a sprawling, diverse oasis of delicio...

Jessica Hepburn is the only woman in the world to have swam the English Channel, run the London Marathon, and climbed Mt. Everest - the so called 'Sea, Street, Summit Challenge.' She also claims to be the only person to have listened to every available episode of the popular BBC Radio 4 show, Desert Island Discs (there's over 3,000!) But that is just the adventure headlines. And at the heart of Je...

In May 2023, Geraldine McFaul set off from her home in Glasgow to walk all the way to Rome. She had two rules, she was not carrying a rucksack, and she was not going over the Alps. With a buggy in tow, Geraldine passed through 6 countries, walking a distance of 2,000 miles on a journey that took her 6 months. But Geraldine's story is more than just a long walk to Rome. At it's heart, this journey...

As a former world champion in triathlon, Kate Strong knows what it takes to be at the very top of her game. But she also knows what it feels like to fall back to zero, such is the fragility of competitive sports, and the reality of getting injured as an athlete. Starting again from the bottom with the bare minimum, Kate built herself back and aimed to be the first woman to set a world record for t...

Louis Alexander boasts a pretty awesome job title: Professional Explorer. And it's certainly one he merits, having recently completed 7 marathons on each of the 7 continents - a feat only a few hundred people in history have ever accomplished. But what is more remarkable about Louis, is that he has achieved all this at the age of 24. And this is just the tip of his adventurous CV. Louis' achieveme...

There are many athletes that are great at doing one thing, but few master multiple disciplines, especially ones as wild as MMA, ultra-endurance triathlons and weight lifting. Justin True really does it all. And Justin's most recent adventure, lifting the famous 'Dinnie Stones' in Scotland (which have a combined weight of 332kg) is a feat very few people have ever managed. Far more have scaled Ever...

Growing up, Anna Jackson was encouraged by her farming parents to leave the family farm and get a proper job. And she soon found herself working as a busy photographer in London and all over the world. But when Covid hit, her work immediately dried up and she was forced to move back home to the very farm she grew up on. Initially having no interest in farming, Anna's life changed when she was give...

Jeric Yuen is a digital GPS artist who uses running to create incredible pieces of art. This year he was recognised in Strava’s Year In Sport 2023 Awards with a nomination for Strava’s Artist of the Year With over 50 detailed GPS drawings to his name, including a collection of animals, a rhino, a tiger and a giraffe to name but a few, Jeric really is a master of his craft. In this episode, Tom joi...

John Willis was born without fully formed arms and legs and grew up in a time where there were no opportunities for someone like him to play sport. In a bid to change this, John set up the charity Power2Inspire with the mission to provide opportunities for everyone to play sport together, regardless of their ability or disability. To celebrate the charity’s 10 year anniversary John embarked on an...

Can you imagine completing an ironman triathlon, only to complete another one the next day. And another the day after, and another again after that, for months at a time? This was the life of Sean Conway, all in a bid to set the record of the most consecutive iron-distance triathlons in a row. The previous record, set in 2021 by James Lawrence, stood at 101 days. Sean smashed this record, continui...

Sarah Merker set herself the challenge to eat a scone in every National Trust place that sold one, all in a bid to get her money's worth from her National Trust membership. And to hold herself accountable, she set up a blog, posting reviews of each site and every scone she ate. In total, on an adventure that spanned 10 years, Sarah visited 244 National Trust places. And as a result, Sarah has...

What do you do in the face of watching terrible atrocities occur in your home country when you are thousands of miles away? For Olga Stignii, she turned to the one thing that has given her strength and purpose throughout her life: running Last year, to mark 31 years of Ukrainian independence and highlight the ongoing war, Olga challenged herself to run 31 kilometres every day, 31 days in a row. Ea...

At the age of 16, Freya was severely depressed and tried to end her life. She credits running for saving her life. Years later, working in Human Rights Law, Freya discovered that 1/3 of asylum seekers held in a UK detention centre were on suicide watch. She wanted to help change this. And created The Human Disco Ball, a campaign to raise money for legal aid for refugees whilst running 2,500km dres...

Jonty Brown is a type 1 diabetic who has achieved some awesome things in spite of his condition. Jonty is a European record holder in The Speed Project, has completed a self supported 100km run and holds the accolade of being the first type 1 diabetic to run across England. If this sounds remarkable enough, consider that all of this has been achieved in just a few years of running. In this convers...

Captured on Day 69 of his #IRON102 challenge, Sean shares how he is feeling so far in the depths of his epic challenge. Recorded while running the marathon leg, Sean breaks down what it has taken to get this far into his incredible feat, as he looks to break the record for the most number of consecutive full distance triathlons, a record that currently stands at 101. If you want to support Sean’s...

Emma and Dave Cornthwaite have created Big Sky Hideaway, a camping haven in Lincolnshire, using the natural world as their guide. Committed to being as sustainable and renewable as possible, Big Sky is a space that puts wild experiences in nature at it's very heart. They have composting toilets, rain water collection, showers-to-order, thousands of newly planted trees, and a grass heated hot water...

Deo Kato shares his story of running 10km every day for 381 days, in a peaceful protest against racial injustice. After the death of George Floyd, Deo wanted to create a protest that was persistent, long lasting and above all, peaceful. Finding inspiration from the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955, which lasted for 381 days, Deo decided to run 10km every day for that period of time. In this conversa...