Living Adventurously

Ben Cummins is on a mission to deliver a piano from Liverpool to London. On a home-made raft. That he propels himself. Within 25 years... So far it has taken Ben seven years to push his raft the 127 miles along the canal from Liverpool to Leeds! This adventure / art project / way of life began when Ben asked himself a brilliant question, "what is it that I want from my life?" Ben invited me onto h...

Thom Barnett runs Mamnick, a clothing brand passionate about cycling. The tagline is "one thing at a time, as beautiful as possible". I cajoled Thom out of bed at early o'clock and we cycled out of Sheffield together, nipping down the back alleys and cycle paths he knows so well.  Over breakfast I asked the fine arts graduate about life as a fashion designer, loving what you do, and Thom's love fo...

Professor Ian Rotherham is an expert on a range of environmental issues, including urban wildlife, extreme weather, flooding and climate change. He has published extensively in academic journals, and has released a number of books on UK wildlife and the environment. Ian is a man positively bursting with enthusiasm and knowledge and ideas. Ian poured forth a cheerful stream of lessons on the enviro...

Sophie Stephenson was living the life she’d always wanted. She had a well-paid dream job in Australia, lived in a beautiful place and felt secure in the knowledge that this could go on, indefinitely. But she was, she realised, unfulfilled. She was not, it turned out, truly happy with this life at all. By chance Sophie came across a reference to Nancy Kline’s book Time to Think. She described a way...

Jon Barton is the founder of Vertebrate Publishing. It sits at the very heart of British adventure writing and outdoor sports. Jon says that "we publish books to inspire adventure. It’s our rule that the only books we publish are those that we’d want to read or use ourselves. We endeavour to bring you beautiful books that stand the test of time and that you’ll be proud to have on your bookshelf fo...

Tomo Thompson is Chief Executive of the charity Friends of the Peak District who work to safeguard the landscape of Britain’s first national park. Tomo is a retired Army Officer, with a recent background in business management consultancy. He also enjoys and instructs outdoor pursuits and is an encyclopaedia of knowledge about expeditions, equipment and fine places to unroll your bivvy bag for the...

Louise McMahon is a climber, caver, diver, occasional photographer and a trans woman she/her. So says her Twitter bio, and I like the order she has chosen to list things in. Once Louise had unpicked and identified the problems she faced, the big change of committing to transition was a sudden release and huge relief. Committing was, in the end, easier than hiding. And none of the worries she had b...

Sarah Lister was drifting through her twenties until a 'doorstep mile' moment of commitment saw her quit her unloved job and begin again. Today Sarah lives in a cosy cottage at the foot of beautiful fells in the Peak District National Park. She works as a coach these days and this has given her a new way of thinking, teaching her that a fresh perspective comes from asking open, non-judgemental que...

Hetty Key combined her industry experience of the Outdoor / Adventure world with her academic background to investigate issues surrounding women in adventure. Hetty is passionate about using data to increase diversity and improve accessibility within the outdoors. Women in Adventure offers a collective voice for women, empowering others through the sharing of information, inspiration and advice. W...

Helen Mort is a busy woman. She is an award-winning poet and novelist, a runner and a climber. She has also recently become a mum which has transformed her perspective on living adventurously. She told me about being open to the possibilities of change in your life, and the weird way in which an expedition to Greenland can feel less daunting than staying in Sheffield at a gathering of other new pa...

Tommy Banks was the youngest chef in the world to be awarded a Michelin star. The Black Swan at Oldstead was rated the best restaurant in the world by TripAdvisor in 2017. As a connoisseur of banana sandwiches and dehydrated expedition meals, this was not my usual world! But that is exactly what I was interested in on this bicycle ride: to learn about different people's worlds and ask myself how t...

Simon Jackson launched the superb Moors One Hundred bikepacking event in North Yorkshire. He guided me around some of his favourite trails on a glorious day of summer heatwave. Simon has a normal job and the usual commitments of raising a family. So he has to work hard to squeeze in bursts of adventure and spending time in the wild places that he loves. I loved the story he told me about setting h...

Mike Bagshaw is a Lancastrian by birth and a zoologist by training. He spent his working career in education, initially indoors, but then for 30 years he worked in outdoor education centres, introducing children and adults to the delights of watersports, mountaineering, forest education and how to understand and appreciate the natural world. I met Mike for lunch at the picturesque Runswick Bay, at...

Kay Willis is the director at Beyond Boundaries, an organisation that provides opportunities for people with learning disabilities in the beautiful setting of Commondale, North Yorkshire. My ride to the farm took me (after a terrible night's sleep in a gale in a wood) up and over impressive, empty moorland and the first massive hills of my trip. It was a stunning location and extremely peaceful. T...

Claire Fuller is training to be an occupational therapist. She loves wild swimming and getting out onto the North Yorkshire moors for overnight camps. Finding the balance between being a busy working woman and a carefree adventurous soul can be difficult. I spent a month cycling around Yorkshire, interviewing people along the way about their perspectives on trying to live more adventurously. I'd n...

I spent a glorious summer month cycling around Yorkshire, the county where I grew up. I wanted to feel how exploring locally compared to exploring distant continents.  And I was interested in the idea of ‘home’ - and whether it is possible to have a proper adventure — make a REAL journey — close to home. It turned out to be such a fantastic experience — riding through mile after mile of beautiful...