Summit to Talk About

Is trekking on Kilimanjaro on your bucket list? For Summit to Talk About host, Ryan, it's been a long time coming. Having booked the trip 2 years prior, the day finally arrived in October 2023. Ryan answers your questions about his Kilimanjaro adventure and gives his top tip for anyone thinking of heading out on their own adventure to the roof of Africa. Ryan booked his trek with UK based com...

Is trekking on Kilimanjaro on your bucket list? For Summit to Talk About host, Ryan, it's been a long time coming. Having booked the trip 2 years prior, the day finally arrived in October 2023. Listen as Claire and Ryan chat about his recent trip to Tanzania and the ups and downs of trekking for 8 days on the Lemosho route. Ryan booked his trek with UK based company Evertrek . They offer exce...

After many years of teaching in schools, Fleur found that she had a passion for helping people in a pastoral role and retrained as a therapeutic counsellor. When a room indoors was being used, Fleur took her counseling session with a Young Person ,outside on the field. She instantly saw how powerful counselling without walls was. Fleur went on to start her own business as a Therapeutic Counsellor...

James was the life and sole of the party. Fancy a drink? Yes, would be the answer, every time. But it didn't stop with just a drink here and there. James' life was soon fueled by alcohol and drugs. It was consuming him and having an affect on his day to day life and relationships. James seeked help and got his life back on track. Now sober, he has reignited the one relationship that was...

In 2016, Harrison decided it was time to change. After years of suffering with ill mental health and suicidal thoughts, he found alcohol whilst working in hospitality. Alcohol soon became the biggest part of his life, drinking up to 20 pints and smoking everyday whilst battling with depression. A relationship breakdown saw Harrison vowing to remove alcohol and smoking from his life and he left Yor...

Lucy discovered climbing whilst travelling in Australia and was instantly hooked. Back in the UK, she headed to the indoor climbing centre, where she trained hard, til now, the present. Lucy is now a part of Team GB as a paraclimbing athlete, competing in world championships and hoping to compete in the next paralympics. We met with Lucy at Big Depot climbing centre in Leeds. She tells about her t...

Alex Staniforth grew up in Cheshire and had a dream. A dream of climbing the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest. For many, it is just that, a dream. But for Alex, it was a dream he couldn't shake off and he put his all into making it happen. In 2014, at the age of 17, he went to Nepal, ready to make his dream a reality. Unfortunately, disaster struck in the form of a devastating ava...

Jackie and Mark gave up the 9 to 5 life early when they were made redundant. This just meant their plans to hit the road were brought forward a couple of years. They set out to buy a caravan and started their adventure just 10 minutes later at a nearby campsite. Things escalated very quickly when they made the decision to sell all of their possessions and their home to live on the road full time....

May is national walking month and in this episode, Claire is joined by Imogen from GM Walking, an online platform representing 122 walking clubs across Greater Manchester. Part of GM Walking are Abigail's Trails and ABCD Nordic Walking and they tell us what it means to them to be a part of GM Walking and what they have planned throughout May for the Greater Manchester Walking Festival, You ca...

Robin Wallace is a keen hiker, peak bagger and wild camper from Scotland, UK. He documents his outdoor adventures on his YouTube channel - Walk with Wallace. His relaxed yet informative style has seen him nominated twice in The Great Outdoors magazine awards. If peak bagging is your thing, Robin has completed his Munro bagging journey. That's 282 Scottish mountains and he is now well on his w...

The National Outdoor Expo is held at the NEC Birmingham. It showcases the best brands and well-known faces from the outdoors community . We went armed with the recorder to meet YOU - the listeners of the podcast and to have a mooch about the stalls and chat with lots of different people who all have a passion for our great outdoors. So, if you couldn't make it, or you're already missing...

Sian Richardson spent years running, competing in triathlons, cyclosportive events, marathons, ultramarathons and swimming events. In 2014, she decided that cold water swimming would make for a great new challenge. Swimming into the colder months in the Pembrokeshire sea, others began noticing this solo swimmer braving the cold waters and soon started joining in. The Bluetits was born. Fast forwar...

Martin Little has swapped 'Aggressive Camping' for the more relaxing wild camping experience. In his army days, camping was a necessity and built his resilience. That resilience helped him bounce back from a serious injury after a suicide bomber detonated a bomb which unfortunately killed three of his friends and put Martin out of action for 18 months of recovery before returning to Afgh...

Julianne Noon, like many of us, was hit hard by the pandemic lockdown. She decided to get out walking in her local area to keep active and lose weight. After posting pictures of her walks on social media, John got in touch and they soon began walking together. A few small walks and big idea led to the birth of Well Mental UK - an opportunity for people in the local area to join others on group wal...

Love it or loathe it, the weather seems to be one of the most talked about subjects in the UK. For those of us who love spending time outdoors, its an important part of planning our adventures. That's where the Mountain Weather Information Service come to the rescue. Focusing on 10 upland areas of Britain, they produce detailed forecasts specific to mountains, hills and moorlands. In this epi...

Mark aka Mullion Vagrant has lived in Cornwall all of his life and the outdoors has always been a big part of it. He is now a teacher and plans his adventures around his free time. Last year, he thru-hiked the Hebridean Way across its islands taking in Scotland's true wilderness. He also set off to Europe to trek the well known but stunning Tour du Mont Blanc and he shares his stories of the...

In this special bonus episode, I'm joined by Mark aka Mullion Vagrant on Instagram to discuss the very important and hot topic of wild camping in Dartmoor since the High Court judgement on 13th January 2023 ruled that wild camping is no longer legal on any Dartmoor land without the permission of the land owner. This has sent shock waves across the hiking and wild camping community and we disc...

Amy aka Bookworm Explores is a lover of our great outdoors, from hiking to wild camping, skiing to paddle boarding, she has done it all! Amy has explored many parts of the world but up until just a few years ago had never ventured north of Birmingham in the UK. She has certainly changed that since and has thrown herself in to the depths of outdoor adventure.  We chat about her love for the outdoor...

With over 40 years experience in Mountain Rescue, there's not a lot Mike Margeson hasn't seen with over 1000 rescues under his belt. He is a member of the Duddon and Furness Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) in the Lake District and is also the Operations Director for Mountain Rescue England & Wales - the umbrella body who oversee the 49 volunteer MRT's and 8 regional bodies across Eng...

Lisa grew up with the Yorkshire Moors on her doorstep. She spent a lot of time in the outdoors and loved visiting family in Cumbria too, She got a taste for camping as she rose through the ranks of Brownies and Guides before heading off to University. A few years later, living in the south and realising that she was surrounded by people living to work she had a change of heart and wanted to travel...

Damon found himself without a job, going through a difficult relationship break up and homeless all in a short space of time. He had hit rock bottom and could see no way out. He had to re-frame his thinking and get out of the dark place he's found himself in.  When you're living out of your car and showering at the gym there's only one thing for it - make it a car camping adventure!...

Matt Le Voi moved to Cumbria and set up his business Lakeland Mountain Guides, guiding people in the mountains to help them get outdoors. His passion for helping others didn't stop there and he also became a personal training, focusing on mountain fitness! Matt's own fitness has been stretched, especially this year having set himself some tough challenges in the great outdoors. Challenge...

If you're thinking of getting out on your first wild camp or even if you've been wild camping for a while, you've probably asked these questions! I am joined again by Dan Jones from @wildcamping.lifeuk with his expansive knowledge of wild camping and we tackle some of the most frequently asked questions when it comes to wild camping. It's my first time. Where should I go wild c...

Alex grew up in Cumbria. He left school and moved to Birmingham to attend university before moving to London to become a teacher. In the metropolis of the capital, he fell in love with the outdoors and began to wonder of far away adventurous places and soon found himself frequenting the Alps! This had planted a seed for Alex and he returned on many occasions to be amongst the alpine landscapes. Al...

In 1979 Chris Priest and Duncan Say were just youngsters with an ambitious idea to hike the Pennine Way. A practice hike over two days soon made them realise this wasn't a walk in the park and shouldn't be attempted with their 40lb packs! They had made all the necessary plans including coloring in their printed out maps and they set off through the peat bogs on their 268 mile adventure....