Summit to Talk About

Louisa has a great energy about her and that kind of trait will serve her well when she becomes a Mountain Leader. Louisa reevaluated her life in the city and relocated to Cumbria to be where she felt at her best, near the mountains and lakes of The Lake District. This has enabled her to live a more outdoorsy lifestyle and pursue her goal of becoming a Mountain Leader. Living in Cumbria has also g...

Series 3 of Summit to Talk About kicks off with Alex Brown, lover of the outdoors in all its forms and the chairman of the BMC (British Mountaineering Council) in the Midlands. We chat about hiking, wild camping, Mountain Leader Training, the important work of the BMC and some of the benefits of being a member and everything in-between. If you would like to support the podcast, please follow the l...

Laura enjoyed running and synchronised swimming. But when she started a family, getting 'that' buzz became difficult. Like many of us, she adapted her lifestyle in order to continue getting outside and to involve all the family. During lockdown, we were all restricted to local walks and this sparked the birth of The Hiking Household and Tikes Hikes - a walking group for parents and their...

Russ was a banker who read books about adventurers, adventurers who inspired him to want his very own epic adventure, not something that had been done many times, but something new and something he was good at.... sleeping! Russ aka @amountainbivvi set out to camp on each of the 214 Wainwright's fells in the Lake District over the course of a year, enduring all that mother nature could throw...

Abbie is the founder of 'Spend more time in the wild', a growing organisation  and community inspiring and empowering people to get outside for the benefit of physical and mental wellbeing. At the age of 13, Abbie began making films about our natural world and the devastating destruction to the environment through the production of palm oil. This led to Abbie speaking to MEP's in th...

Dan has been wild camping for 15 years. In this time he has honed his skills, knowledge and kit to (almost) perfection. Like many of us,Dan has enjoyed the process of trying new things and camping in different places but continues to learn and improve. We chat about how he started in his pursuit for the perfect wild camping setup from humble beginnings of canvas tents and big weights in his pack t...

John Barker has spent much of his life outdoors but only really did it for pleasure later on. After many years in the British armed forces, he now spends time outside for pleasure rather than daily beastings!  Like many of us, John captures his outdoors adventures on his camera phone and has created a big following through instagram  by sharing his images. He has a great eye for capturing the raw...

Luci, aka Van Life with Luci on Instagram is a teacher and lover of our great outdoors. She loves hiking, rock climbing, stand up paddle boarding and most of all, living the van life! We chat about how it all began, where its going, the complexities of taking on a van conversion project and everything in between! Throughout January, Luci is walking 50 miles to raise money for Mind UK. Help reach h...

John Beamson is a character full of energy. He runs Robustours, an outdoors company specialising in ultra events. When ultra long distances are your thing, there's no room for negativity or procrastination, it's all about doing what you say you're going to do and that's exactly what John does! We chat about the highs and lows of doing an ultra event, positive mindsets, the Blen...

We dive straight back in to day 5 of the West Highland Way in Tyndrum. Danny, Karla and I continue our chat about our last 3 days on the trail up to Fort William. This was, for me, the most scenic part of the WHW.  We also discuss kit. What we took, what we wish we'd taken and what we wish we hadn't bothered carrying.  I'm so proud to be able to share our adventure with you and I re...

We are back with Series 2 and in this episode I chat with my good friends Danny and Karla about our recent multi-day hike on the West Highland Way in Scotland. We chat about kit, planning the trip, the views,the terrain and everything in between! Our chat was a long one so you can catch part 2 in the next episode. For a visual glimpse of our WHW hike, please subscribe to Danny's YouTube chann...

In this final episode of series 1  I chat with Dexter who is a lover of long distance hikes. Seeing the first few miles of the Coast to Coast trail from a young age, the seed was planted and it was only natural for Dexter to do the full trail as his first thru-hike.  After a long break, Dexter got back on trail and has since completed some of the UK's favourites including the West Highland Wa...

Jessica's love for the great outdoors started with a bang back in 2014 when she won a competition to climb Kilimanjaro which she later discovered is not in Wales! She completed the trek to the summit and fell in love with hiking. She then went on to trek to Everest base camp, Stok Kangri and worked towards becoming a Mountain Leader.  Most recently, Jessica has completed her Wainwrights baggi...

There's a 'scene' for every hobby and community. When I was in my late teens it was any fast food restaurant car park blaring music from my clapped out fiesta.  Neil, Matt and Andy said the same about the UK gay scene where coming in at 5am is the norm after a night on the dance floor. Now things are different and after joining forces to go out hiking they set up 'Homos That Hi...

Sam Baynes is a physiotherapist who landed a dream job out in the Austrian Alps. Whilst out in the mountains celebrating New Year's Eve, a sledge accident stopped her life in it's tracks. Sam was in a coma with a very small chance of pulling through and spent three months in hospital. She had to relearn how to walk and talk and miraculously made it through the other side. She has since g...

Impala is the coolest hiking name out there and the face that owns it is the most entertaining thru-hiker on the trails.  In this episode I chat with Impala. His inspiring and very funny social media stories had me addicted early on and I've recently followed him on his UK end-to-end thru hike. We chat about his love for the trails which have taken him to New Zealand's Te Araroa, America...

For this 10th episode of Summit to Talk About I met up with Neil Read in Bushy Park in London. Surrounded by nature, Neil shares his own 'Walk for your Wellbeing' story of living with depression and how getting into the outdoors and hiking has helped him. He is now an ambassador for My Black Dog, a charity doing great things to help others who are struggling with their own mental health...

Laurie Crayston has always had the drive to do things one step ahead of the norm. In late April 2021, he set out on his fourth attempt at walking all 214 Wainwrights fells in one continuous and unsupported round. At the time, this had never been completed by anyone. Whilst Laurie did not complete the round this time, we delve into the finer details of the challenge. We talk about weather, kit (and...

We're a friendly bunch when we're out walking.   In this episode I chat with Tom Parkington, a teacher and personal trainer from Suffolk. He shares his Yorkshire 3 peaks experience, his love for the Peak District and that beautiful phenomenon that is.... being friendly to strangers in the hills! I also chat to Charlotte and Chloe from The Lakes Litter Tribe. We all moan about unsightly l...

Kirsty has bribed her good friend and all round great guy Kev to come on to the podcast. In a chilled out chat, he gives us his side of the story from the Crib Goch and shares his own experiences in the outdoors including treks to Everest base camp, Kilimanjaro and Mt Toubkal.  Kev also tells us about his walking group and his new found love of cold water therapy which is a great way to build your...

To mark mental health awareness week we have 2 special 'Walk for your wellbeing' special episodes! In this episode Kirsty Collin takes over and discusses how being in nature and the outdoors can benefit our wellbeing. Kirsty also bravely shares her own story of mental health and the loss of her partner Ben, to suicide in 2020 and what life has been like since. Mental health is a pandemic...

If you've ever been out hiking and had to use your hands as well as your feet, you may have inadvertently been scrambling. In this episode, Alex from Scramble this UK shares his love of scrambling, how it all started and how he has began to map out the best scrambles in our favourite hiking locations. He shares his top tips for anyone who fancies venturing into the world of scrambling so list...

Kaitlin is an aspiring adventurer! Already, her life has taken her to Australia and various locations in the UK. She spent much of her childhood in the Cairngorms and this playground was a catalyst for her love of the outdoors. In this episode, Kaitlin shares her outdoors adventures including the West Highland Way twice, paddle boarding and a 500 mile charity walk. We also talk wild camping and in...

In the episode I chat to Will Copestake , who in 2015 was named Scottish and UK Adventurer of the year for his 364 day solo circumnavigation of Scotland by kayak followed by an immediate ascent of all 282 Scottish Munro mountains. His passion for the outdoors has taken him trekking in New Zealand, across Iceland and kayaking in through the Patagonian Fjords. I also get to speak with young adventur...

Adam Hamblett travelled across the world on a self-destruct mission after the tragic loss of his father. He found a love for the outdoors and turned his life around. He shares his 'Walk for your wellbeing story'. In 'All the gear, no idea' I chat with Dan Jones from Wildcamping.lifeuk  about the top backpacking tents to suit a range of budgets.