The Everyday Adventure Podcast

The Everyday Adventure Podcast – Season 8, Episode 10 Marina LeGree: Empowerment and Adventure In the final episode of Season 8, Nicki Bass speaks with Marina LeGree — founder and executive director of Ascend Athletics — about using adventure, movement and community to create spaces for women and girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan. What began as an idea rooted in the mountains of Afghanistan grew i...

“This isn’t just about physical access — it’s about creating spaces where people feel they belong.” Will Behenna is an adaptive paddleboarder, accessibility advocate and founder of multiple initiatives focused on improving access to blue spaces across the UK including Inclusive Paddleboarding and The Beach Access Project . Through adapted equipment design, coaching, campaigning and community partn...

Craig Mathieson is a polar explorer, motivational speaker and founder of The Polar Academy , a groundbreaking Scottish charity that helps young people build confidence, resilience and self-belief through adventure. He was recently awarded The Polar Medal in the King’s New Year’s Honours. Craig has completed expeditions to both the North Pole and South Pole, including leading the first dedicated Sc...

This week on The Everyday Adventure Podcast , I’m joined by two truly inspiring women, Clare Millington and Vicky Balfour. Both are passionate advocates for making the outdoors more inclusive and accessible for everyone. Clare is the founder of Outdoors Is For Everyone and a powerful voice for increasing opportunities for people with disabilities to experience adventure in nature. She’s also a mum...

Ash Alexander Cooper is a former soldier, combat helicopter pilot, athlete, musician, artist and now keynote speaker, who works with businesses and leaders looking to build resilience and adapt in complex environments. He has also recently added author to his impressive CV, having just published ‘Mindful Soldier’ written with Dr Jessica Miller. In the book, Ash draws on his own experiences and the...

At the age of 60, Brian Woodley was diagnosed with young-onset Alzheimer’s dementia. As a successful business owner, avid footballer, father, grandfather and the last one to leave the dance floor, this diagnosis turned his life upside down. But Brian refused to let dementia define him and with the support of his wife, Keely, he has discovered and embraced the sport of walking football through Brad...

Jo Bradshaw is a Keynote Speaker, Leadership Development Coach, Expedition Leader and DofE Outdoor Instructor. Having competed her first challenge in 2004 when she cycled 500kms from Lake Titicaca to Machu Picchu, she has gone on to complete many more adventures including completing the 7 Summits and Mount Everest. Her most recent project is More then a Mountain - a documentary that follows 15 wom...

 Nic Wilson is a writer, editor and Country Diarist for the Guardian Newspaper. She has nearly 30 years’ writing experience spanning academia, education, journalism and narrative non-fiction. She works for BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine , specialising in wildlife and wild plants and her writing has featured in numerous magazines, journals and anthologies. Nic has recently published her debut book,...

Hetty Kingston is an adventurer, author, event organiser and a self-confessed data geek. She is passionate about improving accessibility and inclusion in the outdoors and her many achievements include organising the Women's Trad Festival, Peak Gravel Gang and the Running Out of Time relay between COP26 and COP27. When she's not up to her eyeballs in spreadsheets and logistics, she relaxes by climb...

Emma Simpson is a wild swimmer and life-long hobbyist writer specialising in narrative non-fiction. Having spent a couple of decades as an air traffic controller and experiencing two life-wrenching events, she rediscovered her passion for storytelling whilst experiencing the transformative effects of cold-water swimming for the first time. Trained in coaching psychology, she combines her years as...

Recently I have had a number of conversations with friends and clients about guilt - and specifically the guilt we can feel when we take time for ourselves to do things that we love or need. Guilt is a complex interaction between the standards we set for ourselves (or are set by others…) and our assessment of how our behaviour meets those standards. So telling ourselves that we “shouldn’t” feel gu...

The Big Swim is a community driven annual event to celebrate International Women’s Day (8th March). The aim is to foster inclusivity, encourage environmental responsibility and spark collective action in support of women’s causes and campaigns. The event encompasses two locations (Poole and Brighton, UK) and participation has increased from 250 swimmers in 2023 to 1000 swimmers registered to take...

In this special solo episode of The Everyday Adventure Podcast , host Nicki Bass celebrates the milestone of reaching 100 episodes. Reflecting on her journey over the past four and a half years, Nicki shares insights into the challenges and unexpected benefits of podcasting. She discusses the importance of taking time to pause and celebrate achievements, the personal growth she has experienced, an...

Send us a text Conservationists Bex Band and Catherine Edsell have teamed up to launch the Ocean Advocate Summit on 1 Feb 2025,  a one-day summit offering the chance to reconnect to the ocean, discover more about marine life and the threats they face. This event is for swimmers, surfers, sea-lovers, artists, educators and anyone else who loves the ocean. Bex and Catherine will be familiar names to...

Send us a text On 27th December 2024, surfers Chris Howard and Craig Sharp left Bournemouth Pier on a 52 mile prone paddling endurance challenge, aiming to raise awareness and funds for Diabetes UK whilst paying tribute to those who tirelessly manage their diabetes every day. The event tested every element of their capabilities, relying on their physical and mental stamina to combat the cold and e...

Send us a text Motivated by a desire to explore and connect with people and wild places, Israh Goodall is a qualified Mountain Leader who is trained in Outdoor Environmental Education and who has travelled and hosted programmes all over the world. This has included travelling the Silk Road, trekking in New Zealand, the Middle East, Central America and Europe, and the Pacific Crest Trial (from Mexi...

Send us a text Diane Westaway is the founder and CEO of Wild Women on Top - a social purpose enterprise aiming to inspire and support women to embrace adventure and achieve things that they never thought possible. 15 years ago, she founded Coast Trek, a charity hike which started along the coastline of Sydney and now extends across Australia. It has raised over 50 million Australian dollars to dat...

Send us a text A Cornishman living deep undercover in Robin Hood country, Richard Chapman is the founder of Climbing Matters , a structured program of lived experience coaching and climbing for people living with trauma and severe mental illness. The program supports people to confront, immerse in and overcome the psychological and emotional barriers climbing presents, equipping them with new pers...

Send us a text Welcome to the Adventure Mind X Everyday Adventure Podcast mini series. In this episode, Belinda Kirk - founder of Adventure Mind - shares her motivations for getting started and the benefits she sees in collaboration in outdoors research and practice. This episode is part of a mini series with Adventure Mind - a collaboration of researchers, practitioners and organisations in the o...

Send us a text So this is the final episode of Season 7! In this episode, host Nicki Bass explores some of the thinking behind why adventure matters and how it supports our resilience and approach to life beyond the thrill of the activity itself.  I hope you have enjoyed this episode of The Everyday Adventure Podcast! To keep up to date with the latest news, follow us: Instagram: @everydayadventur...

Send us a text Kerenza Bryson is a professional athlete who represents Great Britain in the modern pentathlon - a sport including epee fencing, swimming, showjumping and a combined laser run (pistol shooting and cross country run). Having won gold, silver and bronze medals in the the World and European Championships, she recently competed at the Paris Olympics where she placed 9th in the final and...

Send us a text In June 2023, Stephanie Quintrell and Heather Sharp completed the Ride to Freedom along with 6 other women as part of a Forces Wives Challenge expedition, tackling the challenging terrain surrounding the World War Two Freedom Trail (Le Chemin de la Liberté), across the Pyrenees Mountains on horseback. The team followed remote mountain passes that were used as escape routes into Spai...

Send us a text Caroline Paul is an author, adventurer, surfer, pilot and former firefighter who has published 7 books including The Gutsy Girl and Fighting Fire . Her most recent book Tough Broad : From Boogie Boarding to Wing Walking—How Outdoor Adventure Improves Our Lives as We Age is an exploration into the science and psychology of outdoor adventures and our relationship with these activities...

Send us a text Jonny Ball is the host of the ‘Veterans In Politics’ podcast, interviewing over 70 interviewees from across the globe who have ‘stood up to serve again'. He is also Founder of Campaign Force, a not for profit organisation that aims to inspire and support members of the military community to serve in public life. His civilian career has seen him run campaigns at every level of g...

Send us a text Alastair Humphreys is a British Adventurer and Author. He spent over 4 years cycling round the world, a journey of 46,000 miles through 60 countries and 5 continents. More recently Alastair has walked across southern India, rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, run six marathons through the Sahara desert, completed a crossing of Iceland, busked through Spain and participated in an expedi...