The Outdoors Fix

My guest in this episode is Debbie North. She’s an extraordinary woman who has overcome so many challenges to pursue her outdoors life. A passionate hill walker when she was younger, Debbie was diagnosed with spinal degeneration a few years ago, meaning that she is now in a wheelchair. But losing her mobility didn’t stop her determination to be able to explore the outdoors. She just found a motori...

Imagine getting to take teenagers hiking, canoeing and winter climbing for your full-time job. My guest in this podcast episode is Rehna Yaseen - she’s an outdoors instructor and youth and community worker who spends many of her days giving city-based teenagers fantastic outdoors adventures that they wouldn’t normally get to experience. Rehna lives in Greater Manchester but her outdoors role in ba...

If you’ve ever wanted to go and live in the Lake District, this episode might be just the motivation you need! My guest is Gilly McArthur and she’s a wild swimmer, rock climber, illustrator and organiser of outdoors events, who lives in Kendal in the Lake District. An ambassador for the outdoors community Wonderful Wild Women, Gilly also runs the Women’s Trad Festival for people interested in rock...

What if you could combine your passions into your dream outdoors job? My guest in this episode, BBC radio presenter Matthew Bannister, has done just that. Late on in his broadcasting career, Matthew has managed to merge his love for walking, the outdoors and folk music into his work. The result is his podcast, Folk on Foot. Matthew has been on walks all over the UK for the podcast, from Sandwood B...

My guest in this episode is Frit Sarita Tam - she’s an adventure filmmaker and photographer, rock climber, hiker, paddle boarder and more. Frit’s introduction to the outdoors was by no means gentle - a 50km, 16 hour charity hike on the South Downs Way with no previous hiking experience. But it sparked a fascination with spending time outside and since then, she’s consciously taken baby-steps (as s...

What if you could go camping all over the UK for a year and write books off the back of your outdoors adventures? Jen Benson is my guest in this episode and she and her husband Sim are outdoor adventure guidebook authors, travel writers and long-distance runners. Their books include Wild Running, The Adventurer’s Guide to Britain, Short Runs in Beautiful Places and Amazing Family Adventures. They...

Fancy switching up your life, moving to the countryside and becoming a ranger, like Ben Dolphin? Ben is a countryside ranger in Scotland, an outdoors writer and blogger and he’s just finished his three year term as President of Ramblers Scotland. He used to work for a bank but a few years ago he got chatting to a fellow walker on the top of a hill and that chance meeting changed the course of his...

Sophie Pavelle is a zoologist, science communicator, environmental advocate and the Youth Ambassador for the Wildlife Trusts. She’s incredibly passionate about the wildlife we have in the UK and through her work she tries to encourage others to appreciate it and therefore want to protect it. How did she get here? It involved a 300 mile hike around the coast of Cornwall for her masters degree! Soph...

Would you like to walk 950 miles across the UK and write about your hiking adventures? Today’s guest has done exactly that. She’s also turned hiking and adventure blogging into her career! It’s Becky Angell, also known as Becky The Traveller! A few years ago, Becky was made redundant from her job in banking. Seeing it as an opportunity, she decided to try and completely change her life and make th...

In her late forties, Jo Moseley found herself crying in the biscuit aisle at Tesco. She was caring for her parents who were both going through cancer treatment and she was a working mum looking after her two sons. Jo says she was feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. After a friend persuaded her to take up exercise, Jo started spending more time in the outdoors. Over a few years, those activities hav...

Kenny Block can often be found in the Lake District hiking to get to dramatic view points and capture the stunning scenery with his camera or drone. He has a full-time job as a railway signaller in Cumbria but in his spare time he’s also a landscape photographer. Kenny hasn’t alway been outdoorsy - and for a large portion of his teenage years and twenties he says he was caught up with drugs. Why d...

Emily Scott feels her happiest in the mountains. So over the last few years she’s made big changes to her life to enjoy them nearly everyday. Emily used to be a full-time chartered accountant in London but she’s now a ski instructor in the winter and in the past few summers she’s worked for travel companies hosting treks in the Alps. In between these seasons she takes on extraordinary endurance ad...

Alex Staniforth is an adventurer, author of two books and speaker who talks so well about how the outdoors has helped him throughout his life. Alex has been on some serious adventures since he was a teenager, including making two attempts at Everest. Sadly both trips to Everest ended in tragedy. In 2017, Alex completed his challenge Climb The UK, where he journeyed to the highest point of all 100...

Vici Fairhurst is a hiker who lives in Manchester and works with 16-19 year olds in care. She discovered a love of hiking in a rather daunting and unusual way. Last year Vici’s colleague set her a huge challenge: to get 30 teens in care and staff, with little or no hiking experience, to the top of Snowdon. That trip sparked an ‘addiction to hiking’, as she puts it, and it’s had a huge impact on he...

Josh Day has recently come back to the UK after an epic outdoors adventure. He cycled 26,000km all the way from the UK to Beijing in China! Travelling through 28 countries, the route took him two years to complete. Josh used to work in London as a data scientist but a few years ago he decided he needed a change of direction. He certainly got that! Along his journey, Josh cycled in temperatures as...

Iona Rendall, also known as @iona.adventuring on Instagram, is a nurse who lives in Edinburgh. In 2018, she set up a walking group on Facebook and it's already grown to over 2,000 members! I wanted to find out why Iona began hiking and started her walking group, how its impacted her life and why she thinks she’s been able to motivate so many others to get outdoors! I hope you enjoy the podcast! He...

Suzanna Cruickshank is an open water and wild swimming guide in the Lake District. Suzanna hasn’t always lived in the Lake District or been a wild swimmer - but she’s now managed to turn it into her career. I went to visit Suzanna in the Lake District and we had a lovely swim in Crummock Water - you can hear a bit of our dip right at the beginning of the episode and towards the end. She also has l...

My guest today is Stuart Watts - he and three friends hold the world record for the fastest rowing crossing of the Atlantic! Along with George Biggar, Dicky Taylor and Peter Robinson, Stuart rowed for almost a month from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean, finishing in January 2018. And they raised a HUGE amount for charity - I’ll reveal the figure later on in the podcast! Stuart had never really...

Having a young family certainly hasn’t stopped Stacey and Keith Wilcox exploring and having big adventures in the outdoors. They now take their sons hiking, canoeing and wild camping all around Scotland and have also just come back from an epic 8 week adventure in New Zealand as part of their shared parental leave! How do they manage to have such an adventurous family life (often on little sleep)...

Jess Mather, known as @jessicamather91 on Instagram, is a physical and well being coach in a psychiatric hospital but she spends nearly every spare moment outside of work in the outdoors. She’s a hiker and trail runner, has bagged over one hundred Wainwrights in the Lake District, and has summited several high altitude mountains around the world, including Kilimanjaro in Tanzania (5,895m) and Stok...

Today’s guest is Zahrah Mahmood, known as @the_hillwalking_hijabi on Instagram. Zahrah is a hiker who lives in Glasgow. She only got into hiking three years ago when a friend took her out for a walk to reduce the stress of her chartered accountant exams. Since then, the outdoors has transformed her previously city-orientated life. She now spends dozens of weekends in the hills, highlands and on th...

Three years ago Harrison Ward lived in York, was 22 stone and drank around 20 pints a day. He admits that he was deeply depressed, lived a sedentary lifestyle and his drinking was having a huge impact on his life. Harrison now lives in the Lake District, is passionate about hiking, fell running and wild-camping, he’s sober and has created a buzz around his cooking while in the outdoors. Steak with...

Adventure photographer Jessie Leong captures people in the outdoors, whether hiking in Switzerland, winter climbing in Snowdonia or at outdoors festivals. She’s also now a Get Outside champion for Ordnance Survey and encourages more people to have fun in nature. When she discovered a passion for rock climbing and hiking, Jessie realised that she could combine those activities with her career! I we...

Clare Dyson has been fanatical about horses since she was a child. Pony-trekking around the whole of the Lake District was an adventure that Clare had dreamed about for a long time. In May 2018, having worked relentlessly to get the time off from her job working with the Lake District National Park in community engagement, she made the trip a reality. Clare trekked and wild camped for a month with...

Rory Southworth can often be found jumping over tree roots on a hill run in the Lake District or hopping over rocks on a scramble. The trail runner, rock climber, hiker and all-round outdoors addict is bubbling with energy and is known for his love of a backwards cap. Rory has a full-time job as a designer, but uses every available moment outside of work to be in the outdoors adventuring. He’s kno...