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The First Encounter With The AT - A Guest Post by Jessica "Snuggles" Rakestraw

July 30, 2018

We were so close to the Smoky Mountains! It was unplanned but those adventures are usually the best ones. This was only a brief visit before the actual start of our full journey North. My husband Darwin and I wanted to touch it, to feel this thing we had read about and researched for the last year. I felt almost a fraud to be traveling by car to this special spot. We were still several months early; I felt we had not earned the right to be here yet

The Long Walk To Recovery - A Guest Post by Esther Nagle

July 9, 2018

I am so grateful for the discovery that I can enjoy walking so much. It is a great reminder that even the most terrible things in life can bring gifts. I have no idea if I would have ever got into walking had it not been for my brother’s death, there was certainly no indication of it. I think of it as the greatest gift he ever gave me. I still miss him lots, and wish I could have shared this with him, but can always thank him for this legacy that has enriched my life so very much.

More Effective Waste Management - A Guest Post by Craig Scott

May 7, 2018

Using valuable land as a waste management dumping zone is becoming a serious environmental problem. The build up and release of greenhouse gases from land waste poses a serious environmental impact risk that could lead to a dangerous shift in ecological balances and adversely effect human health. Changing our current course in waste management toward more practical, sustainable solutions is the only logical step forward if we hope to combat the effects our waste is having. The question is, how?

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Getting started with trail running for the first time? - A Guest Post by Jane Grates

April 23, 2018

Lots of folks think that trail running is only for the badass, hardcore runners of the world, and that’s simply not true. Trail running - like running, in general - is open to everyone. You don’t have to be a pro mountain or trail runner; you could even consider yourself a “roads runner” but still run trails each week or month and benefit from it.

If you’re new to trail running and are stumped on where to get started, consider my recommendations below, a primer, if you will, for trail running. Taken together, I think my recommendations will help get you on the right foot, right away.

Wilderness and Wellbeing - A Guest Post by Robert Nicholas

March 12, 2018

At 42 years old I find myself stuck in corporate life, chained to my desk for long hours in major cities around the UK. This makes my excursions into the great outdoors even more important, my medicine for the trappings of modern life and the frustrations of big business. I love nothing more than getting out running on the trails and Fells of Northern England, just me, my dog and nature. This is not the story of one individual event but more the repeated restorative powers my adventures exert on both my physical and mental health.

Plunging into the Present - A Guest Post by Camilla Barnard

March 5, 2018

It was mid-July, and my first experience of the French Alps bare of snow. Based in Morzine in the Haute Savoie for a spot of climbing, via ferrata and a substantial hike, it was a trip that I had been looking forward to with childlike enthusiasm.

Computer Screens to Climbing Free - A Guest Post by Patrick Timm

February 19, 2018

If you had told me 8 years ago that I would soon be exploring the wild outdoors, seeing places very few people ever get to experience, I would have scoffed. With no outdoor experience, having never wild camped or walked a trail, I was out of touch with the nature.

Why do you want change? - A Guest Post by Sarah Lister

February 12, 2018

This question is an opportunity to pause and understand ourselves better, otherwise life sort of runs away and our dreams can get left behind. Instead of striving through life and gasping for change we can discover a path where we are connected and follow our intuition. I see it as a stepping stone towards clarity and motivation.

Mucho Zen - A Guest Post by Katarina Kukuruzović

February 5, 2018

I took a sip from my water bottle. The warm breeze wafted against my face. My eyes met with the greenery of the valley between Monte Brento and Monte Bondone. In the distance, Lago di Garda was a blue canvas on which white dots of sailboats drew invisible lines against the surface of the lake.

Beneath the Mountain - A Guest Post by Allyson Towle

January 22, 2018

The now coined Andean Giant Expedition 2010, would have me cycling from sea level starting in Caldera, on the Pacific Coast, for five days, a total of 360km to an altitude of 4500m, and this was just the start. The bulk of the next ten days were spent in the Atacama Desert, acclimatising to at least 5800m in preparation for summit day.

Just Say “No!” - A Guest Post by Goody Niosi

January 15, 2018

Sometimes it’s not about achieving great improbable feats – and I’ve had my share of those. But I am also learning that sometimes it’s about honouring yourself. Saying “no” can be just as important as saying “yes.”

Why I Love Hiking - A Guest Post by James Forrest

January 8, 2018

I'm addicted to hiking. I just love it. Sounds geeky, doesn't it? But I don't care. I head out hiking every weekend and often during the week. If I can't get out, I become grumpy. I've got the bug and I can't (and don't want to) kick the habit. But why do I enjoy it so much?

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Cleveland Way - Scarborough to High Hawsker

In October 2020, my friend Dave and I walked a section of the Cleveland Way in Yorkshire over a couple of days. We started from Scarborough and walked to Ravenscar (18 km). The next day we walked to High Hawsker (15 km).

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Packrafting the River Tamiš

In July 2020, in a brief respite from the worries of the covid pandemic, I had the good fortune to be able to escape for a little adventure, spending 3 days paddling down the Tamiš river in northern Serbia, in my packraft.

Interview with Emily Woodhouse - Founder of Intrepid Magazine

I recently had the pleasure to interview Emily Woodhouse, someone who is well known and someone who has been somewhat of a pioneer in giving a voice to many women in the adventure / outdoor sports world.

In this interview Emily gives me some insight into her whirlwind entrepreneurial journey and how much there is to learn from diving into a (business) adventure.

Not only has Intrepid Magazine provided something that was missing in the outdoor space but it is doubly satisfying to know it was the vision of someone who cares passionately about the subject matter, saw the importance of it and had the courage to go through with it… although I am not sure Emily herself see it as “courage”. As she says in the interview: “I looked at the hole in the magazine world and thought: I can do that”.

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Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the wallaby)

The loch was like a mirror as we set off from Luss on Friday to explore. Having walked to the high point on Inchtavannach to admire the views, and paddled around Inchmoan, watching the deer come down to the water’s edge, we agreed to spend the night on Inchconnachan for no other reason than it appeared absolutely idyllic as the sun began to sink and the evening light bathed the lake in a silvery light.

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Weekend Adventure - From lying in the sun to crying on a plane

I have mentioned a few times that my daughter is neither naturally sporty, particularly active or indeed fearless. She is perhaps the opposite. So I was especially proud that she decided on the Saturday morning, as we dithered whether to have an hour in the water at Buzz Active Cuckmere, that this was indeed the ideal opportunity for her to go solo in a kayak for the first time.

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Canoeing the Wye: Happiness V Social Media [Video]

I had so much fun this weekend that I didn’t tell anyone about it. Imagine that! The moment was way more important to me than broadcasting about it. Yes, I know it should be, but if we are honest with ourselves, it isn’t alway, is it?

I spent Friday and Saturday canoeing down the Wye with my 7 year old daughter, from Hoarwithy to Symonds Yat. It is the first time either of us has done this kind of trip and to share this adventure together was the sort of experience that makes me go all mushy and emotional…

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Wild Night Out 2019: The Whining

Travelling in ultra lightweight style (we only carried four cricket stumps instead of the full compliment of six) Emma and I marched along the coast path, over the dunes and onto the vast sands of our beautiful coast for a perfect Wild Night Out 2019, until the high-pitched whining started…

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30 Days Wild: Suburban Springwatch

One thing I decided to do this year was leave one corner of the garden wild. I don’t know how long it will last as pressure builds from within the family to “do something” with that corner but while it does last it has had a positive effect in terms of wildlife.

Perhaps the best aspect of this experiment is the fact that every night around 9pm we have a fat hedgehog who comes through our front gate, wanders through the garden to this unkempt patch of land and roots around for a couple of hours before waddling off to check out what the neighbours have to offer.

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30 Days Wild: Freshwalks: Networking in the Outdoors

This filthy-wet month, I am trying to spend time outside in nature during my working day as part of the Wildlife Trusts 30 Days Wild. I cannot pretend it has been as easy as last year’s sun-drenched June when gently swaying flower meadows and deserted Norfolk beaches called out to me.

However, recently a client of mine drew my attention to an innovative and inspiring initiative getting business people into the outdoors, for Freshwalks. The benefits of which might surprise a few…

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30 days Wild: Welcome to my office

“Can you repeat that please sir?” I could hear a slightly exasperated tone on the other end of the line.

This morning, a few days into June and woefully short of what I hope to achieve during 30 Days Wild, I ventured out into the meadow to make a few phone calls. I took my office outdoors! The helpful assistant from Barclays Business Banking went off for a few minutes to find out some information, and probably to curse me as my microphone was buffeted by the breeze, that bent the tall flowers surrounding me and repeatedly flicked my hood over my head.

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30 Days Wild: Switch off with Nature

We are just a few days away from June and the start of 30 Days Wild; the Wildlife Trusts amazing initiative to get people outside, enjoying and appreciating nature.

This year, as part of 30 Days Wild I will be focussing on how nature can help alleviate the stresses and strains of work and how to get more of it into the working day.

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Do you want to live more adventurously?

The decision to change my life and live more adventurously was utterly instinctive, borne of exasperation, a last resort. I was burnt out, suffering from anxiety, depressed.

How I got to the point of changing the direction of my life was a couple of years of mental wrangling and torture, until I stumbled across some inspiration.

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