Interview with Emily Woodhouse - Founder of Intrepid Magazine

December 3, 2019

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”.

canoeing wye river synods yet ross on wye hoarwithy kayak canoe camping adventure

Canoeing the Wye: Happiness V Social Media [Video]

July 9, 2019

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…

living adventurously outdoors micro adventures self help

Do you want to live more adventurously?

May 13, 2019

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.

What if the outdoors is not the answer?

January 16, 2019

I struggle to enjoy myself. My anxiety turns my mind to thoughts of doom and my feelings of guilt prevent me from truly enjoying myself.

I am sure I am not alone. But, this doesn't happen in the outdoors. I don’t know why.

If it is something I am doing when I am paddling or walking or just sitting under a tree listening to the sounds of the forest I might be able to translate it to my every day life… but what if it isn’t? It definitely isn’t. Ah, there I go again.

Are the Northern Lights the top bucket list item? I failed to see them when in Iceland.

Why Bucket Lists are bad

January 7, 2019

Many of us are striving to “be something or someone”. Perhaps you would like to legitimately call yourself an “adventurer” and you are naturally looking for big things to do to demonstrate this to your peers and yourself. Perhaps your expectations are lower but, as in any walk of life, it can easily become second nature to compare yourself with others, with what they do and how you perceive them through their online personas and the achievements you hear about.

We make lists of goals, achievements or experiences we would like to tick off but what if we could gain more from looking backwards?

Changing Direction - A Guest Blog by Kate Floyer

October 22, 2018

Embarking on adventure can mean much more than Rafting down the Amazon or shouldering a backpack and wandering off into the wild.

I am now at another crossroads. I’m in a relationship with someone I want to share my life with; someone who isn’t from an overlanding background. I’ve travelled to lots of countries, but hardly spent anytime in my own…

ExplorersWeb: An Interview with Rowan White

August 20, 2018

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Rowan White, owner of Explorers Web and we spoke about the thinking behind this community of adventurers as well as Rowan's life as an entrepreneur in the outdoor sector.

Explorersweb is the original climbing, exploration and adventure community. Reporting on polar, high-altitude and extreme-environment adventure news for over 15 years, ExWeb has a reputation for reporting the facts about the world of exploration and giving credit where credit is due. The founders, Tom and Tina Sjögren were the first couple to complete the Three Poles Challenge by climbing Mount Everest and skiing to both the North and South Poles. Having turned their focus to an expedition to Mars, they decided it was time to hand over ExWeb to a new custodian in November 2018.

Kayaking the Kwanza: the impact of a big adventure.

April 30, 2018

In June 2016, I set out with my friend Alfy Weston to do something that nobody had ever done before: kayak the length of Angola's Kwanza River, from source to mouth. Over the next 33 days we kayaked, hiked and waded through some of last truly wilderness areas in Sub Saharan Africa. Starting high up on the Bié Plateau, which provides water to the Okavango Delta, we made our way down the river to the mouth at the Atlantic Ocean coast, just south of the capital Luanda. We transported over 100kg of expedition gear along 984km of kayaking and 300km of hiking. During our expedition we were attacked by hippos, sank in rapids and were even arrested and threatened with deportation by Angolan security forces.

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.

2018 - A New Year of Adventure.

January 12, 2018

I remember the days when I used to head out everyday Saturday morning, often accompanied by a clanging headache, ringing around my sleepy head, wrapped in the regulation baggy warm garb that I felt marked me out as a snowboarder... cos obviously the snowboard didn't give it away.

On Friday nights I used to dream of powder. And to be fair, on a Saturday morning it often cushioned the impact as my party-night hangover crashed into the weekend...

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?

What Women Want in Adventure and Outdoors

November 29, 2017

This week I spoke to outdoor writer Emily Woodhouse, the mind behind Intrepid Magazine; a UK based Female-first Adventure and Outdoors Print Magazine.

The magazine includes; walking, running, cycling, camping, MTB, sailing, rowing, snowboarding, surfing, mountaineering, climbing, exploration, adventures big and small...

"...anything that involves the chance of getting cold, wet and muddy!"

Writing Competition Winners: Emily Woodhouse - 1st Prize

November 22, 2017

It was 3 o’clock in the morning by the time we found him. The cynically minded would say it’s a waste of time looking for someone in the dark who doesn’t want to be found. Darkness is easy to hide in. Run circles round the search lights and you’ll never be found. After several hours of startling sheep, I was ready to believe it.

We reached an outcrop. Standing at the bottom, I cast my light once over the rocks and something caught my eye.

“Oh,” I thought, “that looks like a bag. That’s odd”...

Writing Competition Winners: Magsie Hamilton Little - 2nd Prize

November 21, 2017

One afternoon I sold my flat. I unplanted myself, like a bean. I closed the front door, gathered up my heartbreak splinters and bought a plane ticket and just like at a crowded, sweaty party where everyone is absorbed in their own separate conversation London did not notice me leaving.

Two days later I was in Tamanrasset in a remote region of Algeria. I saw red light behind my eyelids and felt the crunch of rubber on dust. I breathed it in, this universe of yellow, like a newborn.

Writing Competition Winners: Seanna Fallon - 3rd Prize

November 20, 2017

Society taught me that if I ever got attacked it would be late at night, I’d be walking alone down a dodgy street, I’d be wearing something revealing and I’d be intoxicated.

The first time it happened however, I was working in a coffee shop, wearing my frumpy apron, it was the middle of the morning and I’d only been drinking espresso, and I was attacked by a colleague when I was tidying the stock room.

Who can call themselves an adventurer?

November 17, 2017

Al Humphreys has gone as far as saying “Anyone who calls themselves an adventurer is basically a prat.” albeit with the caveat that one may be allowed to do so on a self-promoting web site.

I actually think this is a bit harsh but nevertheless the sentiment is understandable and, for what its worth, in my book he does qualify as one (an adventurer, not a prat).

Summer Road Trip 2017 - Walking In Zlatibor [Video]

July 22, 2017

Zlatibor is a mountainous region of pine forests and rolling meadows in western Serbia. Famed locally for its health benefits and spread over an area of about 300 square kilometres it provides a truly different environment for hiking.

The resort of Zlatibor is not in itself beautiful but offers plenty of accommodation as is a great base to explore this spectacular countryside. We stayed in the Mona Hotel.

We chose to double back on ourselves to spend a couple of nights here which gave me the chance to have a tramp in a kind of landscape which someone pointed out to me looks not unlike Tibet or Mongolia. Although it doesn't reach heights beyond 1496 metres (Tornik; the height peak).

Here is a video I shot early one morning, profiting from the soft glow of the morning sun which turns the grasslands a rich golden colour. As I mention in the video information is tricky to come by for any longer walking but I have put a few links below as well a information on other places of interest in the vicinity.

Hike details: This walk was around an 11km roundtrip, from Zlatibor resort to the top of a mountain called Crni Vrh, which is 1177 metres above sea level, so a total ascent of around 35 metres.

Hiking Trails in Zlatibor region

I will do some more research and attempt to put together a better resource for hiking trails in the Zlatibor region but for the time being the bets place seems to be to follow what others have tracked.

What else can you do?

Zlatibor is not far from other areas of interest that I have spoken about such as the Tara National Park, which affords much more rugged mountainous terrain, but if you want to mix up your trip with some non-physical activities here are my top four:

1. Sirogojno: An Open-air Museum

A 30 minute drive from Zlatibor resort is the old village of Sirogojno. This perfectly preserved display of traditional Zlatibor living (largely 19th century although the neighbouring church dates from the mid eighteenth century) is essentially and open-air museum.

2. Šargan Eight: Enjoy an Old Narrow Guage Railway

Šarganska Osmica is an old narrow gauge railway that traces a figure of eight in the mountains. Built in 1925 it is a spectacular ride as well as seriously feat of engineering. When we stopped in this area a few days ago we stayed in Mokra Gora, which is just over 30 minutes down the road from Zlatibor and the main stop on this train line.

3. Stopića Cave

Between Zlatibor resort and Sirogojno is Stopića Cave. The cave entrance is 18 metres high and 35 metres wide with bats flitting about near the entrance. Its is made up of a number of large halls and a spectacular waterfall. The highlight of this vast chasm is a series of pools which have formed in a staircase-like cascade, which at some time of year can be filled with water. Th deepest of these is seven metres. Our experience of this is that you will be pushed to join a tour but it is not compulsory, especially given the fact that it is in Serbian! Once you have your ticket you can just walk in.

4. Drvengrad: a Living film set

Also known as Kustendorf, this is essentially a fake village built by Emir Kusturica (for his film Life is a Miracle) in a traditional style with timber framed buildings, restaurants a theatre and of course holiday lets. Every year it hosts the Kustendorf Film and Music Festival as well s other events and you will notice that each street bears an interesting name - below is my favourite I spotted.

Summer Road Trip 2017 - 5 Unforgettable Experiences in Western Serbia / Montenegro

July 19, 2017

When we designed this summer's road trip I did have a sort of hidden agenda and that was to explore the possibilities of what sometimes gets described as adventure tourism or more precisely in my mind as the scope for enjoying the outdoors. And with this kind of agenda comes a certain pressure to "tick things off". It is not the kind of tourism I like, if truth be told, so we have tried to manage our time to ensure we allow ourselves the possibility to truly discover and not simply to pass through, as if speeding down the hallways of an art gallery.

That said... here are a few amazing adventure experiences that I have not written about, so far and that really deserved a bit more time. I have grouped them together because they are all relatively close.

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