Episodes
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Mark Charlie Valentine is deeply passionate about promoting the many benefits towards improved physical health & mental well-being through spending time outdoors and this theme can be seen running through all avenues of his work. He is a Winter & International Mountain Leader, Climbing Coach & Rock Climbing Instructor, and is the director of and an instructor at Your Mountain Adventure.
But Mark has not always worked in the hills and mountains. After dealing with a horrific incident whilst working as a bouncer in Leeds, Mark discovered first hand the power of time spent outside in nature as he sought to find ways that empowered him through his diagnosis of PTSD. The award-winning film The White Fox follows Mark's journey from doors to hills, and he is now also presenting The White Fox Talking podcast.
In todays episode I chat with Mark about all things outdoors and mental health.
Please note that in this episode we do discuss various mental health conditions including PTSD and suicide. Listener discretion is advised.
White Fox Talking Website & Podcast
White Fox film
Your Mountain Adventure
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Now for many of us when we head into the hills for a wee hike we might pack a few bars, a banana that will inevitably get squashed, and maybe even indulge in a soggy sandwich or two.
But for Harrison Ward, time outside means both gym and kitchen, as he carries beautiful ingredients with him on his adventures to create delicious, restaurant style meals on minimal camping equipment.
Now known as Fell Foodie, Harrison has gained a reputation as an outdoor cook, hiker and mental health speaker, and he regularly talks about his personal battle with mental illness, sharing how in 2016 he harnessed the power of nature in all its wonderful forms in order to get sober and turn his life around.
His journey is inspirational and today I take a deep dive with Harrison to talk about all things fell and food.
Follow Harrison on Instagram
Check out Harrisons Website
Harrison on YouTube
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Exmoor is a place like no other. As one of the UK’s 15 National Parks it boasts a myriad of habitats from rugged heather moorlands, home to wild deer and semi-feral ponies, to the most extensive broadleaved coastal woods in Britain, and the highest sea cliffs and most remote coastline in England. The park is full of historical buildings, bubbling brooks and fascinating combes and valleys, and is an International Dark Sky Reserve.
Exmoor sees around 2 million visitors pass through its borders each year, and as such a team is needed to ensure these beautiful spaces are protected. Someone who knows all about enabling the public to give back and get engaged is Charlotte Wray, a ranger within Exmoor National Park.
In this episode I talk with Charlotte and find out more about her role and what it takes to keep Britains wild spaces flourishing for all to enjoy.
Exmoor National Park Website
National Parks UK Website
Main Woofing Website
iNaturalist Website
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Adventure means different things to different people. An adventure for some could mean going for a dip in an icy tarn or riding a mountain bike down a gnarly home run; for others it could be climbing a mountain for the first time or facing a long-term fear of some sort.
For explorer and expedition leader Chaz Powell, adventure has become a way of life that has seen him walk the length of some of Africa's wildest rivers and create a way of life that embraces nature and sustainable living. Along the way Chaz has sought to highlight the devastating realities of wildlife crime and conservation issues across the globe. For his work Chaz was awarded with the honorary title of `Explorer of the Year” by the Scientific Exploration Society in 2021, and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society.
In this episode I chat to Chaz about his explorations and missions to create positive change.
The Wildest Journey Website
Chaz on Instagram
Chaz on Facebook
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Bex Band is the founder and director of Love Her Wild, a registered non-profit Female Adventure Company, established in 2017. It has since grown into the largest of its kind in the UK with over 25,000 members.
Through Love Her Wild Bex aims to make adventure more accessible to women, and has raised more than £10k for charity, removed over 10,000 pieces of plastic pollution from waterways, and set up 8 mentoring partnerships.
Bex is a professional adventurer too, boasting an impressive array of previous explorations, and she is currently in the throes of organising the Women’s End2End relay, a world-first hiking relay covering the length of the UK.Alongside this and everything else, she has recently published a new book Three Stripes South, following her 1000km journey along the length of the Israel National Trail in 2016.
When she’s not running the Love Her Wild community, Bex is a mum to her daughter Rivi, and a passionate advocate for environmental conservation.
Follow Bex on Instagram
Bex Band Main Website
Love Her Wild Main Website
Love Her Wild Instagram
Buy Your Copy Of Three Strips South
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Rory Southworth is what most people would call superhuman. He spends much of his time undertaking interesting challenges across the hills and mountains of UK, often involving cold water swimming, free-diving, skiing, hiking, trail running, cycling, or, really, anything outdoors.
He is passionate about sharing his adventures across his popular Instagram platform, and for me, is a shining light in the industry, never failing to offer an inspirational or reflective post, coupled with a huge smile that leaves you feeling pumped to get up and moving seconds later. Rory says that ‘Sport is so intrinsically linked to my mental health that movement is beyond crucial to my happiness.’
The list of Rory's adventurous achievements is too long to list here, but in the last few years he has completed 100km of English Skiing; in summited all of the Wainwright Outlying Fells; Run across Lancashire; finished a Virtual Everest Expedition; and
completed swimming the length of all the Lake District Tarns (deeper than 5m), to name but a few. He is a freelancer and ambassador for Salamon, Speedo UK, Ordnance Survey, and Rubicon Raw, and has a background in product design, putting on events for Digital, creative and tech businesses.
He cares passionately about the environment, and this comes across in all that he does, and despite facing a few health setbacks in recent years, he continues to adapt and overcome, saying that ‘Comfort is being in the places that give you joy’ - and without question, this is the outdoors for Rory.
In this episode we take a deep dive with Rory into what draws him to bodies of water across the UK, and why just the UK. We pick apart his mental resilience strategy, learn about kit needed to wild swim, and find out his top tips for anyone looking to brave the wet wherever you call home!
Follow Rory on Instagram
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Joe Williams is the Business Development Manager for Cicerone, which for over 50 years has been one of the very best publishers of outdoor guides to exploring the hills, mountains and countryside of Britain, Europe and the world.
Naturally, Joe’s passion for the outdoors is threaded into his everyday life. He is an enthusiastic all-rounder in the mountains and seeks to pursue a wide array of outdoor activities that allow access to more remote and inspiring landscapes. His main skill though is endurance mountain ultra running, which he discovered after many years of climbing and road running. He tackled his first mountain race in France in 2014, and since then has competed in running events across various mountainous regions of the planet.
When he’s not out and about on his feet, Joe is a keen classical guitarist with a background in performance and teaching. He lives in Kendal with his partner Caroline and his pup Tryfan.
In this episode we ask Joe all about his life both on and off the mountains. How he keeps fit when work is busy, and what draws him back to the hills time and time again. We explore the mindset required to partake in extreme sports, and dig into what makes a good guidebook, from concept to research to published book.
Follow Cicerone Press on Instagram
Follow Cicerone on Facebook
Subscribe to the Cicerone Newsletter
Check out Cicerone's incredible array of guidebooks
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James Forrest is a British adventurer, hiker and author. Nicknamed ‘Mountain Man’ by The Sunday Telegraph, James has set several hill-walking records, including climbing all of the 1,001 mountains across the UK and Ireland between 2017 to 2019. During this challenge he walked more than 5,000km, climbed the height of Everest 30 times and slept wild under the stars for over 100 nights. He has since completed the National Three Peaks by foot, walking 500 miles in just 16 days, along the way creating his heartfelt and empowering documentary ‘The Mountain inside’ following his mental health journey. He has also walked the Dales Way, Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, West Highland Way, and Wainwright's Coast to Coast trail, to name but a few.
It hasn't always been like this for James though. From the age of 20 to 30 he was based in inner-city Birmingham, holding down a 40-hour-a-week office job in the charity sector. It was in 2016 that James decided to hand in his notice, sell his house, and go travelling, and this was the catalyst for all he has achieved today.
Along the way James has inspired many by writing articles and sharing his story across his popular instagram account. Today we are lucky enough to speak with James to dive in a little deeper to his adventurous nature and find out what really makes him tick.
In this episode we explore what led James to tackle all 1001 mountains in the UK, find out about the kit that he used, and hear more about his life transitioning from office-job to outdoor adventurer. We look at his mental health journey and answer the question 'what made you speak up?'; and finish with some inspirational advice for anyone looking to get outdoors, whether for a big challenge or just time to connect with nature.
Follow James on Instagram
Visit James's website
Watch The Mountain Inside
Buy James's book, Mountain Man (Amazing UK)
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Trigger Warning: please note that this episodes contains conversation around mental health and wellbeing, sometimes covering sensitive subjects. We advise you to come back to this episode at another point if you are finding yourself struggling at the moment.
Rani Bora is a holistic psychiatrist, author, international speaker and wellness coach. She also works as a practising consultant psychiatrist in the NHS. Her passion is to transform the lives of people struggling with any form of mental health challenge by empowering them and guiding them to their innate wellbeing and resilience so that they experience inner peace, clarity of mind and find meaning and purpose in their lives.
In partnership with her husband, Dr Suraj Gogoi, Rani is also working to build an online community of like-minded professionals who want to serve at the highest level possible by breaking free from stress and overwhelm into a healthy and full life.
She is the host of the Listening Into Wellbeing Podcast and author of "How To Turn Stress On Its Head".
In this episode we answer the question 'what is mental health?'; explore the idea of individual stress thresholds, and dig into Ranis famous phrase "People may be lost but they are NOT broken".
Tune into Rani's podcast, Listening Into Wellbeing
Visit Rani's website
Buy Rani's book (Amazon UK)
Follow Rani on Instagram
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Get 15% off your Water-To-Go order today using WILD15 at checkout
After working in the garment industry for many years and seeing the horrific problems of waste pollution first-hand, CEO and Founder of Water-to-Go, Dave Shanks, sought to create a sustainable and reusable alternative to single-use plastic water bottles. He then developed a unique filter for the bottle and so Water-to-Go was born. Realising that here was a technology that could provide clean, healthy water almost anywhere and which could also reduce the environmental damage being done was the motivation to establish the Water-to-Go brand and business.
Since then, the company has grown year on year and in a very short time, has not only added distributors and retailers in over 50 countries worldwide, but also fostered partnerships with a large number of charities, ranging from Malaria No More UK to the African Wildlife Foundation.
In this conversation we dive into the story behind Water-To-Go, digging into the issues surrounding the textile industry and waste disposal, fail working conditions, and more. We discuss whether there is a future for plastic on planet earth and explore what we can all do to help create a more sustainable way to life here and now.
Main Water-To-Go website: https://watertogo.eu
How the bottles work: https://watertogo.eu/how-it-works/
What is Water To Go Doing to help the planet? https://watertogo.eu/doing-good/
Get 15% off your Water-To-Go order today using WILD15 at checkout
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Russel Hepton began hiking when he was living in London 5 years ago. His first step into the outdoors was a failed summit of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles, in winter conditions. He describes standing in a white out, alone on the switchbacking trail with nothing but the soft sound of falling snow around him. He turned back, but thankfully for us all, this was to be the ignition of his new-found passion for the great outdoors.
Since then Rus has committed to building more experience in the outdoor world and has forged a YouTube Channel following his travels, from summiting a volcano at sunrise to gear lists. Rus really has covered some ground!
In this episode we dive into his story and explore how COVID19 impacted his travel plans and saw him come under frightening online abuse. Thankfully he shares how he handled the situation and bounced back with renewed energy and passion. Quite frankly, he is inspiring.
In addition to overcoming hard times, Rus engineered a strong, lightweight, environmentally responsible set of notebooks designed for use on the trail - Thrunotes. His hope is to enable his customers to record miles of memories in a more meaningful and creative way than with a phone, on a medium which will stay structurally sound on a thru-hike while having an extremely low impact on the environment.
Tune in to the full episode to hear the full story!
Want to hit up socials? Follow Rus:
YouTube
Instagram
Thrunotes
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Alison Inglis has been a college lecturer since 1989 and worked with the Open University, teaching business, management & IT. She has also been a practicing buddist since 2003 and is in training for ordination with the Triratna Western Buddhist order. Like many Buddhists, she wanted to take up holistic therapies to help others and practise kindness & generosity. She also wanted to do something that involved her hands, rather than her brain, to balance out her working life. So in 2004 she was personally trained by Narendra Mehta – called the ‘Guru of the British Indian Head Massage movement’ who had developed a unique technique called Indian Champissage. She then trained further to become an approved tutor in the massage in 2007 and has since been providing treatments to clients and teaching others the technique. She is the only tutor to offer this in Scotland and the North of England.
In this episode we dive into all of this and more, including Alisons journey with OCD and how mindfulness and meditation help her on a day to day basis to stay grounded and live her best life.
Find out more:
Buddhism: https://www.freebuddhistaudio.com/
Indian Champissage:
Alison's website: https://www.indianchampiscotland.com/
London Centre: https://champissageinternational.com/
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Sarah Williams started her career in banking, but in 2013 after 8 years of office work, she packed her bags and started traveling around the world. It was whilst she was travelling and questioning her next step that she realised her love of three things; challenges, travel, and adventure. And so she took these passions and used them to found Tough Girl Challenges in 2014. Her aim? To motivate and inspire women and girls to get fit and active, to travel and explore, and to have big dreams and to step outside their comfort zone.
Along the way, Sarah herself has lived up to the project's vision, having run the Marathon des Sables, which is 6 marathons in 6 days across the Sahara Desert, thru hiked the entire Appalachian Trail of 2,190 miles, cycled the 4000km Pacific Coast Highway, run the London Marathon 5 times, climbed Kilimanjaro, the highest freestanding mountain in the world, and so much more.
Sarah is the author of 5 books, and the host of the 2x award-winning Tough Girl Podcast, which is listened to in over 174 countries and had over 1 million downloads.
In this episode we dive into all of this and more, exploring what goes on behind the scenes of Tough Girl, and how Sarah manages it all!
In our chat Sarah mentions the book The Slight Edge. The author is Jeff Olson.
Find out more about Sarah:
Facebook
Instagram
Website
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Crista Valentino was 26 years old when she co-founded CoalitionWILD. Her aim? To connect and equip the world’s young change-makers to tackle our planet’s greatest conservation challenges.
She is an unstoppable force in the field of conservation with an impressive list of credentials to her name. She is the North American Focal Point for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s World Commission on Protected Areas Young Professionals; is an active member of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network, has had her writing featured in international publications, and was on the Executive Committee for the 11th World Wilderness Congress.
In this episode we break down what it takes to run such an initiative and coordinate members from all around the world. We explore some of the planets most pressing environmental issues, and dive into the role we can all play as environmental stewards.
Alongside all of this, we take a look at Crista's inherent love for the outdoors, discussing what trail running, travelling, and adventure means to her, and how she balances running a flourishing eco-business with grounded living.
Find out more:
CoalitionWILD Website
Crista's LinkedIn
Crista's Instagram
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It is always great fun to chat with like minded people and in this episode I feel I hit the jackpot. If you are interested in personal growth, travel, and leaning to face fears and doing things anyway, then this is the episode for you.
Max and Tom have travelled the world, visiting Central and South America, before working for a year in Australia for a year and then stopping off in New Zealand, Asia and Nepal on their way home. Naturally, they are very self-aware individuals, passionate about raising the profile of mental health awareness and limb difference - that difference does not necessarily mean disability. Once home they attempted to settle into ‘normal life’, running their own business yet unable to satisfy their innate need to live the simple life. Nothing offered them a more ample opportunity than in 2017 when they hiked the full 2189 mile Appalachian Trail.
Now, a few years on, Max and Tom are preparing for their next big adventure. They’ve built a van and will soon move into it full time. Where will they go? What will they do? They are humbly staying open to all opportunities, documenting their travels through their blog ‘It Takes A Journey’.
Find out more:
Website
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
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Andrew Miller spent the first chapter of his working life in Military Intelligence units. After 12 years of service he left to begin a self-employed career as a consultant, coach, and mentor, working for many blue chip companies including HSBC, Ericsson, Alcatel Telecom, Dell, British Energy and British Airports Authority as well as for national government agencies and departments.
In 2007 during the financial crash, Andrew branched out into a career as a wedding photographer, firmly establishing himself in the industry. Most recently, Andrew has taken his passion for the great outdoors and combined it with his coaching and mentoring training, creating Dreaming Of The Outdoors, where he looks to use nature to help gain clarity of thought and solutions for his clients.
In this episode Andrew and I dive into everything small-business, from defining a brand and pricing work, to finding clients and managing workload to ensure a work-life balance that promotes sound mental and physical health.
If you’d like to find out more about Andrew and his journey from 12 years of military service into the world of self-employment, please do tune in to our last episode, that's number 6, to find out more.
Contact Andrew
https://www.andrew-miller.co.uk
https://www.rubus-consultants.co.uk
https://www.dreamingoftheoutdoors.com
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Andrew Miller is someone who really likes to make the best out of life, following in the footsteps of his grandfather's advice of ‘saying yes more’. He’s also a bit of an enigma, in that he both works to live and lives to work. If I were to summarise him in three words they would likely be adaptable, generous, resilient.
In this conversation we dive into Andrews military career and how it provided endless opportunities for him to grow and mould into the person he is today. We then explore his journey into self-employment during a time of world-wide financial turmoil; he now runs three very successful businesses in training management, adventure coaching, and wedding photography. We break down the attributes we all inherently have and explore how we can build ourselves up and strip ourselves back in order to access the ‘real’ us - the us we want to put out into the world authentically and wholeheartedly.
Andrew's Website
Andrew on Facebook
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Bob Cartwright has backpacked around the world, competed in numerous Original Mountain Marathon events, designed multiple pieces of lightweight adventure kit,and walked the 200 mile Great Outdoor Challenge in Scotland more than a handful of times.
In 2005 Bob established backpackinglight.co.uk with the aim of making lightweight hiking, biking, and riding more accessible, and then went on to launch The Outdoor Station Podcast in 2005. The show has now received well over 14 million downloads, and across the 530-plus episodes Bob has chatted to an impressive array of outdoor fanatics, such as Jenny Tough, Anna Blackwell, Chris Townsend and Keith Fosket. Alongside these conversions, Bob also documents live expos and events, and shares his own hiking experiences through travel diaries and musical journals.
In this episode Bob and I dive into his childhood experiences to rediscover where the foundations for his love of the outdoors were laid. We then travel the world as he shares some of his experiences of backpacking for 18 months on a shoestring. How does one go about doing such a thing? We explore the concepts of fear and perceptions, and how we can often find ourselves walking the thin line between excitement and anxiety.
Bob and I then turn our chat to podcasting and media. What did it look like pioneering the way in the podcast scene, and what have been the peaks and troughs of the 15 year journey? And how can we all take on our own goals and dreams, even when we seemingly don't have anyone to follow who is leading the way?
Contact Bob:
Facebook
Instagram
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We all know that spending time outside can be immeasurably beneficial for our mental and physical wellbeing, but for some, accessing the outdoors can seem overwhelming and scary. This is especially true now, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thankfully though, there are people out there who are trying to make the outdoors more accessible and who keep encouraging us to dream big. Eoin Hamilton is one of those people.
In July 2019 Eoin, along with friends Paul Finely and Pete Britton, began work on a new app called Hiiker. Their goal? Simply to make long-distance hiking more attainable. Now, 1.5 years on, they are well on their way to achieving this aim, with nearly 1600 trails available both online and on their app, fully mapped and detailed.
In this episode Eoin and I talk about how it all started. From childhood to marketing professional to app developer to trail runner. This down-to-earth, engaging conversation will no doubt leave you feeling enriched and ready to head outside for a grand adventure.
Contact Eoin:
Hiiker Facebook
Hiiker App
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In this chat Stephen and I dive into his childhood experiences where the foundations of his love for nature were laid at a very young age. He explains why birds were his primary fascination, and how as he grew up and entered the world of work, this broadened into other flying things such as dragonflies and butterflies after meeting the legendary birder, comedian and presenter, Bill Oddie.
Stephen is a former producer at the BBC Natural History Unit with an admirable career spanning three decades. He produced some of the nation's most loved nature series, such as Big Cat Diary, Birding with Bill Oddie, and the BAFTA-winning Springwatch series, which first aired in 2005. We dive into what his role involved and how working in TV is very much a job for those who thrive when working in teams.
‘Why this, why me, why now’. Through much of this conversation Stephen and I talk in depth about travel and nature writing, from putting thoughts to paper, order, structure, and purpose. As someone who is a senior lecturer at Bath Spa University in the topic, he has some very insightful tips for anyone looking to get into writing.
Contact:
Website: Stephen Moss
Twitter
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