Is trekking on Kilimanjaro on your bucket list? For Summit to Talk About host, Ryan, it's been a long time coming. Having booked the trip 2 years prior, the day finally arrived in October 2023. Ryan answers your questions about his Kilimanjaro adventure and gives his top tip for anyone thinking of heading out on their own adventure to the roof of A…

Is trekking on Kilimanjaro on your bucket list? For Summit to Talk About host, Ryan, it's been a long time coming. Having booked the trip 2 years prior, the day finally arrived in October 2023. Listen as Claire and Ryan chat about his recent trip to Tanzania and the ups and downs of trekking for 8 days on the Lemosho route. Ryan booked his trek wit…

After many years of teaching in schools, Fleur found that she had a passion for helping people in a pastoral role and retrained as a therapeutic counsellor. When a room indoors was being used, Fleur took her counseling session with a Young Person ,outside on the field. She instantly saw how powerful counselling without walls was. Fleur went on to s…

James was the life and sole of the party. Fancy a drink? Yes, would be the answer, every time. But it didn't stop with just a drink here and there. James' life was soon fueled by alcohol and drugs. It was consuming him and having an affect on his day to day life and relationships. James seeked help and got his life back on track. Now sober, he has …

In 2016, Harrison decided it was time to change. After years of suffering with ill mental health and suicidal thoughts, he found alcohol whilst working in hospitality. Alcohol soon became the biggest part of his life, drinking up to 20 pints and smoking everyday whilst battling with depression. A relationship breakdown saw Harrison vowing to remove…

Lucy discovered climbing whilst travelling in Australia and was instantly hooked. Back in the UK, she headed to the indoor climbing centre, where she trained hard, til now, the present. Lucy is now a part of Team GB as a paraclimbing athlete, competing in world championships and hoping to compete in the next paralympics. We met with Lucy at Big Dep…

Alex Staniforth grew up in Cheshire and had a dream. A dream of climbing the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest. For many, it is just that, a dream. But for Alex, it was a dream he couldn't shake off and he put his all into making it happen. In 2014, at the age of 17, he went to Nepal, ready to make his dream a reality. Unfortunately, dis…

Jackie and Mark gave up the 9 to 5 life early when they were made redundant. This just meant their plans to hit the road were brought forward a couple of years. They set out to buy a caravan and started their adventure just 10 minutes later at a nearby campsite. Things escalated very quickly when they made the decision to sell all of their possessi…

May is national walking month and in this episode, Claire is joined by Imogen from GM Walking, an online platform representing 122 walking clubs across Greater Manchester. Part of GM Walking are Abigail's Trails and ABCD Nordic Walking and they tell us what it means to them to be a part of GM Walking and what they have planned throughout May for th…

Robin Wallace is a keen hiker, peak bagger and wild camper from Scotland, UK. He documents his outdoor adventures on his YouTube channel - Walk with Wallace. His relaxed yet informative style has seen him nominated twice in The Great Outdoors magazine awards. If peak bagging is your thing, Robin has completed his Munro bagging journey. That's 282 S…

The National Outdoor Expo is held at the NEC Birmingham. It showcases the best brands and well-known faces from the outdoors community . We went armed with the recorder to meet YOU - the listeners of the podcast and to have a mooch about the stalls and chat with lots of different people who all have a passion for our great outdoors. So, if you coul…

Sian Richardson spent years running, competing in triathlons, cyclosportive events, marathons, ultramarathons and swimming events. In 2014, she decided that cold water swimming would make for a great new challenge. Swimming into the colder months in the Pembrokeshire sea, others began noticing this solo swimmer braving the cold waters and soon star…

Martin Little has swapped 'Aggressive Camping' for the more relaxing wild camping experience. In his army days, camping was a necessity and built his resilience. That resilience helped him bounce back from a serious injury after a suicide bomber detonated a bomb which unfortunately killed three of his friends and put Martin out of action for 18 mon…

Julianne Noon, like many of us, was hit hard by the pandemic lockdown. She decided to get out walking in her local area to keep active and lose weight. After posting pictures of her walks on social media, John got in touch and they soon began walking together. A few small walks and big idea led to the birth of Well Mental UK - an opportunity for pe…

Love it or loathe it, the weather seems to be one of the most talked about subjects in the UK. For those of us who love spending time outdoors, its an important part of planning our adventures. That's where the Mountain Weather Information Service come to the rescue. Focusing on 10 upland areas of Britain, they produce detailed forecasts specific t…

Mark aka Mullion Vagrant has lived in Cornwall all of his life and the outdoors has always been a big part of it. He is now a teacher and plans his adventures around his free time. Last year, he thru-hiked the Hebridean Way across its islands taking in Scotland's true wilderness. He also set off to Europe to trek the well known but stunning Tour du…

In this special bonus episode, I'm joined by Mark aka Mullion Vagrant on Instagram to discuss the very important and hot topic of wild camping in Dartmoor since the High Court judgement on 13th January 2023 ruled that wild camping is no longer legal on any Dartmoor land without the permission of the land owner. This has sent shock waves across the …

Amy aka Bookworm Explores is a lover of our great outdoors, from hiking to wild camping, skiing to paddle boarding, she has done it all! Amy has explored many parts of the world but up until just a few years ago had never ventured north of Birmingham in the UK. She has certainly changed that since and has thrown herself in to the depths of outdoor …

With over 40 years experience in Mountain Rescue, there's not a lot Mike Margeson hasn't seen with over 1000 rescues under his belt. He is a member of the Duddon and Furness Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) in the Lake District and is also the Operations Director for Mountain Rescue England & Wales - the umbrella body who oversee the 49 volunteer MRT's a…

Lisa grew up with the Yorkshire Moors on her doorstep. She spent a lot of time in the outdoors and loved visiting family in Cumbria too, She got a taste for camping as she rose through the ranks of Brownies and Guides before heading off to University. A few years later, living in the south and realising that she was surrounded by people living to w…

Damon found himself without a job, going through a difficult relationship break up and homeless all in a short space of time. He had hit rock bottom and could see no way out. He had to re-frame his thinking and get out of the dark place he's found himself in. When you're living out of your car and showering at the gym there's only one thing for it …

Matt Le Voi moved to Cumbria and set up his business Lakeland Mountain Guides, guiding people in the mountains to help them get outdoors. His passion for helping others didn't stop there and he also became a personal training, focusing on mountain fitness! Matt's own fitness has been stretched, especially this year having set himself some tough cha…

If you're thinking of getting out on your first wild camp or even if you've been wild camping for a while, you've probably asked these questions! I am joined again by Dan Jones from @wildcamping.lifeuk with his expansive knowledge of wild camping and we tackle some of the most frequently asked questions when it comes to wild camping. It's my first …

Alex grew up in Cumbria. He left school and moved to Birmingham to attend university before moving to London to become a teacher. In the metropolis of the capital, he fell in love with the outdoors and began to wonder of far away adventurous places and soon found himself frequenting the Alps! This had planted a seed for Alex and he returned on many…

In 1979 Chris Priest and Duncan Say were just youngsters with an ambitious idea to hike the Pennine Way. A practice hike over two days soon made them realise this wasn't a walk in the park and shouldn't be attempted with their 40lb packs! They had made all the necessary plans including coloring in their printed out maps and they set off through the…

Louisa has a great energy about her and that kind of trait will serve her well when she becomes a Mountain Leader. Louisa reevaluated her life in the city and relocated to Cumbria to be where she felt at her best, near the mountains and lakes of The Lake District. This has enabled her to live a more outdoorsy lifestyle and pursue her goal of becomi…

Series 3 of Summit to Talk About kicks off with Alex Brown, lover of the outdoors in all its forms and the chairman of the BMC (British Mountaineering Council) in the Midlands. We chat about hiking, wild camping, Mountain Leader Training, the important work of the BMC and some of the benefits of being a member and everything in-between. If you woul…

Laura enjoyed running and synchronised swimming. But when she started a family, getting 'that' buzz became difficult. Like many of us, she adapted her lifestyle in order to continue getting outside and to involve all the family. During lockdown, we were all restricted to local walks and this sparked the birth of The Hiking Household and Tikes Hikes…

Russ was a banker who read books about adventurers, adventurers who inspired him to want his very own epic adventure, not something that had been done many times, but something new and something he was good at.... sleeping! Russ aka @amountainbivvi set out to camp on each of the 214 Wainwright's fells in the Lake District over the course of a year,…

Abbie is the founder of 'Spend more time in the wild', a growing organisation and community inspiring and empowering people to get outside for the benefit of physical and mental wellbeing. At the age of 13, Abbie began making films about our natural world and the devastating destruction to the environment through the production of palm oil. This le…

Dan has been wild camping for 15 years. In this time he has honed his skills, knowledge and kit to (almost) perfection. Like many of us,Dan has enjoyed the process of trying new things and camping in different places but continues to learn and improve. We chat about how he started in his pursuit for the perfect wild camping setup from humble beginn…

John Barker has spent much of his life outdoors but only really did it for pleasure later on. After many years in the British armed forces, he now spends time outside for pleasure rather than daily beastings! Like many of us, John captures his outdoors adventures on his camera phone and has created a big following through instagram by sharing his i…

Luci, aka Van Life with Luci on Instagram is a teacher and lover of our great outdoors. She loves hiking, rock climbing, stand up paddle boarding and most of all, living the van life! We chat about how it all began, where its going, the complexities of taking on a van conversion project and everything in between! Throughout January, Luci is walking…

John Beamson is a character full of energy. He runs Robustours, an outdoors company specialising in ultra events. When ultra long distances are your thing, there's no room for negativity or procrastination, it's all about doing what you say you're going to do and that's exactly what John does! We chat about the highs and lows of doing an ultra even…

We dive straight back in to day 5 of the West Highland Way in Tyndrum. Danny, Karla and I continue our chat about our last 3 days on the trail up to Fort William. This was, for me, the most scenic part of the WHW. We also discuss kit. What we took, what we wish we'd taken and what we wish we hadn't bothered carrying. I'm so proud to be able to shar…

We are back with Series 2 and in this episode I chat with my good friends Danny and Karla about our recent multi-day hike on the West Highland Way in Scotland. We chat about kit, planning the trip, the views,the terrain and everything in between! Our chat was a long one so you can catch part 2 in the next episode. For a visual glimpse of our WHW hi…

In this final episode of series 1 I chat with Dexter who is a lover of long distance hikes. Seeing the first few miles of the Coast to Coast trail from a young age, the seed was planted and it was only natural for Dexter to do the full trail as his first thru-hike. After a long break, Dexter got back on trail and has since completed some of the UK'…

Jessica's love for the great outdoors started with a bang back in 2014 when she won a competition to climb Kilimanjaro which she later discovered is not in Wales! She completed the trek to the summit and fell in love with hiking. She then went on to trek to Everest base camp, Stok Kangri and worked towards becoming a Mountain Leader. Most recently,…

There's a 'scene' for every hobby and community. When I was in my late teens it was any fast food restaurant car park blaring music from my clapped out fiesta. Neil, Matt and Andy said the same about the UK gay scene where coming in at 5am is the norm after a night on the dance floor. Now things are different and after joining forces to go out hiki…

Sam Baynes is a physiotherapist who landed a dream job out in the Austrian Alps. Whilst out in the mountains celebrating New Year's Eve, a sledge accident stopped her life in it's tracks. Sam was in a coma with a very small chance of pulling through and spent three months in hospital. She had to relearn how to walk and talk and miraculously made it…

Impala is the coolest hiking name out there and the face that owns it is the most entertaining thru-hiker on the trails. In this episode I chat with Impala. His inspiring and very funny social media stories had me addicted early on and I've recently followed him on his UK end-to-end thru hike. We chat about his love for the trails which have taken …

For this 10th episode of Summit to Talk About I met up with Neil Read in Bushy Park in London. Surrounded by nature, Neil shares his own 'Walk for your Wellbeing' story of living with depression and how getting into the outdoors and hiking has helped him. He is now an ambassador for My Black Dog, a charity doing great things to help others who are …

Laurie Crayston has always had the drive to do things one step ahead of the norm. In late April 2021, he set out on his fourth attempt at walking all 214 Wainwrights fells in one continuous and unsupported round. At the time, this had never been completed by anyone. Whilst Laurie did not complete the round this time, we delve into the finer details…

We're a friendly bunch when we're out walking. In this episode I chat with Tom Parkington, a teacher and personal trainer from Suffolk. He shares his Yorkshire 3 peaks experience, his love for the Peak District and that beautiful phenomenon that is.... being friendly to strangers in the hills! I also chat to Charlotte and Chloe from The Lakes Litte…

Kirsty has bribed her good friend and all round great guy Kev to come on to the podcast. In a chilled out chat, he gives us his side of the story from the Crib Goch and shares his own experiences in the outdoors including treks to Everest base camp, Kilimanjaro and Mt Toubkal. Kev also tells us about his walking group and his new found love of cold…

To mark mental health awareness week we have 2 special 'Walk for your wellbeing' special episodes! In this episode Kirsty Collin takes over and discusses how being in nature and the outdoors can benefit our wellbeing. Kirsty also bravely shares her own story of mental health and the loss of her partner Ben, to suicide in 2020 and what life has been…

If you've ever been out hiking and had to use your hands as well as your feet, you may have inadvertently been scrambling. In this episode, Alex from Scramble this UK shares his love of scrambling, how it all started and how he has began to map out the best scrambles in our favourite hiking locations. He shares his top tips for anyone who fancies v…

Kaitlin is an aspiring adventurer! Already, her life has taken her to Australia and various locations in the UK. She spent much of her childhood in the Cairngorms and this playground was a catalyst for her love of the outdoors. In this episode, Kaitlin shares her outdoors adventures including the West Highland Way twice, paddle boarding and a 500 m…

In the episode I chat to Will Copestake, who in 2015 was named Scottish and UK Adventurer of the year for his 364 day solo circumnavigation of Scotland by kayak followed by an immediate ascent of all 282 Scottish Munro mountains. His passion for the outdoors has taken him trekking in New Zealand, across Iceland and kayaking in through the Patagonia…

Adam Hamblett travelled across the world on a self-destruct mission after the tragic loss of his father. He found a love for the outdoors and turned his life around. He shares his 'Walk for your wellbeing story'. In 'All the gear, no idea' I chat with Dan Jones from Wildcamping.lifeuk about the top backpacking tents to suit a range of budgets.…