Anna Ashfield describes herself as "a kind of can't-be-arsed girl (who is really a middle aged woman). If an opportunity to do something arises, I test it by thinking, "when I go to bed at night and the opportunity has passed, will I regret it?" Fear alone is not an excuse to say no. But, if I simply don't want to do it, that is the best reason of all to say no, not for me." Anna sent me an email in response to one of my email newsletters about learning to live more adventurously ( https://alast...
Jun 09, 2020•25 min•Ep. 36
Graham Wilson retired from the Police and is now on a mission to walk 120 marathons in 120 days (along with his dog, Tilly). The 120 marathons will cover 8 countries, 3 isles and cover a distance of 3180 miles - the equivalent of walking from Leeds to New York City. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE LIVING ADVENTUROUSLY PODCAST (It’s completely free, zero hassle to do ( click here ), but really helpful for me trying to get a new podcast off the ground. If you’re feeling extra kind, please leave a review o...
Jun 02, 2020•37 min•Ep. 34
Diana Page was raised by her soldier Grandfather and hippy Father in an unconventional upbringing for a little girl in the seventies. A childhood that necessitated teaching herself self-reliance skills led to a university post-graduate education in Criminal Psychology and teaching at college. Three children later, Di gave up academia to raise her children alone and off-grid in a remote North Yorkshire Dale. They had no heating, loo, or running hot water, living in a green painted caravan in a fi...
May 26, 2020•20 min•Ep. 33
Mike Sowden is a curious writer and he is a fantastic person to share ideas and bounce thoughts around with. Mike describes himself online as an archaeology student turned writer and story geek, as well as a travelling disaster... PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE LIVING ADVENTUROUSLY PODCAST (It’s completely free, zero hassle to do ( click here ), but really helpful for me trying to get a new podcast off the ground. If you’re feeling extra kind, please leave a review on the app – that really helps.) List...
May 19, 2020•42 min•Ep. 32
Clare Nattress and Matty Waudby cycled round the world together. Clare is a PhD Candidate Arts Researcher & Lecturer and an artist. Matty is an adventurous creative with a love for bicycles, camping and the great outdoors. He aims to create inspirational imagery that documents human interaction with nature and to show that there is always more than we realise outside the front door. (Matty created the funky logo for my podcast!) PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE LIVING ADVENTUROUSLY PODCAST (It’s comp...
May 12, 2020•33 min•Ep. 31
Charlotte Evans, at 20 years old, was the youngest person I interviewed on my ride around Yorkshire. She describes herself on Twitter as a Notts County supporter, singer/songwriter, geographer and occasional radio producer from up North currently studying at the University of Nottingham. I was interested to get a different perspective on things that I think I know well - the world of adventure, its accessibility (or not) to women, and the barriers that stop young women like Charlotte from travel...
May 06, 2020•34 min•Ep. 30
'Yorkshire Rows' are four mums, friends, businesswomen who rowed 3000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. The expedition resulted in an intriguing variety of outcomes: the same journey impacting on different personalities in very different ways. We talked about the perceived stigma of 'irresponsible mothers' swanning off on selfish adventures, about the struggle of life after huge adventures, and the differences in risk between running a business and rowing the Atlantic. This was a wide-ranging, ho...
May 05, 2020•41 min•Ep. 29
David Oakes is an actor known for his role in "The Borgias" and Prince Ernest in the ITV show "Victoria". David also runs the Trees a Crowd podcast "for those curious about the world around us." Charm, good looks and talent are just some of the things that I do not share with David. But the point of this podcast is precisely this: to find people whose lives appear to be very different to my own, and then seek out the overlaps, the commonalities, and the lessons I can learn from what they do. We ...
Apr 28, 2020•34 min•Ep. 28
Theresa Robertshaw helps the elderly get back on bicycles by taking them for rides on an adapted electric tricycle. The mission of Cycling Without Age is to create happiness among our fellow elderly citizens by providing them with an opportunity to remain an active part of society and the local community. They do that by giving them the right to wind in their hair, the right to experience the city and nature close up from the bicycle and by giving them an opportunity to tell their story in the e...
Apr 21, 2020•28 min•Ep. 27
Chris Goddard is the Yorkshire Map Maker. He has been exploring and mapping his local landscapes ever since he was a child, spurred on by curiosity and a love of being outdoors. Chris dedicates his passion for exploring the minutiae of the world to creating intricate, beautiful books about the woods and moors around his home. He says, "My mother said I was born a good century too late and should have been out exploring and mapping the world in the age of empire. Yet the exploring I like to do ne...
Apr 14, 2020•30 min•Ep. 26
Jamie Wardley is a professional sand artist who creates far more than the sand castles I joked about. In his own words, "I am a mixed bag with a dose of art, a sprinkle of theatre and an education in Environmental Sciences. I have always tried to do things that bring enjoyment, as I believe if you do, then there is a real chance you will be successful and fulfilled. All the details sort themselves out in the end and great things happen if you just have a go. This led me to working in ice hotels ...
Apr 07, 2020•40 min•Ep. 25
Steve Bate has a condition that is slowly robbing him of his eyesight. He has now lost most of his vision, and because the condition is degenerative, Steve will go blind. He was devastated when he heard the optician tell him that he was going blind. Steve was working as an outdoor instructor at the time. It was 3 months before he began to find his way out of depression. By then, he worked out there wasn’t much he could do about his degenerating eyesight. But he had total control over what he did...
Mar 31, 2020•53 min•Ep. 24
Brant Richards is the Co-Founder of HebTroCo which smashed Kickstarter funding targets and grew into a Made In Britain menswear brand from the ground up. With a career path started from rummaging in the garage, through writing in back bedrooms, editing and launching national magazines, to leading the design team for a leading global bike brand, Brant's CV is as intriguing and meandering as our conversation (which took place, for a reason I forget, on his kitchen floor following a run through the...
Mar 24, 2020•37 min•Ep. 23
Rob Cowen is the award-winning author of Common Ground , selected as a ‘Book of the Year’ in the Times and featuring in the Guardian’s Top Ten Readers’ Choice. After moving from London to a new home in Yorkshire, Rob found himself on unfamiliar territory, disoriented, hemmed in by winter and yearning for the nearest open space. So one night, he set out to find it – a pylon-slung edge-land, a tangle of wood, meadow, field and river on the outskirts of town. Despite being in the shadow of thousand...
Mar 17, 2020•35 min•Ep. 22
Michaela Hanna has completed IronManUK, the Lakeland50 ultra mountain marathon, cycled from Edinburgh to London and across the Western Cape of South Africa. She therefore has personal experience of the significance of precise and relevant nutrition and places a high level of importance on the nutritional value of the food. Having spent time working in fine-dining restaurants, high-end event catering companies and as a private chef alongside her day job, the time came for Michaela to follow her j...
Mar 13, 2020•34 min•Ep. 21
Ben Dave ran a lap of Yorkshire because he needed a big challenge after running changed his life, helping him lose 30kg and stop smoking a couple of packets a day. Running also helped Ben with his mental health. When he was feeling down and lonely, Ben could only think of going to the pub as an option. Therefore he set up the Early Bird Run Crew - a friendly, daily, early 5km run in his home town to connect the community, making everyone happier and stronger individuals. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE ...
Mar 10, 2020•31 min•Ep. 20
Boff Whalley, from the band Chumbawamba is a keen runner, never happier than when mud-splattered and gasping up on the windy hills of West Yorkshire. He is also a playwright, the founder of Commoners Choir, and the author of Run Wild - an account of his experiences as a fell runner. I arrived at Boff's house after a long day in the saddle. His family welcomed me and plied me with cups of tea and a veggie burger in the sort of living room I would love to have one day: filled with quirky art and d...
Mar 03, 2020•47 min•Ep. 19
Annie Berrington is the founder of Get Out More , a social enterprise working to help people engage with nature to feel better in mind and body. She is a qualified forest school practitioner, a busy mum, and a keen microadventurer. She works with urban groups who are "hard to reach", trying to help them get out into nature more. The biggest barriers aren't the actual dangers but people's fears about them. We are now as a society a generation removed from the free-range childhood we hear about no...
Feb 25, 2020•25 min•Ep. 18
Tim Frenneaux is a former martial arts instructor, nine to fiver and audio visual artist, turned ethical entrepreneur, microadventurer, climate activist and punk philosopher. His redemption started when the brief and fragile nature of existence became painfully real as he hit the big 40 in the same month that his Dad died. Unhappy conjunctures like that are a great way of forcing you to focus on what you want from “your one wild and precious life” (to quote the dear departed Mary Oliver) Tim dec...
Feb 18, 2020•33 min•Ep. 17
Imran Mughal was the first British-Pakistani to cycle round the world. Over a delicious curry cooked by his mum the proud Yorkshireman told me how going out to explore the world was not encouraged within the Pakistani community. But the decline in health of his dad was a wake-up call to Imran that good health is not a given, nor does it last for ever. That, combined with redundancy, spurred him into action. Imran didn't tell his family he was going to cycle round the world, only that "I'll be go...
Feb 11, 2020•37 min•Ep. 16
Ben Cummins is on a mission to deliver a piano from Liverpool to London. On a home-made raft. That he propels himself. Within 25 years... So far it has taken Ben seven years to push his raft the 127 miles along the canal from Liverpool to Leeds! This adventure / art project / way of life began when Ben asked himself a brilliant question, "what is it that I want from my life?" Ben invited me onto his charming, quirky, stylish canal boat-cum-raft (built from locally-salvaged and donated materials)...
Feb 03, 2020•28 min•Ep. 15
Thom Barnett runs Mamnick, a clothing brand passionate about cycling. The tagline is "one thing at a time, as beautiful as possible". I cajoled Thom out of bed at early o'clock and we cycled out of Sheffield together, nipping down the back alleys and cycle paths he knows so well. Over breakfast I asked the fine arts graduate about life as a fashion designer, loving what you do, and Thom's love for exploring the hills and lanes of the Peak District. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE LIVING ADVENTUROUSLY PO...
Jan 28, 2020•25 min•Ep. 14
Professor Ian Rotherham is an expert on a range of environmental issues, including urban wildlife, extreme weather, flooding and climate change. He has published extensively in academic journals, and has released a number of books on UK wildlife and the environment. Ian is a man positively bursting with enthusiasm and knowledge and ideas. Ian poured forth a cheerful stream of lessons on the environment, eco-tourism and rewilding. We talked about the cultural severance between cities and wildness...
Jan 21, 2020•38 min•Ep. 13
Sophie Stephenson was living the life she’d always wanted. She had a well-paid dream job in Australia, lived in a beautiful place and felt secure in the knowledge that this could go on, indefinitely. But she was, she realised, unfulfilled. She was not, it turned out, truly happy with this life at all. By chance Sophie came across a reference to Nancy Kline’s book Time to Think. She described a way of being with one another that is both incredibly simple, and incredibly rare. We don’t give oursel...
Jan 14, 2020•34 min•Ep. 12
Jon Barton is the founder of Vertebrate Publishing. It sits at the very heart of British adventure writing and outdoor sports. Jon says that "we publish books to inspire adventure. It’s our rule that the only books we publish are those that we’d want to read or use ourselves. We endeavour to bring you beautiful books that stand the test of time and that you’ll be proud to have on your bookshelf for years to come." I asked Jon about the lessons he's learned from starting a company, the discrepanc...
Jan 08, 2020•43 min•Ep. 11
Tomo Thompson is Chief Executive of the charity Friends of the Peak District who work to safeguard the landscape of Britain’s first national park. Tomo is a retired Army Officer, with a recent background in business management consultancy. He also enjoys and instructs outdoor pursuits and is an encyclopaedia of knowledge about expeditions, equipment and fine places to unroll your bivvy bag for the night. I asked Tomo whether the word 'adventure' was inappropriate for a career in the military. On...
Jan 07, 2020•32 min•Ep. 10
Louise McMahon is a climber, caver, diver, occasional photographer and a trans woman she/her. So says her Twitter bio, and I like the order she has chosen to list things in. Once Louise had unpicked and identified the problems she faced, the big change of committing to transition was a sudden release and huge relief. Committing was, in the end, easier than hiding. And none of the worries she had beforehand came to pass. I began this podcast to ask people about worlds that overlap with my own but...
Dec 31, 2019•30 min•Ep. 9
Sarah Lister was drifting through her twenties until a 'doorstep mile' moment of commitment saw her quit her unloved job and begin again. Today Sarah lives in a cosy cottage at the foot of beautiful fells in the Peak District National Park. She works as a coach these days and this has given her a new way of thinking, teaching her that a fresh perspective comes from asking open, non-judgemental questions. I arrived at Sarah's house in a torrential storm. I was soaking wet and a bit fed-up. So whe...
Dec 24, 2019•37 min•Ep. 8
Hetty Key combined her industry experience of the Outdoor / Adventure world with her academic background to investigate issues surrounding women in adventure. Hetty is passionate about using data to increase diversity and improve accessibility within the outdoors. Women in Adventure offers a collective voice for women, empowering others through the sharing of information, inspiration and advice. We took refuge from the torrential rain in a cafe to chat. I asked Hetty what she believes limits wom...
Dec 18, 2019•28 min•Ep. 7
Helen Mort is a busy woman. She is an award-winning poet and novelist, a runner and a climber. She has also recently become a mum which has transformed her perspective on living adventurously. She told me about being open to the possibilities of change in your life, and the weird way in which an expedition to Greenland can feel less daunting than staying in Sheffield at a gathering of other new parents. Helen is not only a highly-acclaimed poet but also a lecturer in creative writing. So I was i...
Dec 17, 2019•25 min•Ep. 6
