Episode 218 of The Adventure Podcast features writer, journalist, and adventurer, Adam Weymouth. Over a decade ago, Adam undertook a year-long journey, walking from England to Istanbul. What grew out of burnout from frontline climate activism became a personal experiment in pilgrimage, slowness, and meaning. Adam talks about canoeing the length of the Yukon River while following the salmon run, and walking across the Alps in the footsteps of a lone wolf whose thousand-mile journey helped repopulate parts of Europe. Together with Matt, he explores his earlier years as an environmental activist, including arrests, a high-profile trial, and the emotional toll of sustained direct action. And how it pushed Adam to search for new ways of communicating environmental stories. This is a conversation about walking away from the noise. Slow travel, pilgrimage, storytelling, and how adventure can create empathy rather than spectacle.

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Photo credit: Ulli Mattsson

Chapter Breakdown

00:00 - 01:00: Adam reflects on freedom, curiosity, and the privilege of pursuing big questions through journeys.

01:00 - 03:00: Adam’s childhood love of writing, environmental awareness, and early pull towards activism.

03:00 - 07:30: Protests, arrests, climate camps, and the long legal battle.

07:30 -10:30: Why direct action stopped feeling sustainable, and the realisation that storytelling might reach people in a different way.

10:30 - 17:00: The origins of Adam’s year-long walk from England to Istanbul.

17:00 - 24:00: What pilgrimage offers that ordinary travel doesn’t.

24:00 - 27:30: Why fast travel is the historical anomaly, and what is lost when movement becomes frictionless.

27:30 - 30:30: Canoeing the Yukon to explore ecological collapse through human stories and lived experience.

30:30 - 33:30: Adam explains his fascination with wolves and how one animal’s journey opened wider conversations about fear, politics, and coexistence.

33:30 - 37:30: The remarkable thousand-mile journey of a wolf that helped re-establish packs across Europe.

37:30 - 41:30: Why rewilding is deeply contested, how it’s been poorly communicated, and why nuance matters.

41:30 - 45:30: How arriving on foot changes conversations, builds trust, and creates space for hospitality and honesty.

45:30 - 49:30: Why Adam chooses to include himself in his writing.

49:30 - End: Reflections on openness, chance encounters, and why adventure is often about how we move through the world, not how far.

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