I speak to Andy Berry about the Lake District 24-hour Fell Record, which he broke in 2023 with a new time of 23 hours and 23 minutes for 78 peaks.

The Fell Record has existed in some form since Victorian times, and has evolved and grown in parallel with the honing of criteria for eligible peaks. This has led to some route quirks, and also the fact that the women's record follows a different route than the men's due to certain peaks being 'baked in' or omitted due to choices and requirements to meet the criteria of the time (the women's record evolving later than the men's and so set with newer criteria in play). Fiona Pascall holds the female record of 68 peaks set in 2022.

Peter McDonald has written a book called 'England's Everest: The 200-year story of the Lake District 24-hour Fell Record' which chronicles the evolution of the round from it's very early days when 'pedestrianism' (endurance walking) was very popular.

In 1904 Dr Wakefield first formalised criteria that a peak had to be over 2000ft in height. Later criteria were added - the current rules being that you must complete all the peaks of the existing round, and that any additional peaks must involve at least 250ft of re-ascent and be at least 0.25mi from existing peaks. Bob Graham's 24-hour Fell Record of 42 peaks in 1932 clearly became its own entity, but the Fell Record went on, increasing by a significany margin with Joss Naylor in the 1970s to 72 peaks. It wasn't until 1988 that Mark McDermott managed to improve this to 76 peaks, then Mark Hartell with 77 peaks in 1997 and Kim Collison with 78 peaks in 2020. This stood until 2023 and Andy's record time which was 22 mins quicker than Kim's for the 78 peaks.

Andy is a running coach who spends his time between Durham and Fort William. He holds the Steve Parr Round record (116 miles, 33hrs 46mins), has the 4th fastest Bob Graham Round time (13h 35m, 2025), won the Lakeland 100 in 2023 and the UTMR Mattertal 50km in 2024.

Andy can be found at: www.andyberrycoaching.org/

England's Everest by Peter McDonald can be found at: www.bookscumbria.com/product/uk-books/sport-uk-books/englands-everest/

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In March 2024 Anna Wells became the fourth person, and first woman, to complete all 282 Munros in a single winter season. She started on Dec 22nd 2023 and took a little under 83 days, equalling the record set by Martin Moran in 1985. Helen Rennard has subsequently lowered the time to 80 days and 9.5hrs in winter 2024-25 (Episode 47). For related episodes see also Ep 12, 15, 35, and future Ep 58.

Anna was introduced to indoor climbing at the age of 12, and was a member of the GB Ice Climbing team for 4 years, competing all over the world in dry tooling events. As well as climbing extensively in the UK, she has climbed on Yosemite's El Capitan, the high summits of the Alps, and even on the chalk cliffs of the Isle of White.

Anna talks us through her several careers - in which she has worked as a doctor, an alpine babysitter / transfer driver, a mountaineering instructor, and as a risk model analyst.

She enjoys the sudden inspiration of a 'spark' of an idea which has led her to adventures such as attempting to climb all the 4000m peaks of the Alps in one summer, as well as the Winter Munro round.

We talk about her Munro round and her unique approach which involved choosing 'unbreakable loops' of hills to fit the weather conditions throughout the season - big loops with many Munros in good weather, smaller loops in difficult weather or when fatigued. She preferred to do bigger days and then return to the comfort of a bed, rather than relying on bothies or van dossing. Anna found her voice particularly as a role model for women, and had many positive interactions and generous offers of support throughout her trip.

Struck down by a lurgy in the final stages of the round, she lay ill while frustratingly good weather reigned outside. Recovering quickly she returned to the hills and finished her final Munro on Cairn Gorm, equalling Martin Moran's record of 83 days (rounded up in both instances).

Anna's book 'Breaking the Snowline' tells her Winter Munro Round story and can be purchased via her website at: shop.rocksandtrails.com/

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I talk to Esther Foster about the Langdale Extreme Rock linkup which she completed with Callum Coldwell Storry in May 2025. This challenge involves climbing all seven Langdale routes from the iconic book Extreme Rock in 24 hours. These routes range from E2 - E6 and visit three varied crags: Raven Crag, Gimmer and Pavey Arc.

Extreme Rock, by Ken Wilson and Bernard Newman, was published in 1987 and forms a triptych with Classic Rock and Hard Rock. It showcased cutting edge climbing across Scotland, England and Wales in a coffee table book that was both guidebook and inspiration. The printing plates were lost and so only 4000 copies were ever produced. These have become cherished collectors items and change hands for hundreds of pounds. As it happens, Vertebrate Publishing have just released the long awaited Extreme Rock 2nd Edition by Grant Farquhar - which keeps the format and most of the iconic routes, but with brand new stories and photos. You can get a 10% discount on the book by using code EXTREME10 at www.adventurebooks.com/products/extreme-rock

Vertebrate have also released a short film to mark the release, at www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX_6KzcLGq0

Esther is an MCI and Development Coach living in the North Lakes. She is a director of the Women's Climbing Symposium. She has climbed for the past 20 years with trad up to E8, sport climbing 8a+ and bouldering V11. She particularly specialises in climbing coaching. She has written a chapter in the new Extreme Rock, on the Langdale climb 'Eqqus'. Her website is www.estherfoster.co.uk

The UKC article detailing Esther and Callum's linkup - and with photography by Esther's husband George Foster - can be found at: www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/esther_foster_and_callum_coldwell_storry_on_the_langdale_extreme_rock_challenge-16396

If you want to buy me a cuppa to help support the podcast, thank you and please do at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ko-fi.com/finlaywild⁠⁠⁠⁠

Rob Greenwood - who interviewed me about my Dark Bob Graham in Episode 33 - returns to chat about his own adventure on the Fleetwood Lakes 40. Often called the 40 at 40, or Lakes 40, this route was devised by John Fleetwood as a 40 peak challenge to celebrate his 40th birthday. Hear more from John Fleetwood in Episode 42 "Beyond the View".

Rob Greenwood has an impressive and broad resume in both the climbing and running worlds including headpointing E8, the Brandler-Hasse on the Cime Grande (Dolomites), and of course countless Dark Peak Fell Runners obscure Peak challenges (and a lot of racing besides)! No stranger to long distance runs, he has completed all 4 of our classic national Big Runs (Bob Graham, Paddy Buckley, Charlie Ramsay and Denis Rankin rounds), as well as the Spine Challenger.

Rob talks about his introduction to the outdoors and early days as an obsessive climber. Before his more recent days as an obsessive runner! He brims with enthusiasm and we talk about how a positive mindset has helped him in the outdoors as well as in the very different challenge of recovering from a life-threatening ruptured appendix.

Rob is one of only a select few people who have completed the 40 at 40, which was devised as a Lake District run that covers interesting and varied terrain with similar stats to the famous Bob Graham Round (BG), but by sharing as little terrain as possible with the Bob. The result is a route mixing big and small peaks, and which let Rob explore some new ground, in mixed weather. At 108km and with around 7700m of ascent, the route only shares 5km with the BG, and Rob recounts his memorable day on the round (completed in 19h35m).

If you want to buy me a cuppa to help support the podcast, thank you and please do at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ko-fi.com/finlaywild⁠⁠⁠

Damian Hall is an ultrarunner, coach and writer who has held records on many of the UK's long distance challenges including the Pennine Way, Paddy Buckley Round, Cape Wrath Trail and Wainwrights Coast to Coast. He has placed 5th in UTMB (2018), 4th in Tor des Geants (2023), and has won the Spine Race. He has competed in the infamous Barkley Marathons ultra twice.

Damian is also a founder of The Green Runners which is a global community of over 3000 runners who aim to highlight and take action on the climate and ecological crisis. Their 4 Pillars consider How We Move (travel), How We Kit-up, How We Fuel (diet), and How We Speak Out (activism). Damian talks us through the formation of The Green Runners, as well as talking about campaigns and activism, such as action taken against sportswashing. One of Damian's books is 'We Can't Run Away From This' which examines running's carbon footprint and ways to improve on this.

In September 2025 and on the back of his Lakeland 100 win, Damian set out in suboptimal weather for his Three Solo Challenge where he attempted to run the UK Big Three rounds (Charlie Ramsay, Bob Graham and Paddy Buckley rounds) linked together by public transport. The Big Three had previously been linked together by car by Mark Hartley (1990) and then by bike by John Kelly (2020) in his Grand Round. Damian's round would add the vagaries of Britain's public transport system into the mix. We talk logistics and sleep deprivation, deteriorating weather, and about how he made the eventual decision to bail due to worsening conditions on the final half of the Paddy Buckley round in Snowdonia.

Damian's website: www.ultradamo.com

The Green Runners: https://thegreenrunners.com/

Into Ultra: https://intoultra.org.uk/home

The round the world cycling book I mention is 'Coffee First, Then The World' by Jenny Graham.

Links to articles on topics mentioned by Damian:

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/cvgxe2n05v3o

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv22vl99vwro

www.badverts.org/gamechanger

thegreenrunners.com/running-through-oil/

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I sat down with Rob Woodall to talk all things peak bagging. After completing all the Munros, Corbetts and Grahams, Rob progressed to more obscure categories such as HuMPs (hundred metres of prominence) and TuMPs (thirty and upwards metres of prominence), via some long distance hill running rounds (The UK Big Three, the Rigby Round, and his Cuillin Round to name a few). Rob also devised the Trans Cuillin but never got to complete it - James Gibson doing this in 2023.

From an early age Rob was interested in maps, and as one list led to another in 2016 he became the first person to visit all 6190 British Trig points - a huge feat which required negotiation with not a few landowners, and even special arrangements to visit trigs within military facilities.

We chatted about his recent trips to Norway and Turkey, where he has been ascending P1000 mountains (mountains with a prominence of 1000m or more).

In 2014 he became the first person to complete all 1556 Marilyns, UK peaks of P150m (150 metres prominence). The final crux of this endeavor were the 6 summits on the remote archipegalo of St Kilda, two of which - Stac an Armin and Stac Lee - are stacks rising vertically out of the Atlantic and requiring not only calm sea conditions and an approach between October and March to avoid gannet restrictions, but also careful landing stretegies and roped climbing techniques.

Rob has always been a collector - he describes initially 'completing' classic symphonies eg by Brahms, Mahler and Sibelius, then also collecting logs of birds, plants, and long distance hill running rounds, as well as his astromonical number of peaks worldwide in a whole range of categories from TuMPs and HuMPs, right up the Ultras - which have 1500m prominence. I also mention a list of P4000m Peaks - but this is a worldwide list not a South American list as I state.

Further information on these categories and more can be found at www.peakbagger.com, where Rob is ranked #1 worldwide for his P-Index (a calculation designed to indicate the number and quality of prominent peaks the person has climbed).

Rob has even been involved in some work to relocate 'lost' trigpoints, and to find previously uncategorised hills. Many thanks to Rob for giving us a glimpse into his world of prominence and relative peaks.

If you want to buy me a cuppa to help support the podcast, thank you and please do at: ⁠⁠⁠https://ko-fi.com/finlaywild⁠

Wendy Dodds has been at the heart of English and British fell running since before most of us could tie our laces. Now approaching her 75th birthday, Wendy has been racing in the hills since the early 70s, across the breadth of the sport. In 1972 she paired up with Val Finch (nee Pacey) to be the first women's team to complete the KIMM mountain marathon. She was also the first person ever to complete the Paddy Buckley round in Snowdonia, and took part in the inaugural Dragon's Back multiday race in 1992.

As well as having done far too much to list here, her longevity is incredible, listing 37 Yorkshire 3 Peaks races to her name for example.

Throughout her running career Wendy worked as a doctor, both as a Consultant Rheumatologist and as a Sports Medicine Physician. As she has gotten older she has been a strong advocate for older age categories in championship races, and herself has multiple FV50, FV55, FV60 and FV65 English championship results.

If you are interested in the KIMM / OMM mountain marathons, please also see Episode 28 with Janie Oates and Victoria Thompson who won the 2022 Elite OMM and were at the time the only female Elite category finishers since 2016. Episode 41 also features Phil Rutter and myself discussing winning the OMM 2024.

If you want to buy me a cuppa to help support the podcast, thank you and please do at: ⁠⁠https://ko-fi.com/finlaywild

Rob Fairley talks to me about his journey as an artist - starting at an early age with a school visit to St Kilda, through Edinburgh College of Art and onwards to Mallaig and then Shona Beag island where he spent 5 years as its sole occupant in his early 20s. There he created what would now be described as land art, for example altering the movement of deer in certain ways to create patterns, or 'tuning' a causeway by moving rocks to change the pitch.

He used climbing mainly as a means of exploration, and undertook several mountaineering expeditions to the Himalaya with Mal Duff - sketching people in busy Kathmandu and creating vivid mountain watercolours.

Rob recounts the origins of Room 13, a child-led art project starting in 1994 at Caol Primary School, Fort William. The Room 13 approach spread internationally and allowed young people a creative freedom not found in mainsteam school art education. The 'outsider art' produced - freed from classroom or teacher influence - often explored adolescent themes neglected at school. Rob was involved with several Room 13 trips to Nepal including a road trip with Room 13's young people from Delhi to Mumbai to establish a school for Mumbai's street children.

I misnamed Robert Macfarlane's book 'Underland' when we are discussing the Chauvet cave paintings and 'thin places'.

Rob's website is at robfairley.co.uk

If you want to buy me a cuppa to help support the podcast, thank you and please do at: ⁠https://ko-fi.com/finlaywild

Dan Ashwood (Dash) talks me through the Flow Country Traverse which he pioneered in April 2025. This 100km route started at Berriedale on the Caithness coast and headed west into the Flow Country: one of the largest blanket bog systems in the world.

Dan has become a bog expert having worked in peatland restoration projects with Caledonian Climate for the past several years. Spending more time in peatland led him to appreciate these biodiverse areas both for their ecological importance in terms of carbon sinks, and also their abundant plant and animal life.

Traversing the Scaraben group he then moved into much less visited terrain with the Knockfin Heights area of complex peatland. Finding it drier than expected, he continued to the Ben Griams, and then Garvault Hotel for a welcome cuppa.

The route continued over Beinn a' Mhadaidh to Syre Lodge, Beinn Stumanadh, and Loch na Moine, before the final section on Ben Loyal and Ben Hope.

Helped at road crossings and at the finish by his friend Chris Wilkinson, the traverse took in bogland in a wide variety of conditions, ranging from degraded to thriving. In 2024 the Flow Country was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Dan chose to finish the traverse with Ben Hope partly as a symbolism of the hope he feels for the future of this peatland area, its abundant wildlife, wide open wilderness, and importance in carbon capture.

See Dan’s full write up here: https://caledonianclimate.com/news/2025/04/16/running-100km-across-the-flow-country/

Note: I am informed that 'flow' is a Scots word for bog or morass, possibly from the Norse / Icelandic word floi. Thanks to Nate for this.

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I speak to Dominic Oughton, a Trustee of Climbers Against Cancer (CAC), which is a charity raising money for research and therapeutic projects around the world that support those living with or after cancer.

Founded by John Ellison, CAC has recently celebrated it's 10 year anniversary, and has raised over £700,000 to support cancer research and therapeautic initiatives worldwide. You will likely have seen the bright and bold CAC T-shirts at a climbing wall or crag near you.

CAC's annual Everest challenges in now underway, encouraging the community to climb, run, walk or cycle the equivalent height of the mountain, to raise funds and show support - go to the website to get involved.

Dominic outlines some of the recent cancer projects that CAC has supported and talks of the positivity he has seen as a result of climbing and physical activity in people living with cancer.

Also the president of the BMC, Dominic talks about recently completing his own Hard Rock Challenge - climbing all 60 routes in the iconic Ken Wilson book over 38 years of climbing.

Please checkout more details, donate, and/or take on the Everest Challenge at https://climbersagainstcancer.org/

Dom’s adventures can be followed at https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/