One Wild Life Podcast with Abbie Barnes

Mental health conditions can hold us back from accessing nature and the outdoors, OR they can empower us onto a journey of self discovery and healing, and in this episode I chat with Mark Valentine from The White Fox Talking podcast and Your Mountain Adventure about how through getting out into the hills he found ways to work through PTSD.

Please note that in this episode we do discuss various mental health conditions including PTSD and suicide. Listener discretion is advised.

When you're out on your adventures, do you ever carry raw ingredients with you to cook up a feast? Or is it generally jam sandwiches and squashed bananas for lunch? Well, Harrison Ward is a pro when it comes to whipping up delicious meals when out and about in the hills, and in this episode I chat with Harrison about where this passion began and how we can all improve the quality and enjoyment of what we are eating when on our various ventures.

Where is your favourite wild place? What would you do if you know that space was under threat? In this episode I chat with Exmoor Ranger Charlotte Wray about all things national parks and natural spaces; we discuss what these designations actually offer in terms of protection, and what we can do as users of the outdoors to step up our game to minimise our impact on the wild world around us.

What does Adventure mean to you? In this episode I chat with explorer and expedition leader Chaz Powell about his epic travels and world firsts, breaking down the ins and outs of planning and expedition and how to start having adventures with a purpose.

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. Bex is an author, adventurer and environmental advocate too, boasting an impressive array of previous explorations and stewardship actions. In this podcast we discuss what it was like hiking in the full Israel National Trail, how to go about setting up a non-profit company, and what adventuring has been like with a young family.

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. In this episode we dive in deep to Rorys aquatic achievements, learning about how he pushes through challenges, about the kit he uses, and how anyone interesting in wild swimming can get started.

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. He is also an enthusiastic all-rounder in the mountains, though his main area of focus is endurance mountain ultra running. In this episode we ask Joe how we got into running, hearing stories from his adventures in high mountains across the world, and we learn what it takes to create a good guidebook.

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. In this episode we break down James's epic challenge, looking at kit, fitness, mindset and more; and we dig into his mental health journey and talk about his beautiful short film 'The Mountain Inside'.

Rani Bora is a holistic psychiatrist, author, international speaker and wellness coach. She also works as a practising consultant psychiatrist in the NHS. She is passion about transforming the lives of people struggling with any form of mental health challenge, and in this episode we look at how she seeks to empower to find meaning and purpose in their lives.

Dave Shanks is a bit of a hero when it comes to reducing plastic waste on planet earth. He is the CEO and Founder of Water-to-Go, and in this episode we dig into how he has created a water bottle to combat the issue of plastic waste and unsafe water use.