Outdoor Lives by Mike Raine

Just some thoughts, observations and comments from a Penyghent walk. Just me, wandering and chatty.

Listen in and find out why this may be the last one.

Martin Chester has built a reputation as one of the mostrespected figures in the outdoor world. A former Chief Instructor at the National Outdoor Centre, Plas y Brenin, before going on to help shape Mountain Training’s coaching programme. Along the way, he’s worked in television, becomea sought-after conference speaker and consultant. He continues to work in the role of Guide and Coach. Despite this we talk about imposter syndrome!

A ski tourer at heart, Martin recently stepped into the roleof Chief Instructor for the MOD’s Joint Services Mountain Training - an organisation operating across Wales, Scotland, Norway and Germany.

Martin is now the only person to have led both Plas y Breninand Joint Services Mountain Training - and alongside all of that, he’s a dedicated family man and a cancer survivor. Martin talks movingly about how tough the canccer challenge has been and still is.

Ioan is a Bethesda local. He’s a first language Welsh sheepfarmer, contractor, climber (up to E8) and Himalayan mountaineer. He’s an incredibly energetic worker, climber and family man. He coaches rugby, flies a paraglider, he’s a dry stone waller, fencer and shepherd; he climbs hard and plays hard…

Mark Reid is an experienced Mountain Leader, outdoorwriter, and lifelong lover of the outdoors. His company is called TeamWalking, they provide team events, navigation courses and guided walking.

With nearly 30 years of professional experience, Mark hasguided over 21,000 people on walks of all ages and abilities, walked more than 32,000 miles of footpaths, and written 17 walking guidebooks.

Mark and I have been working together on the Nature ofthe Yorkshire Dales workshops, Mark bring expert input on the geology, archaeology and history of the Dales, together we make a good team.

Colin has authored or co-authored over 60 outdoor books.These include The Dales Way (now in its 11th edition), and walking guides to areas both in the UK and in mainland Europe, as well as poetry, topography, biography, transport history, and two literary anthologies. He worked as a teacher, lecturer, tourism officer and he ran the UK’s first green travelagency. Colin is a founder member of the Gritstone Authors Publishing Co-operative.

In 1997 Colin received an honorary degree (D.Lit.) from Bradford University in recognition of his literary and environmental work, and in 2007 was awarded the first Dalesman Rural Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2015 he was named the UK Transport Campaigner of the year by the SheilaMcKechnie Trust, and in 2020 was cited as one of the UK’s “Walking Heroes” by noted countryside journalist Roly Smith. In 2021 he received the Golden Eagle Lifetime Achievement award from the Outdoor Writers & Photographers Guildfor his outstanding services to the Outdoors.

After a career in education, IT and academic publishing,Jacquetta became interested in long-distance walking and trekking. After completing her first long walk, the West Highland Way, in 1998, she progressed to Mount Kilimanjaro, which she summited four times by four different routes(1999, 2000, 2004 and 2008). She is a member of the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild and in 2016 won its Award for Excellence with Trek to Everest.

In 2000 she launched the rainproof Rucksack Reader formatwith built-in maps for guidebooks. Now published over 40 guidebooks. Of these, she has either written or co-authored 24, as well as editing them all and creating frequent revised editions of earlier books.

We chat about Jacquetta’s story of becoming a long distance walker, guidebook writer and publisher.

To see the full range of lightweight, rain proof guides andperhaps get some inspiration for your next walk visit https://www.rucsacs.com/

Eileen Jones is a writer and journalist based in the LakeDistrict. She is a contributor to Cumbria magazine and an enthusiastic parkrunner. She is the author of Loughrigg and two books on parkrunning and is currently working on a book about Rydal Mount, the home of William and Dorothy Wordsworth. Eileen has visited the summit cairn of Loughrigg more than 500 times.

We chat about Loughrigg, what it’s like and what it means toEileen, the environment and people of the hill, and how Eileen came to write a book about it.

“It’s one of the smallest fells in the Lake District, butLoughrigg is small in height only. This delightfully sprawling mini-mountain is crossed by miles of confusing paths, blessed with many small tarns, grazed by sheep, home to deer and red squirrels, a habitat for wildflowers and birds, and loved by all who climb to its prominent summit. It meets the folk who live on the hill, talks to the athletes who run over it, explores the terrain and the wildlife, and looks at the artists who have painted it and the writers inspired here. This is a love letter to Loughrigg.”

Loughrigg is available from Gritstone Publishing.

Jenny has been working with me on the scrambling workshops for a while now and she is taking those over from 2026. She is a fully qualified mountaineering instructor who works in Eryri and on Skye, she also spends a lot of time in the Alps. Jenny is also an active member of the OgwenValley Mountain Rescue Team, a Remote Rescue Medical Technician and a WEMSI Wilderness Medical Technician qualification. She is on the faculty for World Extreme Medicine - teaching on Wilderness and Expedition Medicine and Searchand Rescue Medicine courses.

Emily Coates is a North Wales based Mountain Leader both summer and winter. She also has a Geography degree from Oxford, a Master’s in Sustainability from ImperialCollege, and six years’ experience as a secondary geography teacher. Emily now works as a freelance leader in North Wales and beyond. She runs her own company, Visit Wild Wales, founded on strong ethical principles, and also works with Leading Edge and the Field Studies Council, while enjoys the odd shift at Joe Brown’s outdoor shop.

In 2025, Emily had a tense adventure in the Himalaya. What began as a trekking trip to a remote part of the range turned into a full-scale mountaineering expedition as Emily and her team were forced to extricate themselves from a serious situation.

The expedition was badly reported in the mainstream media, with Emily and her friends being targeted rather than celebrated. It’s a fascinating story.