The Call to Adventure Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Ben Turner is a real-life man of the mountains. Since starting his outdoor career as a Physical Training Instructor in the Army, Ben’s been passionate about physical fitness and exploring the world’s extreme mountain environments.

As well as winning international military competitions, he has led mountaineering expeditions in remote and dangerous places including South Africa and the Himalayas. Ben has also completed a series of impressive endurance challenges including a 3373-kilometer solo bikepacking trip around Iceland and 16 marathons in 16 days in all 16 National Parks in the UK. During his travels, he developed a keen interest in exploring the limits of what the human body can do. The most important lesson Ben learned is that exercise should be a celebration of what the body can do, and he set out to learn how to adapt the body to not only become adventure-ready and expedition fit but fit for life.

Now a Level 4 Personal Trainer and MNU Certified Evidence-Based Nutritionist, Ben is on a mission to change the way fitness and nutrition are taught. We dig into the juicy deets and how you can transform your own fitness, prepare for adventure and get fit for life, just by starting from where you are.

Be prepared to be inspired to up your game!

Dan Yates has been passionate about white-water kayaking for over 30 years. He’s travelled to some of the wildest and remotest landscapes on earth and has had some incredible adventures, including being lost on the Tibetan Plateau with no food or water! He has a boatload of first white-water descents under his belt and kayaking has taken him to some seriously epic places where no human has ever been before.

During the last decade, he has become more focused on the environment and the need to protect these beautiful landscapes. A plan to dam and divert the Fairy Glen Gorge in Snowdonia led to him co-founding Save Our Rivers in protest, and after a three-year campaign, the plans were dropped.

Since then, Save Our Rivers has successfully campaigned against plans for dams in protected areas and fought changes to legislation that would remove protections of our most beautiful landscapes.   

Listen in as we dig into Dan’s kayaking adventures, his work with Save Our Rivers and the need to protect our wild rivers and National Parks for future generations to enjoy.

Charlie Head circumnavigated the country to get people talking about mental health

Charlie Head is no stranger to adventure. His stand up paddle board has taken him across the Arctic, through the Nile and along the Amazon, meeting and living with tribespeople and locals along the way to discuss education, community and the environment. His most recent achievement was his circumnavigation of the UK, which he pursued as an opportunity to spread the word about mental health and encourage conversation up and down the nation. 

We discuss Charlie’s motivation for campaigning for mental health, the hardest bits of his journey and the incredible individuals he met along the way. Tune in folks, this one’s a belter.

Harrison Ward, or ’Fell Foodie’ on Instagram wasn’t always running up and down the Cumbrian fells with a stove and the ingredients for a hilltop curry in his rucksack. 

Though it’s how he spends most of his days now, it was a tough journey to get there. Harrison tells his story of overcoming years of depression and alcoholism and how eventually, it was the fells that saved him.

Harrison talks about pulling himself out of the depths of darkness and making that first physical and metaphorical step towards recovery. It’s been a good few years since that first Hellvellyn summit and Harrison is passionate about spreading his message and getting more people outdoors. We discuss the power of hillwalking, being outdoors and the joy of cooking in the hills.

Tune in to find out more.

Elise Downing was sat in her London grad job office, miserable with the corporate grind, when the idea of running around the UK first came to her. In 2015 the spent 10 months running a lap of the UK, gradually building up her mileage to running 30-40 miles a day and for the most part staying with friends or strangers.

It was a trip that would teach her the power and presence of kindness in the UK, the joy of long distance adventures and that the hardest step is simply committing to it in the first place. Elise’s book, Coasting, is a touching, witty and inspiring account of her travels and why every person, however ordinary they think they are, is capable of adventure.

Elise’s book is available to buy from Waterstones, Amazon, Blackwell's and most other book retailers.

Alex Staniforth has battled anxiety, disordered eating, depression, bullying and even avalanches to get to where he is, a trailblazer for achieving mental wellbeing through being outdoors.

At just 26, he is already a record-breaking adventurer and ultra-endurance athlete, with a fair few achievements under his belt. Having endured both the 2014 avalanche in Nepal and the earthquake in 2015 whilst attempting an Everest summit, completed the National 3 Peaks by foot in just 9 days and taken on countless other runs, summits and adventures, Alex is a force of nature.

It is the force of actual nature however, that has taken him to where he is now, founder of Mind Over Mountain. Mind Over Mountains is a charity that helps restore people’s mental wellbeing through the outdoors, mindfulness and “walking and talking.” We dig in to Alex’s mental and physical highs and lows over the last few years and how the “Natural Health Service” came to be his knight in shining armour.

If you want to join a Mind Over Mountains event, find out more or learn how you can support them, you can visit their website here - https://mindovermountains.org.uk

We are releasing this podcast a few days after Alex's passing on Mera Peak in Nepal, where he was training to become to first person with Parkinson's to summit Everest. His family commented that "he went out exactly how he would have wanted to, off the high of having completed another adventure on top of the world about to step into a helicopter ready to take on the next challenge."

We hope this episode does such justice to such a trailblazer of a man, and that it goes on to inspire you to live your fullest life, whatever hurdles are thrown your way.

Alex Flynn has always had a high threshold for pain. But when diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at 36, his whole life changed. Determined not to let it define or restrict him, Alex has dedicated his life to raising funds for Parkinson’s research, and aims to inspire others with disabilities to live full, joyous and stretching lives. 

We discuss how Alex has become the master of his own life and just how he managed to complete 10 million meters of running, walking and crawling around the globe. Tune in to find out more!

Jarvis Smith is the co-founder of My Green Pod, the UK's leading ethical lifestyle store and media company, on a mission to help people live more sustainable lifestyles and purchase ethical alternatives to mainstream products. They hope to encourage businesses to change their models and practises, and for individuals to lead the charge.

In this episode, Jarvis shares with us the moment he vowed to dedicate his life to inspiring people to live more conscious lifestyles, on camera in front of millions of viewers. 

Guided through life by shamanic teaching and principles, Jarvis offers us the chance to look closely at nature, listen to it, to give back what we take from it. From easy tips to becoming a more ethical shopper, to deeper conversations about what is really need to tackle the climate crisis, this is an episode you won’t forget.

Wild swimming is like a secret society these days. With those 'on the inside' having access to a whole new type of outdoor euphoria, connection with nature and mind-body experience. 

The good news is, this is no exclusive club. Wild swimming is for everyone. And Wild Swimming Brothers Jack, Calum and Robbie are here to get your psyched and ready.

For those that are curious, seeing people jump ecstatically into cold lakes and hammer through ice with nothing but a swimming costume on can be simultaneously mesmerising and horrifying. If you're wondering how you can get a slice of the magic but have no idea how to start, this episode is for you. 

To find out how to get started, what to wear, how to find your first spot and other tips, tune in! Plus, there's a wild swimming quiz at the end and really, who doesn't love a quiz?

We all know that we need to take drastic action to avoid the imminent climate emergency. Rewilding will play a pivotal role in adapting to the unprecedented challenges to come.

Everyone seems to be talking about rewilding, but what exactly is it, and how does it play into  climate change?

Rebecca Wrigley spills the beans. As one of the founders and now Chief Executive of Rewilding Britain, she really knows her stuff.

Buckle up and take a listen.