The Adventure Podcast

Episode 203 of The Adventure Podcast features writer, photographer, and documentary filmmaker, Kim Frank. Kim has spent the past seven years immersed in an incredibly complex and emotionally charged story centred around human/wildlife conflict. Her project follows the lives of people and elephants in North Bengal, India—where deforestation, migration, and survival all collide. In this episode, Kim talks to Matt about creative risk,...

Episode 202 of The Adventure Podcast features, long distance runner and construction worker, Jack Scott. Over the past few years Jack has grabbed the attention of the British ultra running scene for some stellar achievements that most people in the know thought were literally impossible. In 2024 Jack won the infamous Spine Race, a 268-mile ultramarathon along the Pennine Way, shattering the previous course record by over 10 hours. ...

Episode 201 of The Adventure Podcast features cave scientist, climate researcher, and expedition leader, Dr Gina Moseley. Gina's paleoclimatology work has taken her to some of the most remote and extreme parts of the planet. In this episode, Gina talks to Matt about how she started caving as a kid in the Midlands, saving up her pocket money to go underground in the school holidays, and how this turned into a career in science along...

Episode three of The Far Reaches features journalist, podcaster, and founder of the Looking Sideways podcast, Matt Barr. In this conversation, we unpack Matt's latest project: a multi-episode documentary podcast called 'The Announcement', which explores the fallout of Patagonia’s now-famous announcement that "Earth is our only shareholder." On the surface, it looked like a bold, revolutionary move. But dig deeper, and you're into t...

Episode 200 of The Adventure Podcast features adventurer, firefighter, martial artist and author, Stephan Kesting. In 2015, Stephan was dying from polycystic kidney disease. He underwent a transplant that saved his life, and in the fog of pre-surgery uncertainty, he made a promise: if he survived, he’d complete a journey he’d dreamed of for decades. Four years later, he set off on a solo canoe expedition across 1000 miles of the Ca...

Episode 199 of The Adventure Podcast features one of the most successful British climbers of all time, Shauna Coxsey. Shauna is a World Cup champion, an Olympian, and a true pioneer in the sport. But this conversation isn’t just about climbing, it’s about what it takes to build a professional athletic career from the ground up when the path doesn’t even exist yet. Shauna talks to Matt about her journey to become a world-class athle...

Episode 198 of The Adventure Podcast features hillwalker, mountain rescue volunteer, and author, Paul Besley. Paul has written several acclaimed guidebooks but his memoir, The Search: The Life of a Mountain Rescue Search Dog Team, chronicles his transformation from a Yorkshire steel town upbringing to training his Border Collie, Scout, as a search dog. In this episode, Paul tells Matt his life story, and recounts many amusing tales...

Episode 197 of The Adventure Podcast features Scottish climber, Dave Macleod. Dave is celebrated for being one of the finest climbing all rounders in the world, from trad and sport climbing to winter mountaineering. He’s best known for his bold and groundbreaking climbs, including Rhapsody at Dumbarton Rock, the first-ever E11 trad route. Dave isn’t just about physical feats, he’s also deeply interested in the mental side of climbi...

Episode 196 of The Adventure Podcast was recorded online with a live audience, and features Leo Houlding. Leo is, in the simplest of terms, a climber. But really there’s so much more to him than that. He’s a big wall specialist, an expedition specialist and an alpinist, and he’s led a multitude of world class climbing expeditions all over the world from Antarctica to Baffin Island and Greenland to Guyana. Matt and Leo have worked t...

Episode 195 of The Adventure Podcast features stuntman, cave diver, ex soldier and parachutist, Andy Torbet. For reasons you’ll understand when you listen to this episode, if James Bond exists then he looks a lot like Andy Torbet. So much so, in fact, that Andy has quite literally doubled Daniel Craig and been a stuntman on a Bond film. In this episode, Andy talks to Matt about his life experiences, diving, why he assumes if he can...

Episode 194 of The Adventure Podcast features exercise physiologist and endurance athlete, Dr Mark Hines. Mark is a senior lecturer in exercise physiology at Oxford Brookes University, with a background in ultra endurance racing of the gnarliest kind. If it’s long, cold, snowy and potentially deadly, then Mark has probably raced it. In this episode, Mark shares the story of how he got into endurance racing, starting from his childh...

Episode 193 of The Adventure Podcast features horse rider and adventurer, Jane Dotchin. Jane is an incredible woman. She has been embarking on a remarkable 600 mile horseback journey from her home in Northumberland to Inverness every year since 1972. Now in her eighties, Jane's annual trek, accompanied by her pony, Diamond, and her Jack Russell Terrier, Dinky, has become a testament to resilience, independence, and a style of livin...

Dispatches are our shorter form episodes, usually around a single question, subject or story. In this episode, Matt asks Dr Niall McCann, a biologist, conservationist and explorer, to speak about his family history of exploration and adventures, and to speak to the idea of legacy.

For extra insights from the worlds of adventure, exploration and the natural world, you can find The Adventure Podcast+ community on Substack. You can...

Episode 192 of The Adventure Podcast features adventure filmmaker and photographer, Matthew Irving. Matthew has a background in wildland firefighting, having worked on engine crews, hotshot crews, and a helitack crew for around 8 years earlier in his career. In more recent years, Matthew has transitioned into adventure filmmaking, often working on expeditions and projects that mirror or overlap with host Matt's own work. This is qu...

Episode 191 of The Adventure Podcast was recorded live at Kendal Mountain Festival 2024 and features ultra-marathon runner and alpinist, Hillary Gerardi. Hillary recently broke the women's Mont Blanc fastest known time, setting a new record of seven hours, 25 minutes and 28 seconds. In the episode, Matt talks to Hillary about her skyrunning journey, what it took to break the FKT, and the importance of savouring that experience rath...

Episode 190 of The Adventure Podcast features conservationist and National Geographic Explorer, Dr Steve Boyes. Steve is the driving force behind the Okavango Wilderness Project, working to protect Africa's wild rivers and wetlands. He’s spent years uncovering new species, exploring uncharted ecosystems, and partnering with local communities to keep these landscapes thriving. Steve is also a cancer survivor, a devoted dad, and a na...

Episode 189 of The Adventure Podcast features marine scientist, sailor, communicator, and freediver, Charlotte Young. Charlotte is now living aboard and travelling the world on a boat she renovated with her partner. In this episode, Charlotte describes her transition to living a life of adventure - moving onto a sailboat and restoring a 40-foot catamaran to use as her "adventure vessel." She talks about the lessons learned from liv...

Episode 187 of The Adventure Podcast features ex-Special Forces operator, Jason Fox (aka. Foxy). Foxy is known for his work on TV shows like 'SAS: Who Dares Wins' and 'Inside The Real Narcos'. In this episode, Matt tries to cover new ground with him. The result is not a rip-roaring tale of misadventure, instead it's the honest life story of a man who's achieved a huge amount, but also made mistakes along the way. Foxy talks about h...

Episode 187 of The Adventure Podcast features scallop diver, seaweed farmer, author, writer, and father, Guy Grieve. Guy spent a year off-grid living in a cabin he built in the Alaskan wilderness. In this episode, Guy talks to Matt about his past and what made him the man he is now. He tells stories of his time in the Alaskan wilderness, why he left his family behind in the UK, and what happened while out there. It's an emotional e...