#18 Bex Band Professional Adventurer Life Is Better Outdoors

Mark Charlie Valentine is deeply passionate about promoting the many benefits towards improved physical health & mental well-being through spending time outdoors and this theme can be seen running through all avenues of his work. He is a Winter & International Mountain Leader, Climbing Coach & Rock Climbing Instructor, and is the director of and an instructor at Your Mountain Adventure. 

But Mark has not always worked in the hills and mountains. After dealing with a horrific incident whilst working as a bouncer in Leeds, Mark discovered first hand the power of time spent outside in nature as he sought to find ways that empowered him through his diagnosis of PTSD. The award-winning film The White Fox follows Mark's journey from doors to hills, and he is now also presenting The White Fox Talking podcast. 

In todays episode I chat with Mark about all things outdoors and mental health.

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

White Fox Talking Website & Podcast

White Fox film

Your Mountain Adventure

Now for many of us when we head into the hills for a wee hike we might pack a few bars, a banana that will inevitably get squashed, and maybe even indulge in a soggy sandwich or two. 

But for Harrison Ward, time outside means both gym and kitchen, as he carries beautiful ingredients with him on his adventures to create delicious, restaurant style meals on minimal camping equipment.

Now known as Fell Foodie, Harrison has gained a reputation as an outdoor cook, hiker and mental health speaker, and he regularly talks about his personal battle with mental illness, sharing how in 2016 he harnessed the power of nature in all its wonderful forms in order to get sober and turn his life around.

His journey is inspirational and today I take a deep dive with Harrison to talk about all things fell and food.

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Check out Harrisons Website

Harrison on YouTube

Exmoor is a place like no other. As one of the UK’s 15 National Parks it boasts a myriad of habitats from rugged heather moorlands, home to wild deer and semi-feral ponies, to the most extensive broadleaved coastal woods in Britain, and the highest sea cliffs and most remote coastline in England. The park is full of historical buildings, bubbling brooks and fascinating combes and valleys, and is an International Dark Sky Reserve.

Exmoor sees around 2 million visitors pass through its borders each year, and as such a team is needed to ensure these beautiful spaces are protected. Someone who knows all about enabling the public to give back and get engaged is Charlotte Wray, a ranger within Exmoor National Park. 

In this episode I talk with Charlotte and find out more about her role and what it takes to keep Britains wild spaces flourishing for all to enjoy.

Exmoor National Park Website

National Parks UK Website

Main Woofing Website

iNaturalist Website

Adventure means different things to different people. An adventure for some could mean going for a dip in an icy tarn or riding a mountain bike down a gnarly home run; for others it could be climbing a mountain for the first time or facing a long-term fear of some sort. 

For explorer and expedition leader Chaz Powell, adventure has become a way of life that has seen him walk the length of some of Africa's wildest rivers and create a way of life that embraces nature and sustainable living. Along the way Chaz has sought to highlight the devastating realities of wildlife crime and conservation issues across the globe. For his work Chaz was awarded with the honorary title of `Explorer of the Year” by the Scientific Exploration Society in 2021, and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society.

In this episode I chat to Chaz about his explorations and missions to create positive change.

The Wildest Journey Website

Chaz on Instagram

Chaz on Facebook

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.  

Through Love Her Wild Bex aims to make adventure more accessible to women, and has raised more than £10k for charity, removed over 10,000 pieces of plastic pollution from waterways, and set up 8 mentoring partnerships. 

Bex is a professional adventurer too, boasting an impressive array of previous explorations, and she is currently in the throes of organising the Women’s End2End relay, a world-first hiking relay covering the length of the UK. 

Alongside this and everything else, she has recently published a new book Three Stripes South, following her 1000km journey along the length of the Israel National Trail in 2016. 

When she’s not running the Love Her Wild community, Bex is a mum to her daughter Rivi, and a passionate advocate for environmental conservation.

Follow Bex on Instagram

Bex Band Main Website

Love Her Wild Main Website

Love Her Wild Instagram

Buy Your Copy Of Three Strips South

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. 

He is passionate about sharing his adventures across his popular Instagram platform, and for me, is a shining light in the industry, never failing to offer an inspirational or reflective post, coupled with a huge smile that leaves you feeling pumped to get up and moving seconds later. Rory says that ‘Sport is so intrinsically linked to my mental health that movement is beyond crucial to my happiness.’ 

The list of Rory's adventurous achievements is too long to list here, but in the last few years he has completed 100km of English Skiing; in summited all of the Wainwright Outlying Fells; Run across Lancashire; finished a Virtual Everest Expedition; and

completed swimming the length of all the Lake District Tarns (deeper than 5m), to name but a few. He is a freelancer and ambassador for Salamon, Speedo UK, Ordnance Survey, and Rubicon Raw, and has a background in product design, putting on events for Digital, creative and tech businesses.

He cares passionately about the environment, and this comes across in all that he does, and despite facing a few health setbacks in recent years, he continues to adapt and overcome, saying that ‘Comfort is being in the places that give you joy’ - and without question, this is the outdoors for Rory. 

In this episode we take a deep dive with Rory into what draws him to bodies of water across the UK, and why just the UK. We pick apart his mental resilience strategy, learn about kit needed to wild swim, and find out his top tips for anyone looking to brave the wet wherever you call home!

Follow Rory on Instagram

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.

Naturally, Joe’s passion for the outdoors is threaded into his everyday life. He is an enthusiastic all-rounder in the mountains and seeks to pursue a wide array of outdoor activities that allow access to more remote and inspiring landscapes. His main skill though is endurance mountain ultra running, which he discovered after many years of climbing and road running. He tackled his first mountain race in France in 2014, and since then has competed in running events across various mountainous regions of the planet.

When he’s not out and about on his feet, Joe is a keen classical guitarist with a background in performance and teaching. He lives in Kendal with his partner Caroline and his pup Tryfan.

In this episode we ask Joe all about his life both on and off the mountains. How he keeps fit when work is busy, and what draws him back to the hills time and time again. We explore the mindset required to partake in extreme sports, and dig into what makes a good guidebook, from concept to research to published book. 

Follow Cicerone Press on Instagram

Follow Cicerone on Facebook

Subscribe to the Cicerone Newsletter

Check out Cicerone's incredible array of guidebooks

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. During this challenge he walked more than 5,000km, climbed the height of Everest 30 times and slept wild under the stars for over 100 nights. He has since completed the National Three Peaks by foot, walking 500 miles in just 16 days, along the way creating his heartfelt and empowering documentary ‘The Mountain inside’ following his mental health journey. He has also walked the Dales Way, Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, West Highland Way, and Wainwright's Coast to Coast trail, to name but a few.

It hasn't always been like this for James though. From the age of 20 to 30 he was based in inner-city Birmingham, holding down a 40-hour-a-week office job in the charity sector. It was in 2016 that James decided to hand in his notice, sell his house, and go travelling, and this was the catalyst for all he has achieved today. 

Along the way James has inspired many by writing articles and sharing his story across his popular instagram account. Today we are lucky enough to speak with James to dive in a little deeper to his adventurous nature and find out what really makes him tick.

In this episode we explore what led James to tackle all 1001 mountains in the UK, find out about the kit that he used, and hear more about his life transitioning from office-job to outdoor adventurer. We look at his mental health journey and answer the question 'what made you speak up?'; and finish with some inspirational advice for anyone looking to get outdoors, whether for a big challenge or just time to connect with nature. 

Follow James on Instagram

Visit James's website

Watch The Mountain Inside

Buy James's book, Mountain Man (Amazing UK)

Trigger Warning: please note that this episodes contains conversation around mental health and wellbeing, sometimes covering sensitive subjects. We advise you to come back to this episode at another point if you are finding yourself struggling at the moment.

Rani Bora is a holistic psychiatrist, author, international speaker and wellness coach. She also works as a practising consultant psychiatrist in the NHS. Her passion is to transform the lives of people struggling with any form of mental health challenge by empowering them and guiding them to their innate wellbeing and resilience so that they experience inner peace, clarity of mind and find meaning and purpose in their lives. 

In partnership with her husband, Dr Suraj Gogoi, Rani is also working to build an online community of like-minded professionals who want to serve at the highest level possible by breaking free from stress and overwhelm into a healthy and full life. 

She is the host of the Listening Into Wellbeing Podcast and author of "How To Turn Stress On Its Head". 

In this episode we answer the question 'what is mental health?'; explore the idea of individual stress thresholds, and dig into Ranis famous phrase "People may be lost but they are NOT broken".

Tune into Rani's podcast, Listening Into Wellbeing

Visit Rani's website

Buy Rani's book (Amazon UK)

Follow Rani on Instagram 

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