...in which we're defeated by weather, so shelter indoors to hear from one of the UK's great adventurers: Cockermouth-based James Forrest, who has bagged all 1,001 mountains in the UK and Ireland, and broke records walking both the 446 Nuttalls and 214 Wainwrights. An escape from the nine-to-five was, James tells us, the drive for his first challenge – to conquer every mountain in England and Wales in the shortest documented time. But his heart was always in Lakeland, which led to his 2020 self-supported round of the Wainwrights. In a reflective interview, we hear about the highs and lows of an epic walk; we ask whether 'adventure' can be a ruse to escape everyday life; we consider our changing relationship with the fells as we spend more time in them; and we learn why James is "never, ever, ever" returning to the Brecon Beacons.
James' book Mountain Man is published by Bloomsbury. Available from all local bookshops.
James can be found at amesmforrest.co.uk
Countrystride #24: Review of 2019 & AW's lost broadcast
Countrystride #23: West Coast Christmas - Voices from the past
Countrystride #22: Lost Words - Past and future in the woods of Wreay
Countrystride #21: Great Gable - Remembrance Sunday
Countrystride #20: Upper Eden - The fight to roam, with Kate Ashbrook
Countrystride #19: Pike O’Stickle - 50 years on the fells
Countrystride #18: The Pennine Way - Creation of a long, green trail
Countrystride #17: Beda Fell - with environmental campaigner Amy Bray
Countrystride #16: The Dales Way at 50 - A walk down Dentdale
Countrystride #15: John Ruskin - The Coniston visionary
Countrystride #14: A Pennine Journey - Life-changing walks
Countrystride #13: The Solway Coast - Wetlands, birdsong and lost lines
Countrystride #12: Great Langdale - A heritage landscape
Countrystride #11: High Stile – and the Buttermere skyline
Countrystride #10: Mardale Head - A walk on the wild side
Countrystride #9: Derwent Water: Creation of a landscape
Countrystride #8: Terry Abraham: Life on the mountains - A stroll on Helvellyn
Countrystride #7: A Grasmere Christmas - The Wordsworths and the coffin route
Countrystride #6: Langstrath - and the trees of Borrowdale
Countrystride #5: Ghosts of Burnmoor - Eskdale to Wasdale
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