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.