Mike Bagshaw is a Lancastrian by birth and a zoologist by training. He spent his working career in education, initially indoors, but then for 30 years he worked in outdoor education centres, introducing children and adults to the delights of watersports, mountaineering, forest education and how to understand and appreciate the natural world.

I met Mike for lunch at the picturesque Runswick Bay, at the foot of one of the steepest hills of the summer. The pub has a strong claim to the best sea view in the country, I reckon. Over a lunch of laughter and cheesy chips, I found myself hoping that I can be like Mike when I grow up.

Now retired, Mike is still extremely active, adventurous, and determined to keep behaving like a 20-year-old! He continues to explore many wild areas of the world on foot, underwater with scuba gear and afloat in canoes and kayaks. He is the author of two Slow Travel guidebooks to Yorkshire.

Mike lives near Whitby with his wife and two dogs and spends his non-travelling time managing the small birch woodland they own, volunteering for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and writing regular nature columns for local newspapers and magazines.

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Show Notes

If you enjoy listening to this episode over a cup of coffee and think it might be worth the price, you can buy me a coffee here: www. ko-fi.com/al_humphreys
Keep up to date with future episodes (and my other adventures, projects and books) with my free monthly newsletter: alastairhumphreys.com/more/subscribe
Say hello on Twitter and Instagram: @al_humphreys
A love of wild camping, wild places, natural history.
Retirement: the benefits of having time, and being aware of mortality.
Mike's Magic Moment: lie down and just listen for a minute: what can you identify?
Recommended book: Waterlog - Roger Deakin
Slow Travel guidebooks
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

Transcript

Below is the transcription of our conversation. It's done by AI so is perhaps a wee bit ropey here and there. If these transcripts prove sufficiently useful then I will make the effort to clean then up and make them better. Do let me know if you think it's worth my time to do that. (Or, better still, do it for me...!). If you'd like to listen as you read along you can do that here:
https://otter.ai/s/dFozsyt8QeuS3_GAWOiyVA

Alastair Humphreys
Could you tell me what you had for lunch?

Mike Bagshaw
I had cheesy chips? not the healthiest meal in the world, but nice.

Alastair Humphreys
Have you been on a podcast before?

Mike Bagshaw
I've never been on a podcast before.

Alastair Humphreys
Your son that was surprised that you can be on a podcast. There was? Why?

Mike Bagshaw
Well, he thinks he just thinks I'm slightly odd for doing lots of young men things when I'm an old git. It doesn't think a 60 year old should be doing some of the things I do.

Alastair Humphreys
So on a scale of one to 10 How weird are you?

Mike Bagshaw
I think I'm three, but I think the rest of the world the rest of the world thinks I'm 9.5

Alastair Humphreys
I love this specific use of your three
why did why does the world think you're weird?

Mike Bagshaw
I do lots of things outdoors.
I love camping. I have a mug which says I love camping but on the other side it says but I hate campsites so I love wild camping. I love wild everything. I love wild camping. I love wild swimming. I love wild places. And I'm a passionate natural historian.

Alastair Humphreys
So none of that sounds weird to me. Now the people your normal friends, what are the things weird about you? What should you be doing at your age?

Mike Bagshaw
I should be playing bowls perhaps put my feet up watching a lot more Telly and staying in bed and breakfast rather than rather than camping.

Alastair Humphreys
Very good. So, what does living adventurously that phrase? What does living adventurously mean to you?

Mike Bagshaw
it means trying new things, going to new new parts of the world parts the world of I've heard about but when I was working never had the time to be able to go to now suddenly I've got the time to go places. Now, and I'm aware of my mortality, I know I've not got that many years left. And it's so so much so much world and so little time to do it. So I just want to go out and do as much as I can. While my body still works. And and have you always had that sense of urgency to get stuff done. It's not so much. Well, a lot of our friends will will laugh if I would say Oh yes, I'm always getting things done because because I'm quite slack on actually finishing jobs. But I've always had the urgency to explore.

Alastair Humphreys
Okay, and you're so imagine yourself, say when you say 20 or 30? or pick a number that seems relevant to you? What what would living adventurous live looks too long time. Yeah, has it changed your view?

Mike Bagshaw
It's pretty much the same thing. I think that's the essence of it is I'm still 20 in my head. So.

So it really takes me by surprise when

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Graham Sayle from High Vis and Dirty Money