Adventure Unfiltered

Lorna Bray

"In the wild we remember who we are." Every episode is packed with inspiration, courage, passion, vulnerability, and a pure celebration of wild places. These conversations are about connection, and I promise they’ll ignite that fire in your belly for adventure.    If you love the outdoors, planning adventures, and that buzz of excitement of the flat lay the night before, pouring over maps, the joy of the road trip, celebrating the summits, scaling walls, the burn of the ice cold water or simply just being outdoors to breathe in the air with pals, this podcast is for you! I want to create that same feeling for you through each listen.    Think of Adventure Unfiltered as another step in your planning process for your next adventure, or simply just a way to connect with the outdoors when it’s blowing a hoolie outside and you’re grounded by the weather but still craving the wild and the feeling that brings. 

  1. Season Two Finale, with Lorna Bray | Adventure Unfiltered

    7H AGO

    Season Two Finale, with Lorna Bray | Adventure Unfiltered

    Send a text In this special reflection episode, Adventure Unfiltered host, Lorna Bray, takes a moment to look back on some of the most powerful conversations from this season  From laughter to deeply reflective moments, this season has explored what adventure really means through the experiences of remarkable guests who have pushed boundaries, embraced challenge, and found connection in the wild. Throughout this episode Lorna revisits some of her favourite moments from conversations with: • Stevie Boyle • Emy McLeod • Myrtle Simpson • Emma Norton • Cameron McNeish Each of these guests brought their own unique story, perspective and honesty to season 2, reminding us that adventure isn’t just about the places we go — it’s about the people we become along the way. Thank you to every guest for sharing their time, their experiences and their stories so generously. And a huge thank you to you — the listeners — for being part of the Adventure Unfiltered community. So until next time… Breathe deeply. Keep adventuring. And don’t forget — In the wild, we remember who we are. 🌿 Subscribe & Follow the Journey here: @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast Whether you’re planning a local wander, dreaming of a global expedition, craving the outdoors, looking for inspiration or searching for a role model — you’re in the right place. If you enjoy this episode, hit Subscribe and / or tap the 🔔 to be notified as each episode drops. Listen on: • YouTube - @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast • Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5HdHBR65RVpHEeuTc3fKHX • Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1855170552 • Amazon Podcasts - https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/1640769f-1eec-46bb-9845-661dd3cecddc/adventure-unfiltered If you enjoyed the episode, a follow, share or quick review makes a huge difference - Thank You!

    30 min
  2. There’s Always the Hills and Always a Story with Cameron McNeish | Adventure Unfiltered

    MAR 5

    There’s Always the Hills and Always a Story with Cameron McNeish | Adventure Unfiltered

    Send a text  In this Season 2 finale of Adventure Unfiltered, Lorna Bray sits down with legendary mountaineer, writer and broadcaster Cameron McNeish for a reflective conversation about belonging, landscape and a lifetime shaped by the hills. From the Munros to the wider wild places of Scotland, Cameron shares how mountains become more than destinations - they become companions, teachers and a lifelong home. This episode explores story, song, ageing, gratitude and the enduring connection between people and landscape. In the wild, we remember who we are. About Cameron McNeish Cameron McNeish is one of Scotland’s most respected outdoor voices — a mountaineer, writer, broadcaster and storyteller whose work has inspired generations to explore the hills. Through books, television and decades of walking and climbing, he has helped shape how many people understand Scotland’s wild landscapes and their place within them. Connect with Cameron: Cameron on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CameronMcNeishOutdoors Cameron on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mcneishcameron  🌿 Subscribe & Follow the Journey here: @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast Whether you’re planning a local wander, dreaming of a global expedition, craving the outdoors, looking for inspiration or searching for a role model — you’re in the right place. If you enjoy this episode, hit Subscribe and / or tap the 🔔 to be notified as each episode drops. Listen on: • YouTube - @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast • Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5HdHBR65RVpHEeuTc3fKHX • Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1855170552 • Amazon Podcasts - https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/1640769f-1eec-46bb-9845-661dd3cecddc/adventure-unfiltered If you enjoyed the episode, a follow, share or quick review makes a huge difference - Thank You!

    47 min
  3. Off-Piste. Off-Road. On Fire, with Emma Norton | Adventure Unfiltered

    FEB 26

    Off-Piste. Off-Road. On Fire, with Emma Norton | Adventure Unfiltered

    Send a text In this episode of Adventure Unfiltered, Lorna Bray speaks with outdoor guide, former elite skier and entrepreneur Emma Norton about finding grounding through adventure and real life. Emma’s journey has taken her off-piste, off-road and, at times, fully on fire — from competitive skiing to building a successful outdoor guiding business, while balancing family, responsibility and life beyond sport. But beneath the speed and energy lies something deeper: connection, perspective and staying grounded. This is a conversation about rediscovering joy after pressure and injury, about knowing when to push and when to pause, and about how the outdoors helps us reconnect with who we really are. Adventure Keyword: Grounded In the wild, we remember who we are. Connect with Emma Emma Norton on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nortonskipro/ Quad Bike Treks Aviemore: https://www.instagram.com/quadbiketreksaviemore/  🌿 Subscribe & Follow the Journey here: @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast Whether you’re planning a local wander, dreaming of a global expedition, craving the outdoors, looking for inspiration or searching for a role model — you’re in the right place. If you enjoy this episode, hit Subscribe and / or tap the 🔔 to be notified as each episode drops. Listen on: • YouTube - @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast • Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5HdHBR65RVpHEeuTc3fKHX • Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1855170552 • Amazon Podcasts - https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/1640769f-1eec-46bb-9845-661dd3cecddc/adventure-unfiltered If you enjoyed the episode, a follow, share or quick review makes a huge difference - Thank You!

    34 min
  4. Across Ice, Mountains and Time | with Myrtle Simpson

    FEB 19

    Across Ice, Mountains and Time | with Myrtle Simpson

    Send a text In this episode of Adventure Unfiltered, Lorna Bray speaks with legendary adventurer Myrtle Simpson - pioneering Scottish skier, polar explorer, and one of the first women to ski across Greenland. Recorded when Myrtle was 95, this conversation is not simply about expeditions, records or milestones. It is about perspective shaped across a lifetime lived fully - a life guided by freedom, curiosity and a deep connection to mountains, snow and wild places. From Greenland to Peru, and a lifetime of skiing and exploration recognised with the Polar Medal, Myrtle reflects on what adventure really means, why perspective matters more than achievement, and how the outdoors shapes who we become across time. 🌿 Subscribe & Follow the Journey here: @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast Whether you’re planning a local wander, dreaming of a global expedition, craving the outdoors, looking for inspiration or searching for a role model — you’re in the right place. If you enjoy this episode, hit Subscribe and / or tap the 🔔 to be notified as each episode drops. Listen on: • YouTube - @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast • Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5HdHBR65RVpHEeuTc3fKHX • Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1855170552 • Amazon Podcasts - https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/1640769f-1eec-46bb-9845-661dd3cecddc/adventure-unfiltered If you enjoyed the episode, a follow, share or quick review makes a huge difference - Thank You!

    23 min
  5. Where Rivers Roar and Oceans Call | with Emy McLeod

    FEB 12

    Where Rivers Roar and Oceans Call | with Emy McLeod

    Send a text In this episode of Adventure Unfiltered, Lorna Bray speaks with award-winning paddler and coach Emy McLeod about confidence, growth and the powerful lessons found in moving water. From local paddles to the Yukon River, Emy shares how confidence is built through experience, how fear becomes understanding, and why leadership is about helping others discover their own strength. The conversation also explores giving back through coaching and the Polar Academy, and how the outdoors helps us reconnect with who we really are. Emy McLeod (@empaddlesports) is an paddler, adventurer, storyteller and advocate for exploring the wild with curiosity and courage. She shares her experiences of pushing boundaries - both outdoors and within herself - while celebrating the everyday moments of discovery that connect us to nature and to each other.  🌿 Subscribe & Follow the Journey here: @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast Whether you’re planning a local wander, dreaming of a global expedition, craving the outdoors, looking for inspiration or searching for a role model — you’re in the right place. If you enjoy this episode, hit Subscribe and / or tap the 🔔 to be notified as each episode drops. Listen on: • YouTube - @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast • Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5HdHBR65RVpHEeuTc3fKHX • Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1855170552 • Amazon Podcasts - https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/1640769f-1eec-46bb-9845-661dd3cecddc/adventure-unfiltered If you enjoyed the episode, a follow, share or quick review makes a huge difference - Thank You!

    42 min
  6. Paddleboards, Peaks and Wild Ethics with Stevie Boyle

    FEB 5

    Paddleboards, Peaks and Wild Ethics with Stevie Boyle

    Send a text Please consider subscribing here: @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast - it’s free, and it genuinely makes a huge difference. There are moments in conversation that feel like a homecoming - and this opening episode of Season 2, with outdoor guide and ethical adventurer Stevie Boyle, is one of them. Recorded on the East Lothian coast, a place deeply woven into Lorna’s own story of growing up outdoors, this conversation felt like the right way to begin a new season — not by resetting the conversation, but by deepening it. Stevie is the founder of Ocean Vertical, a values-led adventure company rooted in paddleboarding, coaststeering and mountain travel. But as this conversation unfolds, it becomes clear that adventure itself is not the point. What Stevie returns to, again and again, is responsibility. Responsibility to the people he works with. Responsibility to the environments he moves through. Responsibility to speak openly about risk, fear and decision-making - not to diminish adventure, but to make it sustainable.From rewilding and marine protection to the ethics of guiding, ego, and performance culture in adventure, this episode explores what it means to move through wild places with humility and care. If Season 2 has a keyword, this one is Responsibility. Together they explore: Why ethics aren’t an add-on in adventure - they’re foundationalThe outdoors as the product, not the backdropHow independence, not dependency, should be the goal of guidingThe role of education, transparency and decision-making in safetyWhy sharing adventure should be a by-product, not the purposeKey moments in the episode: Finding Ocean Vertical and the philosophy behind itThe pressure, ego and performative culture surrounding modern adventureA solo winter journey on the Cairngorm plateau — a snow hole, a broken compass and a whiteoutThe moment Stevie realised no one was coming to help — and what that taught himThe difference between confidence and entitlementWhat “In the wild we remember who we are” means to himAbout Stevie Boyle 🌿 Subscribe & Follow the Journey here: @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast Whether you’re planning a local wander, dreaming of a global expedition, craving the outdoors, looking for inspiration or searching for a role model — you’re in the right place. If you enjoy this episode, hit Subscribe and / or tap the 🔔 to be notified as each episode drops. Listen on: • YouTube - @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast • Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5HdHBR65RVpHEeuTc3fKHX • Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1855170552 • Amazon Podcasts - https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/1640769f-1eec-46bb-9845-661dd3cecddc/adventure-unfiltered If you enjoyed the episode, a follow, share or quick review makes a huge difference - Thank You!

    37 min
  7. Adventure Unfiltered — Season One Reflection and Finale

    JAN 1 · BONUS

    Adventure Unfiltered — Season One Reflection and Finale

    Send a text This episode of Adventure Unfiltered feels a little different. Rather than sitting down with a new guest, Lorna takes time to step back - revisiting the conversations that have shaped Season One and reflecting on what they’ve left behind. From the very beginning, Adventure Unfiltered set out to explore the human side of adventure - not the headlines or the achievements, but the quieter moments beneath them. Across Season One, those conversations unfolded in deeply personal ways. With Iona Andean, adventure was gently reimagined as something everyday, inclusive, and rooted in community - a reminder that it doesn’t have to be loud or far away to matter. Through Sean Green’s journey riding all 282 Munros by mountain bike, adventure became a story of resilience, grief and what it means to keep showing up when life throws you off course. In conversation with Alice Goodridge, everything slowed down. We talked about cold water, self-trust, and why adventure isn’t about titles - but about creating spaces where people feel safe to begin. And with Mollie Hughes, across two conversations, we moved from the noise and pressure of Everest to the defining silence of Antarctica - from preparation, fear and exposure to solitude, stillness and one step in front of the other. What’s stayed constant across all of these interviews is how personal adventure really is. And how different it looks for every single person. In this season finale, Lorna dips back into each of these conversations - sharing the moments that stayed with her, the ideas that made her pause and her favourite sound bites from Season One. This episode is a moment to breathe. A moment to reflect. And a moment to say thank you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for sharing. And thank you for being part of this growing community. Until next time - In the wild, we remember who we are. 🌿 Subscribe & Follow the Journey here: @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast Whether you’re planning a local wander, dreaming of a global expedition, craving the outdoors, looking for inspiration or searching for a role model — you’re in the right place. If you enjoy this episode, hit Subscribe and / or tap the 🔔 to be notified as each episode drops. Listen on: • YouTube - @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast • Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5HdHBR65RVpHEeuTc3fKHX • Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1855170552 • Amazon Podcasts - https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/1640769f-1eec-46bb-9845-661dd3cecddc/adventure-unfiltered If you enjoyed the episode, a follow, share or quick review makes a huge difference - Thank You!

    45 min
  8. The Deafening Silence: Mollie Hughes’ Solo Journey Across Antarctica

    12/26/2025

    The Deafening Silence: Mollie Hughes’ Solo Journey Across Antarctica

    Send a text In this quietly powerful episode of Adventure Unfiltered, Lorna sits down once again with adventurer and polar explorer Mollie Hughes - this time to talk about her solo, unassisted journey across Antarctica. When Mollie joined the podcast previously, the focus was Everest: fear, exposure, altitude and the constant external risk of the world’s most mythologised mountain. Antarctica is different. Flatter. Whiter. Quieter. And - in many ways - harder. Lorna knew the headline before they recorded: nearly 700 miles skied alone across a frozen continent. What she didn’t fully know was the inner story behind it - the silence, the boredom, the self-doubt, the mental strategies and the slow, deliberate psychological work required just to keep moving when there is no summit, no team and no variation in the landscape. What unfolds is not a story about endurance for its own sake, but a deeply human conversation about solitude. Together, they explore: What it really means to travel solo and unassisted in AntarcticaHow Antarctica differs psychologically from EverestThe mental impact of prolonged silence and repetitionChristmas Day alone on the Antarctic iceBoredom, fear and the quiet creep of self-doubtRealising she hadn’t laughed or smiled for over two weeksWhy speaking out loud - even mockingly - helped reset her mindsetThe importance of humour, kindness and self-regulation in isolationHow resilience isn’t always about pushing harderWhat solitude reveals when distraction is removedMollie speaks with striking honesty about the moments when silence became uncomfortable and her inner dialogue turned unhelpful — and how she learned to stay with herself rather than fight the experience. This conversation isn’t about suffering. It’s about steadiness. In a world that feels increasingly noisy, busy and digitally crowded, this episode invites us to reflect on what happens when the noise falls away — and how learning to meet silence well might be one of the most important skills we have. This is exactly why Adventure Unfiltered exists - to move beyond the headline and into the human story. About Mollie Hughes Mollie Hughes is a record-breaking adventurer, mountaineer and polar explorer.  Website: molliehughes.co.uk Instagram: @mollieJhughes 🌿 Subscribe & Follow the Journey here: @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast Whether you’re planning a local wander, dreaming of a global expedition, craving the outdoors, looking for inspiration or searching for a role model — you’re in the right place. If you enjoy this episode, hit Subscribe and / or tap the 🔔 to be notified as each episode drops. Listen on: • YouTube - @Adventure_Unfiltered_Podcast • Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5HdHBR65RVpHEeuTc3fKHX • Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1855170552 • Amazon Podcasts - https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/1640769f-1eec-46bb-9845-661dd3cecddc/adventure-unfiltered If you enjoyed the episode, a follow, share or quick review makes a huge difference - Thank You!

    27 min

Trailer

About

"In the wild we remember who we are." Every episode is packed with inspiration, courage, passion, vulnerability, and a pure celebration of wild places. These conversations are about connection, and I promise they’ll ignite that fire in your belly for adventure.    If you love the outdoors, planning adventures, and that buzz of excitement of the flat lay the night before, pouring over maps, the joy of the road trip, celebrating the summits, scaling walls, the burn of the ice cold water or simply just being outdoors to breathe in the air with pals, this podcast is for you! I want to create that same feeling for you through each listen.    Think of Adventure Unfiltered as another step in your planning process for your next adventure, or simply just a way to connect with the outdoors when it’s blowing a hoolie outside and you’re grounded by the weather but still craving the wild and the feeling that brings. 

You Might Also Like