OutdoorLads
Liam Russell is the programme manager at
OutdoorLads, a Britain-wide walking group on
a mission to get more gay, bi and trans men into
the outdoors.
“The group started in the Manchester
area during 2006, when some gay guys got
together on Meetup, agreed they were fed
up of the Manchester scene being the only
option for meeting with like-minded people,
and decided to go on a camping trip. Around
20 guys got together and went camping at
Great Langdale. It was a big success – so they
formed OutdoorLads, which was registered
as a charity in 2008.
“The original premise was that there
wasn’t a walking group specifically for gay,
bi and trans men, so we moved in and filled
that gap. Now we havearound 2,000 paid-up
members and another 7,000 pay-as-you-
go members. In a normal year, we run well
over 1,000 events across the country. Those
include day walking, climbing, cycling,
camping weekends, hostel weekends and our
‘BIG weekends’, where 500 of our members
get together to camp and do all sorts of
outdoor events.
“We’re a national group and anyone
is welcome to join one of our events. We
always saythat it doesn’t matter if the only
thing you’ve ever climbed isthe stairs – we
have something suitable for you. Wedo big,
difficult mountain walks and wild camping,
but at the other end of the scale we also do
leisure walks of 3-4 miles on made-up paths.
One thing that’s great about OutdoorLads is
that it encourages people to push themselves- it’s common for someone to start off with
easy walks, get to meet people, and then
a few months later they’re walking in the
mountains.
“Members get to explore further afield,
expandtheir social circle and makefriends
around the country. We’ve also had about
17 different marriages in the group!”
outdoorlads.com
Disabled Ramblers
Paula Brunt is secretary and rambles organiser
at Disabled Ramblers.
“When we started out in the 1990s, we
were the Disabled Drivers Club. One of the
founding members was Dr MikeBruton, an
engineer working for British Airways – he got
some of his apprentices to makewhat they
called a ‘rickshaw’ for him, which he took
along the Ridgeway. They then went along
the Thames Path Walkway with a speciallymade ramp for getting over stiles and fences.
“We can’t really do that sort of thing
any more because everything has to be
risk-assessed, but we still have a lot of
fun! Normally we start in April and end in
October, and each month we havea week
of rambles in different parts of the country.
On our national rambles we have a mobile
support unit, which carries our four loan
scooters and doubles up as a disabled
toilet. We go all over the place – Scotland,
Snowdonia, Cornwall, the Chilterns...
The only real barriers are gates and stiles,
although mud and very steep inclines will
slow us down. Our chairman has led a group
up Drum and I’ve been up Pen y Fan – not via
the easy route!”
“It completely transformed my life when
I discovered Disabled Ramblers and I see
that happening to other people all the time.
There was a chap on our last ramble who had
been stuck at home for six years. The whole
day he just had this huge grin on his face.
It is rewarding because you meet so many
different people and also you don’t have to go
worry about what to do if anything happens- if you break down or get a puncture then
there’s always somebody there to help.”
disabledramblers.co.uk
Manchester-based
Outdoor Lads aims to get
more gay, bi and trans men
into the outdoors
An Outdoor Lads outing
in the winter hillsDisabled Ramblers
members in WalesMembers of the Disabled
Ramblers club have
climbed mountains like
Pen y Fan and Drum14 The Great OutdoorsAugust 2021