Wayfarer: an outsider's way into geography and place - Phoebe Smith

Growing up in an area known by the national press as the 'Costa del Dole', and being a woman, Phoebe Smith never thought that the outdoors, adventure and expeditions were within her reach.

She was often told that 'people like us don’t do things like that'. Yet she went on to become an award-winning travel journalist and author, pioneering unique extreme adventures across Britain: from portaledging on 10 UK landmarks (including cliffs, football stadiums and skyscrapers) to completing an Antarctic-style expedition down the length of the country.

She also formed the #WeTwo Foundation, a charity that empowers underprivileged young people through life-changing, carbon-negative expeditions, and received the Society’s Ness Award in 2025.

She is fascinated by the empowering effects and healing qualities the outdoors offers to everyone who experiences it, and is keen to show how understanding the environment in different, non-traditional ways can help people connect with it.

Despite not being religious, her most recent undertaking was to walk multiple pilgrim paths that are being unearthed across Britain, as a way of not only reconciling the past of our country, which had made her feel disenfranchised from geography and landscapes, but to also to confront her own past personal traumas too.

She documents this journey in her award-winning memoir Wayfarer, which she will discuss in her talk. But she will also delve into the reasons why people, like her, have previously felt marginalised as outsiders in the world of adventure.

She considers how class, gender and race intersect with this feeling of not belonging, and proposes how promoting enjoyment over hardship, celebrating more diverse figures in exploration in and out of the classroom, and planting seeds, not flags, are key tools in ending an often unconscious bias in our field. 

About the speaker

Phoebe Smith is an adventurer and multi-award-winning travel writer, photographer, presenter and broadcaster (specialising in adventure, sustainable travel, walking, family adventure and wildlife conservation).

She has presented segments on TV including BBC Countryfile, BBC Breakfast, C5 Saturday Live, ITV’s Britain’s Best Walks and BBC Breakfast.

She is host of the much lauded Wander Woman Podcast (Best Broadcast; Travel Media Awards 2025) and author of 11 books including the Stanford Travel Book of the Year nominee Wayfarer: Love, Loss and Life on Britain’s Ancient Paths.

She is also the co-founder of the #WeTwo Foundation, a charity that empowers underprivileged young people through carbon negative expeditions; President of the Long Distance Walkers Association and an ambassador for Kew Gardens and Scouts.

Please note: The views of our speakers do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Royal Geographical Society.

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