Nick Wilson - the Disabled Adventurer

Ramblings

BBC

Science, Nature, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.6 • 732 Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Clare joins Nick Wilson for a circuit around Pitsford Reservoir in Northamptonshire. A former soldier, Nick now uses a powerchair after a spinal injury and years of chronic pain made walking impossible. He has experienced homelessness and battled depression, yet has found the strength to launch his ‘Disabled Adventurer’ project. Through this initiative, Nick creates social media videos about the accessibility of natural spaces, leads wheelchair skills workshops, and collaborates with national organisations to make the outdoors more inclusive.

Nick and his support worker, Matthew, brought along a spare powerchair for Clare. With their guidance, she navigated a stretch of the reservoir’s wide, accessible paths. As Nick explained, having access to outdoor spaces and continuing to pursue his love of adventure - albeit in a different way - has helped him rediscover a sense of enjoyment, achievement, and purpose.

Map: OS Explorer 223 Northampton and Market Harborough Map Ref: (car park) SP 752 694

Presenter: Clare Balding Producer: Karen Gregor

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:07.3	Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron.
0:10.5	Evil genius.
0:11.6	He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it.
0:15.5	That's like hiding at your own funeral.
0:17.1	Yeah, a bit great gig.
0:18.6	I'm Russell Kane.
0:19.6	Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius.
0:24.1	Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius.
0:26.4	It also helps it.
0:27.4	It's a long time ago, right?
0:29.4	It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream.
0:34.9	Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds.
0:38.9	Nick, tell me about your chair.
0:41.2	Well, this is quite a posh chair, to be honest. It's called the Quantum Forefront 2.
0:47.3	And as you can see, as we ride across the grass, it's more of an outdoorsy chair,
0:53.5	as long as the ground is dry.
0:56.2	It's relatively early on a Sunday morning.
0:59.2	We've come to a really popular walking spot in Northamptonshire because I'm in
1:05.0	Brixworth Country Park and we are going to walk around Pittsburgh Reservoir.
1:10.9	If you want to follow us on the map,
1:12.2	I'm on OS Explorer 223,
	...

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