A Life More Wild

Emily Chappell went from being a bike messenger in London to winning the Transcontinental, a 4000km race across Europe, in 2016. But cycling is far more than a physical test for her. Her relationship with the sport has changed many times over the years and it has become a community, a way to travel, a way to live and a cause to further. On a ride from her home in Kendall, to which she’s recently moved, she talks about relearning her love of riding for its own sake, and how an early love of the Tour de France came full circle in a wonderful moment on the streets of Paris.

A Life More Wild is an 18Sixty production, brought to you by Canopy & Stars. Production by Clarissa Maycock. Our theme music is by Billie Marten.

Joycelyn Longdon wears many hats. She works on conservation with communities in Ghana, she speaks and writes about environmental action and she also specialises in something called bioacoustics. It keeps her pretty busy, so we caught up with her to take a break from her desk and a stroll into one of her favourite places - Paradise Nature Reserve in Cambridge. On the way, she explains how all her worlds come together and how important it is that cultural interaction creates a new way to imagine our future.

This year, as well as walks with interesting guests, we’re doing something a little different on A Life More Wild. Working with our charity partner Campaign for National Parks, we’re creating bonus episodes with seasonal soundscapes from some of the UK’s most precious green spaces.  

We start with The Sounds of Spring in Eryri National Park. You’ll follow Rhys, a shepherd from Dolgellau, as he takes his flock out into the wind and rain of a fairly typical spring day in Wales.

Barney Murray was in his late teens, studying art and hating it. He took a casual labouring job with a couple of guys who ran a drystone walling company. He never looked back. Nine years later and now a certified Master Craftsman, he loves working out in the fields, even when the weather is at its most challenging.

Join him as he works to patch a gap in the wall of a sheep field, a more technical process than you might think. As he builds “skins”, packs the centre and lays coping stones, he talks about finding himself already a veteran builder as a young wave of wallers emerges, brutal weather, wildlife habitats, and how he can read the walls like handwriting.

A Life More Wild is an 18Sixty production, brought to you by Canopy & Stars. Production by Clarissa Maycock. Our theme music is by Billie Marten.

At the age of 20, Jordan Stephens achieved his dream - when Rizzle Kicks’ album Stereo Typical went platinum. He’d always loved music and had seen it as a way he could transform the lives of himself and his mother. With the album’s success, he should have had it all but it’s never that simple. On a walk along the shores of the Isle of Sheppey, he talks about the problems with selling young people dreams of fame and wealth, making mistakes, walking dogs, his mixed feelings about the city and starting it all with raps that dissed his teachers.

A Life More Wild is an 18Sixty production, brought to you by Canopy & Stars. Production by Clarissa Maycock. Our theme music is by Billie Marten.