The Adventure Podcast

Episode 228 of The Adventure Podcast features sailor, adventurer, and philanthropist, Tim Good. Tim comes from a 200-year-old family business which is deeply connected to multiple philanthropic projects. He has also quietly accumulated a life that most people only plan. In this episode, Tim talks to Matt about losing his brother Matthew and how that resulted in Tim selling his business, buying a boat, and planning to sail around the world. Delayed by Covid, Brexit tax complications and a baby, last August he and his wife set off anyway, with their three-year-old daughter on board, heading for West Africa. Tim covers crossing the Bay of Biscay in rough weather, navigating the Saloum Delta, and spending weeks motoring 170 miles up the Gambia River to find hippos, chimpanzees and river dolphins. At the time of recording, they'd crossed the Atlantic just two weeks before. Matt and Tim also talk about solo motorcycle adventures, a paragliding expedition from the Jungfrau where a teammate went missing for four days, and how adventurous parents stay themselves without drowning in guilt. Despite his adventurous life, by design, Tim has almost no internet presence. Quietly one of the most lived-in guests we've had on - this is what it looks like when someone actually does the thing they said they were going to do.

For extra insights from the worlds of adventure, exploration and the natural world, you can find The Adventure Podcast+ community on Substack. You can also follow along and join in on Instagram @‌theadventurepodcast.

Chapter Breakdown
00:00-04:10: A 200-year family business, a great-great-great-grandfather who went to sea at 11, and why Tim has almost no internet presence.
04:10-12:17: Losing his brother at 32, launching the Matthew Good Foundation, and how grief became the catalyst for selling his business and buying a boat.
12:17-19:00: The Seven Life System, sailing Norway with skis on board, and how Covid, Brexit and a baby reshaped the circumnavigation plan.
19:00-27:00: A three-year-old on a boat, crossing Biscay in rough weather, and exploring the Saloum Delta.
27:00-35:54: Two weeks up the Gambia River, hippos, chimpanzees and river dolphins, and what West Africa felt like compared to everywhere else.
35:54-44:00: Why solo hits differently.
44:00-54:25: The Caribbean vs Patagonia dilemma, balancing fatherhood with ambition, and why learning to be selfish made both of them better parents.
54:25-1:00:00: The Matthew Good Foundation, rewilding in Scotland, and why Tim is deliberately waiting before committing to his next big philanthropic move.
1:00:00-1:05:22: What scares him and a contentious answer to what brings him hope.
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Episode 227 of The Adventure Podcast features wildlife camera operator and television presenter, Declan Burley. Declan grew up in Luton, dyslexic and working on building sites. Nobody around him went into the arts and no one really knew what a wildlife camera operator was. In this episode, Declan talks to Matt about the long road to where he is now: three months in the Amazon at 23 that changed everything, years of being flat broke, and a cancer diagnosis in his late twenties. He explains what camera trapping actually involves, and what it was like to work across six critically endangered species for The Wild Ones, from snare-riddled jungle in Malaysia to mine-field leopards on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. They also cover the class divide in British wildlife television, what slowing down teaches you about the natural world, and whether conservation storytelling can actually change anything - or whether it's just preaching to the converted.

For extra insights from the worlds of adventure, exploration and the natural world, you can find The Adventure Podcast+ community on Substack. You can also follow along and join in on Instagram @‌theadventurepodcast.

Chapter Breakdown
0:00-06:15: Growing up in Luton, building sites, dyslexia, and why becoming a wildlife camera operator wasn't something anyone around him had ever done or suggested.
06:15-14:13: Class, access and the 8% statistic.
14:13-26:36: Three months in the Amazon at 23, learning to move slowly, borderline trench foot, and why that trip settled everything.
26:36-34:48: Declan talks about receiving a cancer diagnosis in his late twenties, and how camera trapping became his specialist skill and calling card.
34:48-42:00: What camera trapping actually is.
42:00-50:18: The Wild Ones - six critically endangered species, six countries, and what Declan saw on the ground.
50:18-58:00: Whether conservation storytelling can actually change anything, the three choices when faced with environmental despair, and why commissioners need the audience to keep watching.
58:00-1:00:00: What scares him, what brings him hope, and why he puts animals and humans on exactly the same level.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-adventure-podcast.
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Episode 226 of The Adventure Podcast features ex-England Rugby Captain, sailor, rower, and world-record holder, Ollie Phillips. After over a decade of elite sport and multiple Player of the Year awards, an unknown injury suddenly stopped Ollie's career. In this episode, Matt and Ollie cover what it's like to grieve a career and a life you dedicated yourself to, and what happens after. They talk about Ollie's last minute decision to say yes to the Clipper Round the World Race, having never sailed before, a world record expedition to the North Pole, and more recently, a charity row across the Atlantic. Ollie is funny, direct, and genuinely honest. And it turns out the gap between who you were and who you're becoming is where the most interesting stuff happens.

For extra insights from the worlds of adventure, exploration and the natural world, you can find The Adventure Podcast+ community on Substack. You can also follow along and join in on Instagram @‌theadventurepodcast.

Chapter Breakdown
00:00- 06:22: Who Ollie is now and the twelve-year rugby career that started it all.
06:22-14:48: Why sports people and soldiers gravitate towards adventure, the ten-out-of-ten feeling that real life rarely matches, and what the corporate world gets wrong.
14:48-22:43: Community, shared experience, and why Ollie has never started a story with "this one time, when I was on my own."
22:43-33:24: How a spinal injury ended his rugby career in four hours, and why saying yes to a last-minute call from Sir Robin Knox-Johnston changed everything.
33:24-39:14: Getting on the Clipper Race with no sailing experience, going from novice to second-in-command in three months, and the useful delusion that rugby might still be waiting at the end.
39:14-49:13: PwC, the North Pole, and a fifteen-month legal battle just to play one last game of rugby at Twickenham for closure.
49:13-1:00:51: What that final game meant, and the moment outside a basement flat that made Ollie realise he needed to change.
1:00:51-1:05:03: Therapy, validation, fatherhood, and why not expecting anything from anyone has made everything better.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-adventure-podcast.
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Episode 225 of The Adventure Podcast features marine biologist and TV host, Melissa Cristina Márquez. Also known as the 'Mother of Sharks'. Born in Puerto Rico, Melissa's spent her career trying to make people care about one of the most misunderstood animals on the planet. In this episode, Matt and Melissa cover a lot of ground - from Jaws and Baby Shark to a three-metre crocodile bite on her first ever Shark Week shoot. They touch on the psychology of inflammatory media language, and the hundreds of thousands of years of indigenous knowledge that Western science has largely ignored. Melissa is warm, funny, deeply informed and completely disarming. She has a way of making you realise how much of what you think you know about sharks has been handed to you by Hollywood. She challenges the idea that fear and respect can't coexist, argues that diversity in science isn't just about fairness but about asking better questions, and explains why a species that's survived 450 million years may not survive us. While this conversation starts with sharks, really it's about how we relate to the natural world and whether caring - loudly, specifically, and imperfectly - might be the most important thing any of us can do.

For extra insights from the worlds of adventure, exploration and the natural world, you can find The Adventure Podcast+ community on Substack. You can also follow along and join in on Instagram @‌theadventurepodcast.

Chapter Breakdown
00:00-07:05: Growing up in Puerto Rico, falling in love with sharks, and fighting to build a career.
07:05-16:48: Why diversity in science changes the questions we ask.
16:48-25:28: The language of fear and the lasting damage of Jaws.
25:28-38:11: The empathy gap between sharks and other endangered animals, and what early education can do to close it.
38:11-50:34: No villain animals, the case for fearful respect, and the crocodile bite nobody saw coming.
50:34-1:02:12: Sharks as keystones, trophic cascades, and why Melissa remains an optimist about the future.
1:02:12-1:08:32: Why science communication belongs to everyone, and what visibility does for the next generation of scientists.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-adventure-podcast.
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Episode five of our long-term series, The Far Reaches, features ornithologist, environmentalist, writer, and sustainability advisor, Tony Juniper CBE. Tony is the Chair of Natural England, the former president of The Wildlife Trusts, and has devoted over four decades to nature recovery and environmental protection. In this episode, Matt sits down with Tony in his greenhouse for a wide-ranging conversation about the state of the natural world. They start with the scale of what’s happening: climate change, collapsing ecosystems, soil loss, freshwater depletion, and how it's all driven by the same forces shaping modern society. Tony explains why many of the biggest environmental debates are framed incorrectly - not as trade-offs between nature and food, or economy and environment, but as problems that can be solved together if approached differently. They talk about farming, land use, and how mindsets are already beginning to shift. This episode is rooted in cautious optimism as Tony shares stories of species already returning to the UK. It emphasises that restoration isn’t theoretical, it’s already happening. Throughout the episode, Matt and Tony keep coming back to the idea of connection. People and nature. Policy and reality. And how the future depends on whether more people engage with it. While this is a stark reminder of what's going wrong, it's also strongly hopeful and shows what's already being quietly put back together.

The Far Reaches is a long-term series where we speak to guests about subjects related to our planet and our place on it. These episodes will dig a little deeper, perhaps enter the realm of armchair philosophy, and will tackle some more existential questions surrounding adventure and exploration.

For extra insights from the worlds of adventure, exploration and the natural world, you can find The Adventure Podcast+ community on Substack. You can also follow along and join in on Instagram @‌theadventurepodcast.

Chapter Breakdown
00:00-05:00: Why climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion are deeply tied to how society functions.
05:00-15:00: How different lifestyles drive vastly different environmental footprints, and consequences.
15:00-25:00: Why framing issues as “nature vs food” or “economy vs environment” is misleading, and what a better approach looks like.
25:00-35:00: How farmers are responding to climate pressures, and why the conversation is shifting on the ground.
35:00-45:00: Examples of restoring ecosystems and improving biodiversity through smarter land use.
45:00-55:00: Beavers, white-tailed eagles, cranes, spoonbills - real stories of recovery across the UK.
55:00-End: Why this isn’t hopeless - and how reconnecting people with nature is key to change.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-adventure-podcast.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.