The Running Session: celebrating every aspect of running at Kendal Mountain Festival

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From track and tarmac to mud, trails and fells, The Running Session at Kendal Mountain Festival celebrates every aspect of running, bringing together an inspiring line-up of runners, community leaders and record-breakers.

Hosted by Black Trail Runners co-founder and ultra runner Sabrina Pace-Humphreys, alongside local teacher and fell runner Dan Duxbury, The Running Session promises an evening packed with stories from some of the most remarkable people in the sport.

Among the guests are Lakes-based runner Beth Pascall, a former women’s Bob Graham Round record holder and winner of the 2021 Western States Endurance Run, and her sister Fiona Pascall, who has gone on to set her own records, including the women’s Lake District 24 Hour Fell Round record. German trail runner Katharina Hartmuth will also join the line-up after setting a new women’s Bob Graham Round  
record and becoming the first woman to finish on the overall podium at the 330km Tor des Géants.

But The Running Session isn’t just about elite athletes. Shaun Fagan, founder of Kendal Shit Runners Club, will share how a simple ethos of getting people outdoors, moving and having fun has grown into a thriving community. We'll also hear from Kendal SRC volunteers Kirsty Keech and John Cangley.

Masters athlete Clare Elms will bring her own inspiring story, having recently set records as the oldest woman to run 5K in under 18 minutes.

There’s also an incredible fell-running story from the Fellkour Squad, who smashed a 33-year-old relay record by summiting all 282 of Scotland’s Munros in just 10 days, 18 hours and 16 minutes.

With inspiring running films, more speakers still to be announced and a chance to win one of two places in the adidas Manchester Marathon 2027, The Running Session is a must for anyone who loves to run – whatever your pace, distance or terrain.


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Kendal Mountain Festival  
19-22 November 2026  
Kendal, Cumbria, UK  
Tickets and Passes are on sale: www.kendalmountainfestival.com

### Our merchandise team are working hard to sort the shop and will be back soon. For all shop enquiries, please get in touch with us by email at walk1000miles@countrywalking.co.uk

### One of the reasons we love to walk is the connection it gives us to people, places and memories. All these Challengers choose to honour the most important dates on their calendars with a walk. Here’s why…

‘We have created a new occasion to celebrate each year – my “I’m Still Here!” Day. Two and a half years ago I was rushed into an emergency operation for a twisted bowel, and I was lucky to make it through the night. It was a long recovery. When I got home it was such an effort to walk even to the end of the road, and I wondered if I would ever properly walk again.

‘So when the first anniversary came around, and I was sooo much better, we decided to celebrate with a stunning walk… and a night in a posh hotel. It was so special we decided we would take the day off work each year to go for a walk and stay somewhere nice to celebrate the fact I’m still here!

‘The photo is near the end of the walk that first year, by the Great Hangman cliffs in Devon. It was the furthest and trickiest walk since I’d been poorly, but oh so special! I especially like that the walk _has_ to be followed by a posh hotel!’

‘My go-to place for my birthday is the Lake District – a place that rules my heart. My birthday is February so the weather can be unpredictable, but to sit up on a fell with my plastic wine glass, a bottle of Prosecco and a French fancy cake with a candle is all I need to make my birthday special. (Oh… and my Other Half!)’

## **‘In memory of this loyal companion’**

‘The Peter Rabbit Trail at Langdon Nature Discovery Park, Essex, holds a very special place in my heart. We had many a walk over there when my baby girl Bonnie was with us. Unfortunately, we lost her a few years ago now, but have so many beautiful memories of our walks together – 18 years of love! So I try to get over there whenever possible and celebrate all the wonderful times we had together.’

‘A few years ago, I set out to do all the walks in my _Durham, North Pennines and Tyne & Wear_ walking book. I saved the best until last – High Cup Nick. I even produced a small bottle of bubbly and a couple of (plastic) champagne flutes as a surprise to my husband when we completed it. You can take many photos up there, but they can never capture the scenery or atmosphere of the place. I’m not a religious person, but every time I've done that walk since, it feels like a spiritual pilgrimage.’

## **‘To feel closer to my husband’**

‘My husband died suddenly and unexpectedly on my birthday weekend. Naturally, I don’t really feel like being around other people or celebrating my birthday. For my 50th, two years before, Keith took me on a surprise weekend away in Cornwall. Now every year I stay in Cornwall at that time. I have a special little spot at Land’s End where I remember us being so happy and laughing as we took a photo. Every year now I go back to walk to that spot, place a little memory pebble and sit awhile with my memories, feeling close to my husband.’

‘Every single wedding anniversary, we walk. We met through shared interests of being active and enjoying the outdoors, and walking is our ‘home away from home’ – a place of beauty, calmness and positive health. I can’t imagine a wedding anniversary without walking! We enjoy countryside and riverside routes in our county of Hertfordshire and nearby. It builds up a nice appetite to then enjoy some food too!’

## **‘Being back in the land I love’**

‘Every year in May/June when I go back to my beloved Scotland, I have to do the four lochs walk up to Loch Ordie near Dunkeld. Lochs, hills, remoteness and even sometimes hearing a cuckoo… I even walk it in my head when I can’t sleep!’

## **‘To remind me that walking is wonderful’**

‘Every year for my birthday we stay in the Yorkshire Dales, and on the day itself I get to choose the walk. It will contain everything I need in order to be happy: namely, gorgeous scenery, egg mayonnaise sandwiches, a flask of coffee and the happiness that comes from realising that I can still get through the squeeze stiles! (Just!)

‘Oh, and my husband striding along beside me.

‘Simple pleasures, but a yearly birthday reminder that without walking, I wouldn’t be able to take these pictures, enjoy that view, or stay slim enough for those stiles. Definitely something to celebrate!’

## **‘To remember our first steps together’**

‘My wife Helen and I met back in 2010 and our first “date” was a walk together from Llangollen out to World’s End and then back along the Eglwyseg escarpment overlooking the magnificent Dee Valley. Where possible we repeat this walk every year on the same day in April to celebrate our good fortune and enjoy the views along the way. It is such a spectacular place to walk, as anyone who has walked here will know. We make a point of stopping for a brew at this large boulder on the edge of the escarpment overlooking Castell Dinas Bran and Llangollen. The memory of those first steps together is so special to us both. And amazingly the sun (nearly) always shines!’

## Make the greatest investment in your health and happiness

Join the challenge that changes lives one step at a time – no matter how unfit you are or how unlikely it sounds, you CAN walk 1000 miles!

Brought to you by the UK’s best-selling walking magazine, Country Walking, walk just 2.74 miles per day and you can clock up an amazing 1000 mile total in 12 months from the day you start. It’s an incredible achievement that will transform your health and happiness and open up new possibilities in life. Read more information :a[HERE]{href='https://www.walk1000miles.co.uk/advice/inspiration/how-it-works/' } about how it works.

Register free to take part and you’ll get our **monthly Country Walking newsletter** bursting with inspiration and support for your challenge, and access to competitions to win prizes from our partners.

Ready to change your life, one step at a time?

**Important**: add email@news.bauermedia.co.uk to your contacts under the name ‘Country Walking’ to avoid your newsletters, getting caught in your spam filter.

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**If you have signed up in previous years, you have already given us permission to contact you. This could mean that re-entering your details into the form might not generate a new sign-up email. This is because you’re already on the list.**

If you’re experiencing any issues signing up, please contact us walk1000miles@countrywalking.co.uk.

_**Even after nine decades, nothing stops Walk1000Miles legend Pamela Wright Brogan. We joined the Birthday Girl to find out what keeps her moving – and how you can follow in her footsteps.**_

If you ever need proof that walking works wonders – and that Walk1000Miles is the greatest walking challenge on earth – look no further than Pamela Wright Brogan.

Pam has been an avid walker all her life, and she first signed up for the Walk1000Miles ten years ago – at the age of 80 – as a way of giving herself added motivation in the face of a series of health difficulties.

She has never looked back. From creating her own long-distance routes in her 60s to climbing Ben Nevis at 80; from rock-climbing to wing-walking: nothing has ever stopped Pam from looking to the horizon. And she’s still active in the Walk1000Miles community (in fact in some quarters they call her the Queen).

To mark Pamela’s 90th birthday, a group of her Walk1000Miles pals decided to meet up in her beloved Cotswold hills for a celebration and a short walk with the lady herself, and Country Walking editor Nick Hallissey popped along too.

Here’s the story behind Pam’s legend – and some top tips for keeping moving for as long as she has...

“I remember when I was very young that all the women on my mother’s side used to die at 89 and I always thought, ‘well, that’s seriously old; I’d be happy if I lived to 89’,” laughs Pamela.

“But here I am at 90 and I think it’s no age at all. Just a number. I still want to do this, that and the other. It’s just a matter of working out how!”

Her attitude is all the more remarkable given what Pamela is up against: ME, diabetes, asthma; osteoarthritis in hips, pelvis and thigh bones; 90 years of wear and tear in back, shoulders and knees. These days she uses an all-terrain walker and takes a lot more pauses, but the desire and the tenacity are still there – and so is the smile.

“I have all those problems but I don’t let them define me,” she insists.

“I can’t go so fast and there are some things I can’t do anymore; I’ve had to give up the garden. But walking, slow and steady: that I can do! You just have to make adjustments. Find a way around your problems.”

Pam admits it’s not always easy to get motivated to go out, especially living by herself. But, she adds, the trick is simply to remember how she feels _after_ a walk.

“Sometimes I sit at home and I feel a bit miserable. I don’t want to do anything, I feel lonely,” she says. “But then I just say, ‘Pam, go for a walk. Go on, stop feeling sorry for yourself and get up and go.’

“And once I’m out, it’s just brilliant. I’m out in the fresh air, looking at the views, seeing life all around me.

“There isn’t a day when I regret getting up and going out.”

Pam says she can’t remember a time when she didn’t go walking. In childhood, walking from A to B was simply part of life, but Pam’s mother also took her for long walks into the Cotswold countryside, as far as they could go, before getting a bus back.

Pam’s adventurous spirit set in early; she recalls climbing ‘trees, high walls and even billboards’ on solo journeys around town and into the hills.

“Once my own children came along, and I became a single mum to five, I would take them to the local hills to play hide and seek and climb trees,” she recalls.

“In their teens they weren’t interested in long walks so when I took them camping I would have to take myself off on short walks or think up ways to jolly them up for some exploring.”

When the children left home, Pamela taught herself to use a map and compass and took herself away on long walks in the South Downs and over Dartmoor. She eventually began taking walking holidays overseas.

At 61 she invented her own long-distance trail, walking 130 miles from the Thames Barrier to the Malvern Hills. She has since walked the Cotswold Way, the Saints Way, the Gloucestershire Way and the Six Dales Way, as well as big chunks of the Thames Path and the South West Coast Path.

And she climbed Ben Nevis at 80. In the rain.

“People said I shouldn’t or couldn’t but I did,” she beams. “It just shows what you can do if you’re a bit determined.”

As we head out for a short walk around the beautiful acres of Crickley Hill (with Pam leading the way, obviously), it’s easy to see why she became an inspirational figure in the Walk1000Miles community. As Denise Reynolds says: “There is nobody quite like her.”

She was first dubbed ‘the Queen’ by fellow Walk1000Miler Peter Partington, which led former _Country Walking_ editor Guy Procter to invite Pam to give ‘The Queen’s Speech’ one Christmas.

“That was so funny,” she giggles. “I got a friend to hold up my speech while I sat in the garden reading it to the camera. I remember wearing a nice bonnet which I thought made me a bit more like the Queen.”

(Pam says this as we pause at the brow of a hill, leading someone to suggest she’s gone up in the world and is now doing the Sermon on the Mount.)

Although some members of the Class of ’16 have never met in person before, several have come together over the years for ‘Badger Meets’ and ‘Badger Fest’ (named in honour of the Walk1000Miles badge, of course – get yours :a[here]{href='https://shop.walk1000miles.co.uk/' }.

This prompts a truly glorious moment when Pam and three fellow Badgers pause in the woods to perform ‘The Badger Dance’, inspired by the famous animated meme of bouncing badgers.

“Badger Badger Badger Badger MUSHROOM! MUSHROOM!”

It’s a scene I will never, ever forget.

So does Pamela have any advice for anyone just setting out with an interest in walking? You bet she does.

“Oh, do it. Just go for it, you’ll love it,” she says.

“Start with a little local walk and see what’s on your doorstep, and soon you’ll want to see more.

“I actually feel a bit jealous of you, with all those adventures ahead of you. Don’t waste a minute. Just get some good shoes and a comfy rucksack, and don’t listen to the voices in your head that tell you not to bother.

“If you look for the bad things, you’ll always find them.

“But if you look for the good things, you will find them, too.”

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We believe walking is the key to unlocking a world of wonder, happiness and health, and it’s a vision we’re thrilled to share with tens of thousands of readers! Join their number and become a :a[**Country Walking subscriber**]{href='https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/country-walking-magazine?utm_source=walk1000miles.co.uk&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=bau_countrywalking' target='_blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'} today and enjoy your **first 3 issues for just £3** with our spring offer! You’ll save 83% on shop prices and be the first to hear from us every month.

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When a near-fatal accident left former _Country Walking_ editor **Guy Procter** broken, lost and grieving a life he could no longer live, it was walking that led him back to health, purpose, and joy.

**THE ONLY WAY out is through.** Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. Reaching the destination is less important than the direction of travel. I know all the stirring aphorisms and I believe them to be true. But what they don’t acknowledge is the stillness that a really big setback imposes on you – the windless doldrums that make any kind of galvanising advice seem remote and unrealistic.

I’d been working in magazines for 15 years, all focused on things that hinged around physical activity – mountains and motorcycling, mostly – and had a professional momentum I felt would carry me as far as I wanted to go. I knew where I was heading, and there was A Plan.

It all came to an abrupt halt one evening in 2010 on the ride home from work. On a long, straight road I hit a car that had suddenly turned across my path at about 70mph. I came to some time later, still in the road, with night falling and kind-voiced ambulance crew tending to me, doing I didn’t know what. They looked busy and earnest, and though I didn’t know what had happened, I knew it couldn’t be good.

“Am I going to D.I.E?” I asked, unwilling to say what seemed an unlucky word out loud.

“We’re doing everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen,” was the answer. Which I’ve always found interestingly wordier than the alternative: “No.”

The damage report: my left arm had been three-quarters torn off, my brachial plexus (a junction box of nerves in your shoulder which control the arm) burst apart, humerus and wrists broken and both legs granted the exciting new power to bend both ways.

I’d end up having 13 operations (if you’re curious, look up ‘fasciotomy’ on Wikipedia to see a photo of my arm at its butcher’s shop best), over a year’s wait for the broken ends of the humerus in my reattached arm to fuse, and an ultimately disappointing wait to see if any function could be restored to it.

Once the morphine began to be tapered off, the colour drained from my surroundings and I could survey the arid stillness I found I’d arrived at. No motorbikes. No scrambling. No plucking the kids onto my shoulders. No typing at a half-decent words-per-minute. No driving without an adapted steering wheel. No doing up laces. A saturation bombing of my sense of self. What could I do?

It doesn’t sound like much. And of course, as far as the world is concerned, it isn’t. Walking is something you praise toddlers for. It’s what people do when they can’t find their car keys; a sport with the ball and all of the excitement removed. Saying you’re into walking is like calling yourself a connoisseur of tap water – a nonsense.

So I started, pale and pudgy, and without high hopes, on an activity I was after all doing because I couldn’t do anything better. And to my great surprise it had something to it. In fact a few things.

A way of hushing the hectoring anxieties that breed around the indoor unwell. A way of feeding the senses that led me out of myself and my stale preoccupations. I began to stop thinking so much of the things I could no longer do, and found happier, healthier thoughts springing up like rings of unpredictable mushrooms.

No I couldn’t go scrambling or ride motorbikes – but nor could I fly or speak conversational Latin. It suddenly seemed it would take a special kind of negative fixation to keep such regrets fresh – a backward-looking, unhelpful brooding that was the opposite of the ways walking urged me to look forward, look outward, be grateful.

I began to be contented by what was, more than tormented by ghosts of what might have been; to look forward to dinner rather than dread the distant future. Walking had given me traction out of deathly stillness.

And if it all sounds like it happened rather quickly, and rather easily, I can only agree. Because that’s one of the best things about walking: it starts working from the smallest dose. It goes on working, and the benefits compound. You already have all the kit you need to get going and the track starts right at your door. You literally never regret going out for a walk, and the goodness grows out of it like a benevolent bindweed into all aspects of your life.

It makes sleeping better and eating more enjoyable; makes doing more things seem possible and doing nothing feel better; makes work more productive and you nicer to be around. It makes days feel bespoke rather than bulk-manufactured and makes your problems seem small, not you.

For me personally, it connected me to memories from the past, when I was first introduced to walking – largely against my will – on holidays in the Lake District and Snowdonia. But it also connected me with friendly people in the present, and each footpath became a reminder that life is a shared enterprise, and that history is a story written at walking pace.

In 2015 I found my way back to professional life on _Country Walking_. There, as longer-standing readers may know, I championed the great cause of Walk1000Miles.

A thousand. I hoped that the headline figure would attract attention – but I also knew that the manifold benefits of walking would, for those taking part, make it perhaps the least amazing thing. It was all about what happened on the way to the thousand.

The results were more than I dared hope. Ten years; more than 100,000 people doing something many of them thought impossible, and an unstoppable tide of testimonials of lives changed, bodies transformed, doldrums dispelled, horizons enlarged and despairs overcome – confirming that no matter what ails you, walking is the ultimate balm.

Walking 1000 miles in a year equates to just under three miles a day, or about an hour, and that’s a unit of exercise round enough to have been studied extensively. The results – from the University of Sydney; the American Cancer Society; the University of Edinburgh; the Journal of Integrative Medicine; The Stroke Association, the World Cancer Research Fund and many more – are collectively astonishing.

It cuts your risk of all cancers 20–25%, of colon cancer 40–50%; if you’ve already got the commonest forms of cancer it cuts your risk of dying in half.

It’s twice as effective as running at fighting off heart disease; it halves your risk of a coronary in your 50s and 60s and cuts your chance of stroke by a third.

It can reverse 30 years of aerobic capacity decline; repair DNA; prevent muscle wastage and brain shrinkage; boost memory and reasoning; reduce hip fractures by 50%; cut your risk of obesity in half and of developing type 2 diabetes by 60%.

It’s as if your body yearns for precisely the goodness that walking delivers – straining like a plant reaching for the sun. And that’s precisely what it does, because it’s what our bodies have spent 1.9 million circuits of the sun evolving to do better than anything else.

From our long legs to our S-shaped spine; our arched feet and large self-lubricating joints; our locking knees and heel-first gait that’s 53% more efficient than running – we are optimised in a way that makes Formula 1 car design appear a bodge. Becoming good at walking, as a species, has led to every good thing in our lives.

But the hardware is only half the story. Something has to animate the spirit and give it a sense of place and purpose. And here again, walking excels.

A snatched lunchtime stride round the business park can leave you feeling like you’ve been entrusted with a huge happy secret. A planned adventure in the wilds imbues a sense of mission that can nourish you for months. And the more you walk, wherever you walk, the more capacity for plan-hatching, lucky encounter and simple pleasure you discover.

You can’t plan many of the moments in life that will stay with you forever. But you can walk out to meet them, each day renewed by the sun, the rain and the teeming scents on the breeze: the sort of person who knows that wanting what you have in life is far, far more important than having what you want.

Whoever you are, this challenge is for you.

Whether you want to walk for health, happiness or so you can eat more cake; to see new sights, take amazing photos or tone your bum/thighs/tum; to see more of where you live, do some forest bathing or climb a 2000ft mountain; meet new people or make an ex jealous; if you aim to crack 1000 by July or reckon you might barely make it across the line next New Year’s Eve; if you don’t know the top of a map from the bottom and have no idea what a compass is all about; whatever team you support, however short your legs or long your hair; whether you walk with a dog, a buddy, a Significant Other, your mum, your son or nobody in particular, you are welcome here.

Walk1000Miles is for the old, the young, the fit, the frail, the ambitious, the doubtful, the believers, the questioners, the hopeful, the lonely, the thin-as-a-pin and the big-boned, the first-timers, the ten-timers. It’s for all genders and none; all pronouns and identifications; it’s for every tone of skin and every belief.

What unites us? Curiosity and optimism; the dream of seeing more, being more and smiling more. The belief that there’s more to the world than bad news and box sets... and the suspicion (soon to become firm knowledge) that life is better on foot.

**That’s who this is for. And in short, that’s you.**

This challenge doesn’t just give you support and kindness. It gives you the chance to make lifelong friends and, maybe... just maybe... meet the person of your dreams.

When Julie Russell and Andy Traviss first joined Walk1000Miles, they had no idea of the impact it would have on their lives.

Neither knew the other existed. But what started as a simple congratulatory message after Julie completed her 1000 miles in 2020 developed into a real-life fairytale that saw them get married under the iconic arch of Sydney Harbour Bridge in September.

Well, after the initial message, Julie and Andy started chatting and realised they both lived on the Isle of Man and both dreamed of living in Cumbria.

“We couldn’t believe how much we had in common each time we chatted over the following months,” explains Julie.

The two also shared a love of photography, and Andy embraced Julie’s passion for Herdwick sheep, native to Cumbria.

Lockdown prevented them from meeting until April 2021, but then they made up for lost time.

“It was wonderful!” says Julie (now Julie Traviss).

“We had so many shared ambitions around walking. It really is great to find a partner with shared passions and interests. It makes such a difference to your quality of life.”

They visited the Lake District together, their first hill being the much-loved peak of Hay Stacks.

Before long, they had bitten the bullet and fulfilled their dream of moving to the Lakes, and although they have since settled in Lancashire, Lakeland and its gorgeous fells, valleys (and sheep) remain close by.

“We decided to get married in 2024 when on a trip to the Langdale Valley in the Lakes, which we call our spiritual home,” recalls Julie.

They then tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony in Sydney, with the famous bridge and opera house in full view. Even good old _Country Walking_ made an appearance on their special day.

“I am forever grateful for how Walk1000Miles has changed my life, opened up my world and facilitated Andy and I finding each other.”

“Walking has helped us build trust in each other (I would never have managed the Langdale Pikes otherwise!), and has increased our confidence in trying new places and opportunities. It has cemented our relationship as the years have progressed. We have both found our bestest friend ever.”

**_When life deals you a bad hand, you might feel as if you’re down in an inescapable hole. But each of these amazing Walk 1000Milers has overcome appalling hardship with one consistent message – WALKING WORKS!_**

### **‘I’ve lost 8 stone and my diabetes is in remission’**

‘A few years ago I had a serious knee injury and needed cartilage surgery. I did get back to walking afterwards, but the longer distances I loved became harder and over time the weight crept on. By March 2025 things came to a head when a mystery virus left me bed‑ridden for weeks. During treatment I discovered just how much my health had declined – I was over 20 stone, newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and dealing with high blood pressure, reduced kidney function and imbalanced cholesterol. That was the hardest moment, realising how far I’d slipped from the person I used to be. But it also became the point where everything started to change.

‘When I was finally well enough, I began with short, gentle walks. They were small steps, but they helped me turn the corner. As I gradually built distance, each milestone felt significant – that first mile after being ill, the day longer walks stopped feeling daunting again, and the moment my blood glucose and other levels started to improve. Those signs of progress kept me motivated and reminded me that I was heading in the right direction.

‘Now, 12 months on, I feel healthier and more in control than I have in years. I’m eight stone lighter, my diabetes is in remission, and my blood pressure and cholesterol are back in the normal range. But as positive as the physical changes are, the mental shift has been just as important: I feel more confident, hopeful and connected to myself again.

‘Walking has played a huge role in that transformation. It gave me a gentle, sustainable way to rebuild my health and confidence, and Walk1000Miles added structure, motivation and a sense of community that kept me going.

‘It reminded me that progress doesn’t have to be dramatic – it just has to be consistent. Step by step, walking helped me get my life back.’

### **‘Walking a mile became the biggest achievement of my life’**

‘I went down with Long Covid and was housebound for months – I couldn’t even walk to the end of our drive without experiencing post-exertional malaise. I started walking around the house (89 steps) and every two weeks increased it little by little, getting to the apple tree, then halfway down the drive, then to the end of the drive. I had a photo on my vision board of a place I used to walk to regularly, exactly one mile from my house, and it was my goal to get there. The picture shows me when I achieved it in May 2025 – the smile says it all. I still have a long way to go in my recovery, but the goal of one day completing the Walk1000Miles challenge once again is a huge motivation for that recovery.’

### **‘I have a new life now – so Hadrian’s Wall, here I come!’**

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