Julie Smyth

If I had to choose three key words to describe what I like most about the great outdoors they would be "weather", "landscape" and "texture". Most of the trips I have been on have been in the hills or by the coast and will have entailed cycling, walking or sailing. There's nothing more pleasing than to reach a mountain summit in great visibility and marvel at the landscape spread out beneath and beyond. Ben More on Mull was my most memorable climb, because from the summit we could see most of the Outer Hebrides and Northern Ireland. Being half Scottish and half Northern Irish I am lured to both places frequently. A challenge gives an added dimension to a trip and in recent years I have done the Moonwalk, C2C by bike, the West Highland Way and part of the Cape Wrath Trail. The more remote the better.