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- Written by: Active Traveller Staff
Go to these adventure festivals
Love Trails Croatia – 30 Sept-5 Oct 2025, Croatia
This brand new outdoor and music festival on the Adriatic is the brainchild of the folks behind the original Love Trails festival that takes place in South Wales each year. Love Trails Croatia is the same kinda vibe—a multi-day festival based on the beautiful island of Krk, combining epic trail running, hiking and wild swimming, with intimate DJ sets, pop-up boat parties and wellness experiences. Sounds like the perfect late summer escape? We tend to agree….
Alpkit Big Shakeout – 26-28 September, Derbyshire
The Alpkit Big Shakeout Festival is an annual non-profit event held at Thornbridge Outdoors in the Peak District—near the HQ of Alpkit, the brand behind it. The festival offers a weekend packed with outdoor activities, live music, inspiring talks, and adventure films, bringing together enthusiasts of all ages to celebrate and engage in the outdoors—and then kick back over a few cold ones in the evening.
Armchair Adventure Festival - 24-27 July, Cornwall
Dreamt up during the 2020 lockdown, the Armchair Adventure Festival festival has rapidly evolved one of the best adventure-themed gatherings in the UK. Held at Cornwall’s Mount Edgcumbe Country Park, the festival features adventurous activities—including kayaking, sailing and paddleboarding—skills sessions including foraging, navigation and shelter building—and a whole host of inspiring speakers, including Chris Lewis, Jacki Hill-Murphy and AT contributor Damien Gabet. In the evenings, there’s a packed line up of live music.
Try these new endurance challenges
The Transcontinental Race - Starts July 27th, Europe
While the Transcontinental Race is not new, Lost Dot, the organisers are having a big new push to get more women involved this year. It’s part of their wider goal to break participation barriers in ultra-distance cycling events across the board. The aim is to have 100 women on the start line of this epic 4,000km journey across Europe. Sounds like a lot of fun for those brave enough to sign up for the lpng haul.
The Rat Race 100 - July 19th - 21st, East Lothian
Dubbed a ‘touring ultramarathon’, The Rat Race 100 is designed for those who’ve always wanted to complete a 100-miler but have been put off by hardcore cut-offs and the intimidating vibe that tends to accompany those kinds of events. With no qualifying times or barriers to entry, the 48 hour event runs from Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland to Edinburgh Castle, taking runners across the Lammermuir Hills. We’ve run the math and reckon it can be completed at just 4km/h—if needs be.
Watch these outdoor / adventure films
The Last Keeper (One Studio Digital, 2024)
The Last Keeper is an utterly compelling documentary that examines Scotland’s long running land management conflicts. The film focuses on the challenges faced by traditional gamekeepers and rural communities amid rewilding initiatives and land reforms. Featuring a range of diverse perspectives, it aims to offer a well balanced exploration of the many, growing controversies around the issue.
Stream on Amazon Prime
Adra (Pertex Presents, 2025)
Meaning “home” in Welsh, Adra is an affectionate portrait of Llanberis, and one of the most dynamic climbing scenes in the UK. It looks at why this corner of North Wales attracted generations of brilliant (and often, brilliantly eccentric) climbers—and how they’ve pushed the sport. Directed by Emma Crone and Menna Wakeford, the film recently took one of the top prizes at the 75th annual Trento Film Festival—the oldest mountain film festival in the world.
Stream on Youtube
Sizzle: Dan Milner’s Mallorcan MTB Odyssey (Shimano 2025)
Hop on board with adventure photographer Dan Milner (interviewed on p.32) as he revisits Mallorca, retracing the 1994 mountain biking journey that launched his career. With a self-deprecating voiceover by Milner himself, the film takes look at how both mountain biking and life have changed over the three decades since his last visit. It blends Dan’s signature dry wit with a dash of nostalgia, celebrating Mallorca, its trails, and the endless entertainment you can have with a bike and a bit of imagination.
Stream on YouTube
Read these travel & adventure books
Life on the Road: Around the World on Four Wheels, Leander Nardin & Maria Zehentner, 2025
Written by AT contributors Leander Nardin and Maria Zehentner, this inspirational coffee-table book follows their family’s extraordinary seven-year circumnavigation of the globe. They travelled overland in a converted truck through some of the world’s most breathtaking regions—from Europe and the Middle East to Central Asia, Indonesia, Australia, and North America. Blending tales of discovery with unforgettable imagery, it’s a celebration of slow travel and the winding paths that connect us.
The Search: The Life of a Mountain Rescue Search Dog Team, Paul Besley, 2024
This beautifully written and brutally honest autobiography charts Paul Besley’s transformative journey from Yorkshire steelworker to Mountain Rescue team member, following a life-threatening accident in the Lakes. Besley’s story offers fascinating insights into the work of the UK’s Mountain Rescue teams, all of which are staffed entirely by skilled, brave volunteers. Besley’s book also celebrates the deep bond between handlers and dogs—and the life and work of his faithful border collie, Scout, in particular.
Shamanism: The Timeless Religion, Manvir Singh, 2025
The history of travellers engaging with traditional religious practises and “finding themselves” in the process is long and ignominious. In this fascinating book, Manvir Singh, an assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Davis, and a regular contributor to the New Yorker delves into the myths around shamanism. He details how “traditional” ayahuasca ceremonies are anything but, how the term “magic mushrooms” was popularized in the 1950s by a PR man from JP Morgan, and how misconceptions about indigenous religions have often obscured their real-world usefulness. It’s not strictly a travel book, but there’s plenty of travel involved, and a cast of (sometimes literally) colourful characters. Deeply researched, eminently readable, and endlessly fascinating.
