Phoebe Smith isn’t your average adventurer. Raised in an area of the North Wales coast nicknamed the ‘Costa del Dole’ by the national press, the great outdoors rarely featured in her early life. But fast forward to the present day, and Phoebe is living proof that anyone with drive and determination can live a life filled with adventure.
We talked to the wild camping expert and award-winning author about her life, charity work and why everyone should embrace the outdoors.
Early life and access to adventure
Phoebe grew up just a few miles from Snowdonia National Park. The perfect place for a budding adventurer to discover her passion for the outdoors, you’d think. Not in this case. “I never went,” she says. “I didn’t know anything about wild camping and I didn’t think I was particularly fit or capable of doing it. Having adventures in the outdoors was seen as a boy’s or a man’s thing to do and I was told it wasn’t for me.”
It wasn’t until while saving her money working in a pub, fate and a bit of good fortune allowed Phoebe to travel to Australia and camp in the Red Centre, a deserted area of the outback home to huge mountain ranges and rocky gorges. “All I had with me was a swag, which is basically a roll-up bed, and before I got into bed that night our guide told us all the things we should be on the lookout for because they could kill us,” she recalls. “I had an incredible night. The wildlife came really close, the sunset cast beautiful shadows on the rocks and the stars came out in a way I’d never seen before. The sunrise felt like it was just for me, and I thought how come I am prepared to do this here, but I’ve never thought to do it in the UK?”
Phoebe returned home to North Wales with a newfound sense of adventure. “I decided I was going to become a tourist in my own back yard”.
Inspiring adventure and conservation
Phoebe’s life from that moment onwards has, without sounding too clichéd, been one big adventure. She has slept on the three peaks , walked and wild camped the length of Britain and is the only woman to have camped at all the extreme points ( the points that are furthest north, south, east and west than any other location) in mainland Britain. She is the co-founder of the #WeTwo Foundation, a charity that works with underprivileged young people and takse them on lifechanging expeditions, and is an Ordnance Survey #GetOutside Champion and an official Scouts Adventurer. Phoebe is also an award-winning author, travel writer, presenter and podcaster too.
The 35-year-old is now on a mission to convince others to experience life outdoors, regardless of their background. She hopes that doing so will encourage people to place more emphasis on living sustainably and inspire a greater desire to protect our planet. “The past few years has been about convincing people that anyone could be an adventurer,” she insists. “it’s been proven, the outdoors is good for our mental health and our physical health. The problem is we need people to fall in love with it, so they want to protect it.”
Phoebe believes that the solution lies with the next generation of explorers. “The reason I love working with young people is because they really are the future,” she insists. “They are the ones who are driving the green agenda. They are the ones who are big on sustainability and telling adults how important it is. Educating young people about how to be in the outdoors responsibly is key and that’s something I really think they should start putting on the school curriculum”.
If I could bottle the feeling I get when I’m out there wild camping and sell it, I would definitely be a rich woman.
Encouraging inclusivity outdoors
It’s this belief that led Phoebe to start the #WeTwo Foundation with fellow adventurer, Dwayne Fields. Dwayne is a British explorer of Jamaican descent who grew up in Hackney. He is best known for being the first black Briton to reach the North Pole. Together, Phoebe and Dwayne came up with the idea to take a group of underprivileged children from all over the UK on the trip of a lifetime to Antarctica. “Our whole point was that Antarctica is seen as the place for the privileged few and we wanted to change that,” she insists. “There’s nothing wrong with the classic explorers but we need to change the face of adventure so that all young people realise that they are capable of doing it too – no matter what their background.”
The pair, in an effort to begin fundraising, embarked on an Antarctic adventure in the UK. They walked from the northernmost point of mainland Britain (Dunnet Head in Scotland) to the southernmost point (Lizard point, Cornwall) pulling wheeled sleds and wild camping for the entire 40-day expedition. “By doing that we raised about £40,000 which kickstarted the whole thing”.
In 2022, #WeTwo completed their Antarctica journey with 10 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. The cost of the trip was covered by the Foundation, but the young people had already ‘paid it forward’ with good deeds. Before departing they took part in initiatives in their local areas, including re-wilding projects, running clothing exchange sales where people had to pledge sustainable behaviour to ‘pay’ for items, cleaning rivers, beaches and green spaces as well as creating wildlife-friendly spaces in cities. They also shared their journey on social media, becoming local ambassadors for the environment. Collectively, the entire team planted enough trees, working with Kew Gardens, to ensure that the expedition was carbon negative.
Advice for someone who wants to try wild camping
We asked Phoebe for her top tips when trying wild camping for the first time. “First of all, go with someone you know. You don’t have to go alone!” she recommends. She also suggests doing a recce of the location where you plan to stay during the night and so you understand the area and have an escape route in case the weather turns. Finally, “tell someone where you’re going and make sure you have the right kit to keep warm”. For more advice and a downloadable kit list, read our Guide to Wild Camping for Beginners.
What next for Phoebe?
If you’re inspired by Phoebe’s story and want to follow her on her next adventures, check out her Instagram or visit her website. If you’d like to read or listen to some of her previous work, we’ve picked out a few of our favourites:
