BBC 2’s brand new series Take a Hike begins this month. The series consist of five episodes Monday to Friday each week, with five new participants every week walking across parts of England. Each hiker hosts their own episode where they choose the location, hoping to show the best walks the UK has to offer.
Interviewing Angus
We spoke to 23-year-old Angus, a marketing assistant from Newcastle, who takes part in the second week of the series which sees hikers from the Northeast walking in Northumbria. Angus was contacted through his Instagram account (which shows off his interest in hiking) by the BBC. “I thought it would be fun. It isn’t everyday you get to take part in a BBC programme, is it?”
His love of hiking began at an early age. “My family were always on walks on holiday” he tells us.
“Places like the Lake District and Scotland, where we have relatives. I also go on walks with friends on weekends. It’s just nice to go out and get some fresh air. Especially during lockdown when everything is closed.”
He discusses some of his favourite places to walk such as
“the beach. I love walking along Tynemouth. I’ve been up hear Hadrian’s Wall recently. You can go for nice walks around forests. Like I said we loved to go to the Lake District as kids.”
Harbottle Castle
However, he says his absolute favourite place to hike is Harbottle castle, which is where he chose to take his fellow hikers in the episode he hosted.
“What I enjoyed most was the people. We all gelled together well. The crew were amazing as well. It was great spending time with people who I might not otherwise have met, and we’ve kept in contact.”
Picture Shows: (l-r) Angus, Jasmine, Teresa, Stephanie and Paul – (C) Cardiff Productions – Photographer: Dewi Evans
Angus is also in his own words “fashion mad”.
“I’m really into vintage fashion so all the clothes I buy are from vintage fairs and charity shops”.
Is there a cross over between these two interests?
“Pretty much all the clothes I wore in the series were vintage. I don’t have any run of the mill hiking gear you could buy in a mountain shop or anything like that. It helps you to stand out.”
Angus hopes that the series will encourage others to take up hiking:
“We had so much fun making the programme and hopefully that will come across to the viewers. It’s a great way to explore the local area and as I said before, get some fresh air.”
Photographer: Dewi Evans
Take a Hike is on BBC 2 at 6:30pm Monday to Friday and on iPlayer.
You can watch the episode with Angus on 22 Sept at 6.30pm.
