with Kendal Mountain Festival. Departure, therapy mountains, and music for crossing Iceland.

First broadcast 3 December 2022

In this special episode, unfinishing went on the road to ⁠Kendal Mountain Festival⁠ 2022. I interviewed a lovely bunch of contributors and visitors to the festival about projects they haven’t finished. I’ve collected some of the interviews together to give you a flavour of the festival and of the extraordinary people who attend.

The first interview you’ll hear is with ⁠Steve Scott, who’s director of Kendal Mountain Festival⁠. As well as telling me about the history and future of the festival, it turns out Steve has his own unfinished project – he has some really thoughtful ideas for a film on the theme of departure.

I speak to ⁠Jenny Tough, who’s an author and filmmaker who travels solo across mountain ranges around the world⁠. We talk about procrastination, about the difficulties of recovering mentally after finishing an enormous expedition, and the process of combining travelling with writing.

I also talk to ⁠Charlie Smith, who’s become an expert in cold-weather expeditions⁠, because he’s been attempting to cross Iceland for the last eight years (in the middle of winter, from North to south). The idea was originally born at Kendal many years ago, and Charlie tells me about how making the attempts have become woven into his life and self-development.

My other interviewees are:

⁠Siobhan Daniels, author of Retirement Rebel⁠, who has an inspiring message about encouraging women to not be afraid of aging.

⁠Andy Dodd⁠, from the fabulous charity ⁠Climbers Against Cancer⁠.

Amy Hogg, a climbing instructor whose ADHD means she doesn’t always finish things immediately, but who’s able to transfer her determination to finish to those she climbs with.

Coline Payne, who was inspired by Mike Carter's One Man and His Bike to cycle all the way around the coast of the UK.