The 2021 Keswick Mountain Festival (KMF) speaker programme has been unveiled, marking three months until the start of the event.
Presented by Craghoppers and hosted in the Theatre by the Lake on Friday September 10 and Saturday 11, the line-up includes people who were due to appear in 2020, plus some new additions.
Among them will be award-winning outdoor author and TV presenter Cameron McNeish, who will share stories from his most recent book, There’s Always the Hills, and from his long career in the outdoors.
An evening dedicated to the Wainwrights is likely to be popular, too. In recent years, the 214 peaks identified by Alfred Wainwright in his seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells have made many headlines.
Walkers and runners have broken various records and there have been numerous high-profile attempts at completing a continuous round. For many others, the enduring appeal of the Wainwrights is not related to how fast they are ticked off, but is simply about enjoying the experience of following in Alfred Wainwright’s footsteps at whatever pace suits.
Leading ultra-runner Sabrina Verjee is strongly associated with the Wainwrights. She completed a continuous round in under seven days in 2020 and was on course to set a fastest known time for a round earlier this year until the weather and asthma intervened.
Sabrina will talk about her love of running on the fells and her unfinished business with the 214 peaks.
She will be joined by BAFTA winning filmmaker Richard Else, who is the author of Wainwright Revealed, an account of his time working on the classic BBC TV series in the 1980s that featured Alfred Wainwright and Eric Robson. Richard will offer an insight into a man with whom he spent a lot of time on the hill.There will be
Visitors will also have the opportunity to see Terry Abraham’s “Life of a Mountain – Helvellyn” on the big screen. Tickets for the speaker sessions will be available from July.
Another event will be a film, Brave Enough, which follows Jo Moseley’s 162-mile stand up paddleboard (SUP) journey from Liverpool to Goole along the Leeds Liverpool Canal and Aire & Calder Navigation.
A Women in Adventure talk will hear from Frit Sarita Tam, adventure filmmaker and photographer, and Elise Downing, runner, hiker and public speaker, about life in front of – and behind – the camera.
Founded in 2007, Keswick Mountain Festival (KMF) is presented by title partner Land Rover and is now one of the UK’s most popular outdoor festivals, attracting thousands of visitors to Cumbria.
KMF 2021 will provide a mix of live entertainment, sporting events, outdoor adventures, high profile speakers, taster activities, exhibitor stands and camping for all of the family.
Tickets for the KMF speaker line-up will be available at www.keswickmountainfestival.co.uk from July 26. By when organisers will be more confident about the capacity for indoor events.