ANDREW WANG

Fell runner, community organiser & campaigner

A place for bold views or interviews, outdoor arts and culture or the latest in access or environmental stories, this column is a newsroom, forum and soapbox (though perhaps not all at the same time!) for the outdoor community. Whatever our differing points of view, we’re all united by our love for the great outdoors. This time, it's over to...

Andrew Wang grew up running in the hills of the Lakes and the Peak District. Since founding the grassroots organisation ESEA Outdoors UK, he has been vocal on the topics of diversity, access to the outdoors and nature connection – and the crucial links that exist between them

ANDREW WANG’S earliest memories of the outdoors involve learning on the go. His parents emigrated to the UK from China a few years before he was born: “and for some reason,” he says, “my dad decided that walking was the thing they were going to do. The problem was, they really had no idea…”

Most weekends, the family would pile into the car and drive from their home in Manchester to the Lake District, Peak District or North Wales. Part of the adventure, Andrew remembers, was figuring things out as they went along. “We had to learn it all for ourselves,” he says. “Like: why do you need waterproofs? Because once, we almost got hypothermia. Why do you need a tent without holes? Because we woke up one morning with red faces from the midges.”