Nicola Byrne

About Nicola Byrne

I commenced Ginger Routes in February 2022.  

Creating 'Ginger Routes' was a life changing decision for me as I chose to step out of full time employment to pursue, full time, my life long passion of walking & hiking, and generally ensuring that I was constantly outdoors and enjoying the environment.   I have never looked back and now wonder why did it take me 30 years of working in the corporate world, in front of computers and laptop's to finally start to value what was around me! 

Moving on by 12 months, I have enjoyed many a day on Duke of Edinburgh Expeditions both leading and assessing, and loving the company of young people and seeing them grown in confidence, learn new skills and bond with their friends or indeed make new friends when they are on expedition.   It's so heart warming and for me, particularly rewarding.  

I lead a variety of LADIES ONLY EVENTS that are voluntary and intentionally not designed to generate an income for Ladies to support their confidence, self esteem, and create a little bit more 'inner toughness' and 'personal resilience'.    The Ladies I lead on these walks come from all backgrounds, each with their own stories and reason for being with me on the hills.  These events are really special to me, so rewarding and I could honestly do this all day long! 

I  also create and lead niche and specialised Guided Walks on the Cumbria Fells to create very special adventures for my clients, generally in small groups to ensure a very personalised walk and experience.   I can ensure we push some boundaries so that the achievements provide great stories to regale to friends and family. 

I 'freelance' guide for a number of larger businesses based in Scotland and the UK that generally see overseas clients coming for a very Scottish or very English adventure. These events are always great fun and can range form high level mountain walking, to watching sheep dogs in training, to beach walking, to sampling the 'cake & coffee' delights of the locality and so on. It can be very diverse & of course always fabulous.  

I teach Navigation on a regular basis and provide Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced skills courses.  I am told that I am 'rather good' at it and my clients leave me having provided tremendously positive feedback.  I put it down to teaching 'nav' to young people; if I can get the learning into a teenager, then I am pretty sure that I can improve all adults understanding of practical navigation in a heart beat!

I invite anyone & everyone to #getoutside.