What Sort Of 'Improved Access'...?

We joined Claire Wood, who is from Manchester, and Clare Birnie, from Bradford, on a sunny autumn walk around Swinsty Reservoir near Harrogate to learn more about their plus-size outdoor experiences. The women are part of the Yorkshire branch of Every Body Outdoors - a group dedicated to improving access to the great outdoors for plus-size people.

It's the wide outdoors, what more do these landwhales need?

"There is no competitive element, we're not racing (Ed: *stifles comment*), we've got no target," Ms Wood said. "It's literally just because outdoor spaces are traditionally not welcoming for those of us in bigger bodies." 

In what way? Well, by just being there, it seems.

She said she had never tried to join a "traditional" walking group because she assumed she would slow everybody down and was worried that she would need to stop for a rest while the rest of the group carried on without her.

Ms Birnie, 40, who described herself as a "comfortably fat woman", recalled a time when she tried to join a walking group. She said: "I'm actually quite an experienced walker with my husband, we've been going out for 15 years, but I wanted to go on a group hike.

"I contacted the organiser and said, 'By the way I'm in a bigger body, I am capable and happy walking a distance and I can absolutely achieve what we're looking to do, but I just will be slower'."

"It felt like they didn't even look at what I'd written," she said angrily when referring to a walk she went on with the group. "Within the first 200m they had just bounded off with the rest of the group and it made me feel very unwelcome.

"It made me feel very excluded and I got very upset during the day."

FFS, she actually thought everyone else should slow down so she could keep up with them. How utterly narcissistic! 

It also campaigns for clothing, gear and representation for plus-size bodies in the outdoor movement. Ms Wood said there was a lack of outdoor clothing available for plus-size people. "We have money to spend, there's money to be made, we want to buy these things, we need these things," she added.

Well, if manufacturers aren't making them because there's not enough demand, have you thought of starting your own business? 

Rebecca Dawson, one of the founders of Every Body Outdoors, set up the clothing company Vampire Outdoors in 2022 because she was so fed up with not being able to find suitable outdoor clothing that fitted plus-size people. She has been a keen hiker for more than 10 years and said: "It's 100% a problem. There is a size bias to people doing outdoor activities.

"A lot of clothing manufacturers and retailers don't recognise that people in bigger bodies want to do outdoor activities, including the more adventurous things like long-distance hiking and mountaineering."

See? That's how it's done, ladies.