Television’s favourite Bushcraft expert, Ray Mears, has done everything from survive a helicopter crash to hunting down a serial killer. About to set out on his new tour Ray speaks to Heather Arnold about danger, technology and the world’s wilderness.
“In Britain we always talk about being the best in some way,” states Ray Mears. “We’ve got to go to the highest, or we’ve got to be the fastest, or go to the coldest. It seems like a really odd way of looking at wild places. It’s not my view. It’s my view that the journey is more important than the destination.”
Already with a CV that reads like a list several pages long Ray Mears has just added another project to his catalogue of achievements. His tour An Evening With Ray Mears: The Outdoor Life finds its way to the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay this month, and promises to provide plenty of advice, thoughts and stories about the world’s wilderness – all through the eyes of Mears.
“I’ll speak to people about wild places. Why I go to them. What they mean to me,” Mears explains. “Very often people say to me ‘I’d like to go there, but…’ I think people sort of talk themselves out of it.”
Though a large part of Mears’ show is focussed upon how wondrous and awe-inspiring the wilderness can be, he will also getting serious about safety. “There seems to be a lot of people in their late 20s who now go after the woodlore life, and some of them are getting into trouble. They’re not doing basic things.”
Having taught wilderness and bushcraft skills since 1983, Mears is aware of what skills people need to equip themselves with before attempting a venture into the wilderness.
“It’s just the law of nature. You’re not born with the knowledge of how. You have to learn,” he explains. “And as you grow older your journeys get older and more adventurous, and you may find yourself in the Brecon Beacons, or the Black Mountains. And then maybe you’re in the Alps.
“I’ve just come back from a two-week trip in one of the most beautiful parts of Ontario,” he continues; “One day one of the clients was actually in tears, they were so moved by the beauty of their surroundings. How can you quantify what you teach when you’re responsible for experiences like that?”
In addition to running courses, working on TV shows and writing his autobiography Ray also played a significant role in hunting down gunman Raoul Moat in Northumbria back in 2010.
“It was so surreal. The whole thing was very weird. An unfolding tragedy,” recalls Mears, “but I have spent my whole life doing these things. And I do know how to do them all. I had the right skill and it was needed at the time. And it was my duty to make it available really. I’m a tracker, it’s what I do. Woods are my environment. He’d slipped into my world.
“Before I went up there I saw the TV news, but they don’t tell you all the information. And then you walk into a police campaign and step over a massive pile of machine guns… it was a war zone.”
Though an icon of all that is outdoors, Mears’s feet are firmly on the ground. “I’m not sentimental about nature,” he states; “that’s not to say I’m not moved by nature. I am on a daily basis. But I try to see things in their true perspective.”
“I’m not in any way disconnected with the technology of today,” continues Mears. “I am excited as the next person about the thought of 3D printing. But I have to tell you I haven’t also lost my wonder for natural things. Yes the GPS is amazing, but isn’t the compass great? Every time I see a compass needle swing, I’m bewildered by it. It’s bewitching.”
Just about to set off on his UK tour, Mears implores any Scouts, Cadets, Girl Guides or Brownies attending to come in their uniform: “It’s lovely to see you wearing them with pride.”
An Evening With Ray Mears: The Outdoor Life, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Sun 20 Oct. Tickets: £22.50-£25. Info: 029 2063 6464 / www.wmc.org.uk