In Conversation With Charlie Walker
3 December 2024
We caught up with one of the most popular adventure speakers, Charlie Walker, to find out more about his adventures and how he inspires through his speaker engagements at events.
What first inspired you to become an ‘adventurer’?
If I had to boil it down to a single word, it would be “curiosity”. I was itching to get out into the world from a relatively early age, and this was probably fuelled by growing up in a sleepy rural village. After first setting out with a backpack as a student, my first love became travel, and the opportunity it afforded to learn about the wider world. But I soon discovered that journeys were more fulfilling for me when undertaken by physically challenging means. Pushing my limits and probing the depths of my character during the hard times is extremely enriching… and so my adventures morphed into “expeditions” by foot, kayak, ski, horse, dugout canoe or bicycle.
What is your favourite place you’ve travelled to?
A really tricky question and I could give numerous different answers, but it’s probably Mongolia. It’s a vast, sparsely-populated country with a wonderfully intact nomadic culture. There is just about every terrain imaginable – mountains, desert, grassland, forest – and the whole country is common land. There are no fences anywhere so you can really just roam with total freedom. I bought a horse and spent three months crossing the steppe. It’s hard to imagine a country more ripe for an adventure. However, the nomads largely live off tough mutton and mare’s milk so don’t expect good or varied food!
What topics do you cover for corporate speaker engagements?
I have covered a long list of themes over the years and pride myself on always tailoring my keynotes to the client’s specific requirements. I’m often asked to focus on channelling-ambition, goal-setting and pushing one’s limits. Resilience, perseverance, teamwork and “how to fail well” are also particularly popular topics.
What are guests most surprised or inspired by?
Many guests are surprised to learn that I’m physically a very average individual and that completing long, arduous expeditions requires significantly more mental strength than physical strength. Being a muscular physical specimen won’t make camping night-afternight in -50°C any easier!
Tell us one of your favourite stories…
I once got lost in a winter blizzard on the Tibetan Plateau with temperatures deep into the minus thirties. Within an hour the wind was too serious to try pitching my tent – I’d lost nearly all sensation in my hands and feet, and I was convinced I was going to die. But I forced myself to keep moving and after what felt like an eternity, I miraculously stumbled across a lonely shepherd’s hut. When I burst in with my wild eyes and big, icy beard, I terrified the shepherd’s children who took me for a yeti.
What was the best event or venue you have had an engagement at?
I once spoke surrounded by Renaissance masterpieces at a private event in the National Gallery, but speaking to guests at an exclusive hotel in the Maldives was pretty great too!
Favourite question you have been asked by an audience member?
I once gave a talk at a London school where there was a very wide range of ages. Teenagers at the back and tiny kids sitting cross-legged on the floor at the front. When I began the Q&A, almost every hand shot up and I got around as many as I could in the ten minutes we had. The last question was from a four-year-old girl at the front who had patiently held her hand up since the start. But she’d been waiting for so long that she’d forgotten her question. She froze, then thought for a few seconds before finally speaking. “Ummm, what’s your mummy’s name?”
Favourite food you’ve had on your travels?
I’ve spent over a year living and travelling in China and the country has at least a dozen distinct cuisines, originating from different regions. I remember crossing the border into China after a long three months of Mongolia’s heavy, bland diet of meat and dairy. The simple plate of noodles and fried fresh vegetables that I was served at a roadside stall at the border post was the best and most flavourful of my life.
Top three lessons corporate clients can learn from listening to your adventures?
- The importance of being willing to fail before succeeding.
- How to break ground on the big projects that matter most to you.
- The intrinsic value of doing difficult things
The most scared you’ve felt on an adventure?
The most viscerally terrified I’ve ever been was when I was flipped upside down and wedged underwater among some tree roots for almost a minute when kayaking in white water in Papua New Guinea. I was alone and came within a few seconds of drowning. However, the most sustained fear I’ve experienced was when I was imprisoned in Siberia on false charges of photographing restricted military sites up in the Arctic Circle shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine. I was behind bars for a month with no idea of when I’d be released, or if I would be released at all.
The adventure you are most proud of?
My first big adventure was also my longest and changed my life in countless ways. When I was twenty two I set off on a cheap bicycle and spent over four years cycling tens of thousands of miles to the furthest points in Europe, Asia and Africa. I pedalled through sixty countries and finally returned with the self-confidence to take on even more ambitious challenges.
Best animal you’ve seen in the wild?
A large crocodile diving under my inflatable kayak in Papua New Guinea gave me a bit of a fright. And the hippo that trundled between me and my friend’s tents one night in the Congo was pretty special.
How did you deal with or prevent loneliness while travelling on your own?
It took me a few years to become truly comfortable in my own company and it’s definitely not a very natural state-of-being for humans. However, over time I’ve come to understand that loneliness and solitude are two sides of the same coin. The poet May Sarton once said that “loneliness is the poverty of self and solitude is the richness of self.” It’s all about perspective.
Want to book Charlie Walker for your next event?
If you loved Charlie’s stories, then invite him to speak at your next event via entertains@aokevents.com. Enquire now.