Hello! We’re Joey and Rob, an English couple who love to adventure and relax in equal measure. We set up the Cool of the Wild in 2016 with the aim of creating a more flexible lifestyle for ourselves as well as bringing inspiration and information about the great outdoors to readers and followers all over the world.
We love spending our spare time outside, adventuring, camping and exploring, and jump at the chance to try new things and visit new places. But we also love staying local and enjoying the wildlife and scenery that we are blessed with in our backyard that is the North Cornwall coast.
We really hope you like our site and that you enjoy perusing the adventure stories, skills, gear reviews, tips and information that we share. Hopefully you’ll come away feeling inspired to get outside and explore more, whether that’s on a far-flung adventure or just making the most of what you can do on your doorstep.
If you share our love for the wild outdoors and would like to be in touch then we’d love to hear from you.
About Joey and Rob
Joey Holmes
@coolofthewild_
Joey is based in Cornwall, UK, and runs Cool of the Wild. She can’t get enough of being outdoors – whether that’s lounging around the campfire cooking up a feast, hitting the trail in her running shoes, or attempting to conquer the waves on her surfboard – she lives for it. Camping is what she loves to do the most, but has also spent many hours clinging to the side of a rock face, cycling about the place, cruising the ski-slopes on her snowboard, and hiking small mountains and big hills.
Rob Whitehouse
hoorayokay.com
Rob is a graphic designer and web developer, based in Cornwall, UK, and is in charge of making Cool of the Wild look fabulous! He loves camping, especially the beer drinking, fire building, and cooking parts, and is deceptively fast at running up hills. When he’s not surfing or throwing a frisbee on the beach, he’ll be drinking tea whilst playing board games.
Gear reviewers
Jono Redwood
@jono_redmond_climbing | Mountain Odyssey
Jono is the founder of Mountain Odyssey, a provider of rock climbing and mountaineering instruction and guided experiences, based in North Wales. With a deep passion for rock climbing and over 12 years of instructing experience, Jono thrives to inspire others to make a positive connection with the natural world and the beautiful landscapes and mountains that he works in.
Ciss Silver
@ciss.outdoors
Crystal (nicknamed Ciss) loves exploring new places and meeting new people through outdoor adventures. When at home in Scotland, she spends most of her time hiking or training for ultra-marathons in her beloved Scottish Highlands. She is an avid boulderer and loves being on open water in her kayak or on her paddleboard. Crystal enjoys sharing her passion for the outdoors with others, currently training to become a Mountain Leader. She’s also not adverse to sport of the indoor variety, being a former Scotland basketball team captain.
Mike Thomas
@mike.thomas.mountain.guide
Mike Thomas works as an IFMGA guide in Chamonix, and loves ski touring and mountaineering in the Alps. Climbing has been his passion since he was young, and the mountains have always been his favourite place to find adventure. After studying in the Lake District, Mike started his journey in climbing and guiding as a mountaineering instructor and worked his way up to becoming an IFMGA guide. He’s climbed and skied all over the world for the last 20 years, from Nepal and India to Norway, North America and across Europe.
Katie Owen
@cockapoofudgeandkatie
Katie Owen lives in North Wales, not too far from Eryri National Park, with her partner and cockapoo (Fudge). They spend as much time outdoors as they can. You can usually find them near water, paddle boarding, open water swimming or hiking the hills surrounding a lake. Their favourite thing to do is watch the sunrise with a morning coffee (and Fudge’s breakfast), either from our tent, a mountain or on a paddle board. Or maybe with a mix of all three!
Janey Whatley
An athlete by nature, Janey can’t help but throw everything she has at whatever pursuit she takes on, including her whole body, more often than not! Having represented GB at Ultimate on many occasions in the last 20 years, she now spends her ‘downtime’ trail running, mountain biking, surfing and exploring the Cornish coast where she lives. She’s also partial to a spot of tennis, is a highly competitive spikeball player and is a rather talented musician.
Owain George
@owainpgeorge
Owain spends the winter months instructing snowboarding in Tignes, France with Motion Snowboarding, and the summer months trail running, hiking, climbing, sea swimming, trying hard to get better at surfing and generally enjoying all things outdoors back at home in Wales. He’s also an active member of the Western Beacons Mountain Rescue team.
Ellie Woodward
@outdooringexploring
Ellie is based in Cornwall, UK, and loves being outside and adventuring from the doorstep or exploring new places further afield. The water is where her passion lies the most, often found in, on or by the sea, creeks, estuaries and beaches swimming, on a surfboard, paddle board or in a canoe. A love of slow-paced human powered outdoor fun away from the hustle is where Ellie feels most comfortable, on foot running or hiking the trails or taking a bike off the beaten track. With seasonal trips into the mountains for some ski time and taking her dads dinghy out for local sailing trips, sitting still is not often a priority!
Claerwen Snell
@claerwens
Claerwen loves the adventure of discovering new places – the more remote and challenging the better! Back at home in the UK, if she isn’t planning her next adventure, you’ll catch her hiking, biking, running or bivvying – but wherever she is in the world you will find her with a smile on her face and a cup of tea in hand!
Contributors
Patrick Dale
Patrick is a freelance writer and author of three fitness and exercise books, dozens of e-books, thousands of articles, and several fitness videos. Ex-Royal Marine Patrick is no armchair fitness expert. He has participated in many sports, including rugby, triathlon, rowing, rock climbing, trampolining, powerlifting, and stand-up paddle boarding. A keen outdoorsman, when not lecturing, training, researching, or writing, Patrick spends as much time as he can enjoying the sunny climate of Cyprus, where he has lived for the last 20-years. He lives by the adage that a bad day spent in nature is always better than a good day at work!
Meghan Carney
theoutdoorminimalist.com
Meg is an outdoor and environmental writer specialising in outdoor industry topics, trends, and gear. She is the author of the upcoming book Outdoor Minimalist: Waste Less Hiking, Camping, and Backpacking and the host of the Outdoor Minimalist Podcast.
Henry Meier
Henry is a writer, teacher and, most importantly of all, an avid climber and lover of the great outdoors. Having lived in York and Sheffield, where he developed a healthy obsession with the gritstone, he’s now based in the south east, but still travels as much as possible to the best climbing venues around the UK.