Celebrating a year of adventures with Connect Outdoors 2025

Connect Outdoors 2025 empowered communities through sustainable, educational outdoor activity, inspiring them to have long-term and meaningful engagement with nature.

We launched the educational hiking programme in 2024 in partnership with Tiso and Mhor Outdoor, with the aim of introducing people from under-represented communities to the Scottish outdoors.

Connect Outdoors 2025 introduced five new partners, all aiming to enrich their communities with outdoor experiences over a period of eight weeks.

Earlier this year, we shared the experiences of two Glasgow and Aberdeen based refugee charities, Community InfoSource and YAHYAs Hub.

Three more groups have now completed their sessions, marking the end of the Connect Outdoors programme for 2025.

Participants from Simon Community, a charity dedicated to helping the homeless or those at risk of losing their home, had varying levels of experience with nature. Their passion, commitment and enthusiasm during their sessions led them to foster some significant and lasting relationships with the outdoors, going up Arthurs Seat and climbing North Berwick Law and putting their newly learned outdoor skills into action.

Another group that thrived in the outdoors was Edinburgh-based UpMo, a charity focused on supporting those with learning disabilities and autism. UpMo completed their programme last month, walking parts of the John Muir Way and finishing their sessions with a fully participant led hike.

Both routes and timings were planned by the participants, who decided to walk part of the John Muir Way from Dunbar to Belhaven.

Bringing the 2025 programme to a close were the Dundee-based Sole Sisters, an outdoor adventure group for Scottish Muslim girls and women. Drawing from both their previous outdoor experience and workshops with Connect Outdoors, the group put their skills into action amid fog, sun, and steep climbs, combining learning sessions with hands-on experience.

The impact of these outdoors sessions can be seen most clearly through the personal stories of those who took part. The parent of one UpMo participant shared some feedback about their son Adam:

"We have a special reason for appreciating Connect Outdoors. When Adam was two years old we were told he might never walk. Adam’s mobility improved throughout his childhood, and during the pandemic he discovered a love of hiking. We found that he is easily capable of walking for six hours or more.

"Connect Outdoors has been a perfect opportunity for him to build on his love of long walks. He has had a chance to explore new parts of the country side, develop his understanding of equipment and - best of all - enjoy being part of a group.

"It has been great to see everyone gathering at the minibus in the morning and Adam seems to have gained maturity through the team work and shared adventure."

We'd like to thank all groups and participants in Connect Outdoors 2025, and look forward to helping communities thrive in nature in the future. 

• Next week, we will join our fellow Connect Outdoors partners and participants at the Connect Outdoors Summit in Perth. If you'd like to join us for conversation about how to make Scotland’s wild places welcoming for everyone, you can get your free ticket here!