Wild women: the rise of all-female outdoor activity groups

On international women’s day, we celebrate the grassroots groups giving women the confidence to enjoy the great outdoors

It was a little after midnight when I heard footsteps approaching my bivvy bag. Normally when wild camping, a sound like this would cause me to sink further into my sleeping bag, hoping I wouldn’t be seen. Yet that night, sleeping on a hillside on the western escarpment of the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire, there was no need – or indeed chance – to remain hidden. I was surrounded by six other women in bivvies, giving a whole new meaning to the phrase “girl’s night out”.

As an adventurer and ardent solo wild camper, I have for more than 15 years been voluntarily plunging myself into the wilderness – in the UK and overseas – alone. I have never needed company on adventures. I’m not afraid of the dark, or worried about going for a pee in the middle of the night. Sleeping out solo doesn’t scare me. But wild camping in a group – especially a group of other women – terrified me.