Anne, climber and Ruth, stunt woman

In 2013 Anne Arran and Ruth Jenkins conspired to create some escape treks, mainly in the French and Spanish Pyrenees following routes of escapees on The Freedom Trail or Chemin de la Liberté.

We were moved by the challenges faced by the escapees and, in 2014 Freedom trail Treks came to be. Anne swapped a former life as a professional climber and set about creating easily accessible treks offering “lifetime achievement” value.

We had come from a background on the British climbing team so this sort of problem came naturally.

Ruth went on to be a stunt woman and Anne has since broadened their idea to include escape treks in other locations and also iconic peaks.

We really wanted and were inspired by the concept of people raising money and the walking being for a purpose with a tangible benefit, not just a walk.

This move into travel was also inspired by a desire to overcome the loss of exploratory expedition time with the arrival of daughter Amelie. In my 30’s I had loved travelling to over 40 countries in the world to expedition climb, though sometimes it was uncomfortable and tough. Exploring remote parts of Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Jordan, the Himalayas and Mongolia to make new ascents meant going on a real journey each time, often being away for 3 to 6 weeks, and even evading capture. I missed it!