Lisa Spender, a former Performing Arts teacher from Kent 🇬🇧, is a founding member and regular leader of the Kent Sole Circle. Passionate about maps, walking, and exploring new routes, her time with the circle has inspired a new and unexpectedly exciting career path!
I was a burnt-out lecturer with over 30 years of experience. I loved teaching dance and performing arts, devising and directing plays, and working creatively with superb colleagues and students. But the endless, restrictive, and often pointless bureaucracy was something I could no longer support. After a particularly hard week, I handed in my notice. I had no plan—terrifying, but I simply couldn’t continue.
I spent some time exploring a range of options, yet nothing fired my dopamine-seeking brain. Whenever I felt frustrated, I turned to maps and went out exploring. Over time, I began to realise that the answer lay somewhere in the woods, fields, and beaches I wandered. Years ago, I had seriously considered a career in Dance Notation—essentially creating “dance maps” to preserve and reconstruct professional works—so it felt fitting that maps would become part of my future.
Once I started doing longer walks, everything snowballed: walking and navigating the coastline of South-East England, taking a hill-skills course in the Peak District, joining the Sole Sister Ramblers (SSR), helping to set up the Kent Sole Circle, and then gaining a formal navigation qualification. When I saw an advert for ambassadors for my local long-distance route, the North Downs Way, I applied—encouraged by two new SSR friends (thanks, Caroline and June!). A little voice in my head whispered that this was meant for me.
I knew I needed professional qualifications and more knowledge about starting a business, so I signed up for the Lowland Leader course. It taught me how to plan and lead longer walks (4+ hours) over terrain with hills and valleys, but not peaks, moors, or mountainsides. It was perfect for Kent, where I live. I discovered I had many transferable skills—leading, group management, planning, risk assessment, research, storytelling, health and fitness, public speaking, problem-solving, and thinking on my feet (literally!). But there was plenty of new learning too: topography, rights of access, estimating distances, outdoor first aid (terrifying), escape routes, weather systems (baffling), and search procedures.
I learned the magic of a hot drink on a cold day, and how much faster you fall when carrying a heavy backpack (a lesson learned the hard way). Stile techniques, walking up and downhill, packing effectively, proper snacks, and a technical kit were all new to me. Training even included planning a theoretical walk for feisty cadets, and explaining the countryside code to stroppy, clueless London teens:
“Does anyone know what animal that is? Don’t touch it! Don’t shout at it!”
“Just three yew tree seeds are enough to kill you very rapidly!”
(Should I have told them that… or will it end up as one of those ridiculous TikTok challenges?)
It’s been tough. I’m not a natural business type, and my neurodiverse brain regularly tells me I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. At 56, the idea of being self-employed for the first time is terrifying. I’m navigating social media, SEO, and tax returns. Finding my USP is tricky—I have so many ideas: how neurodiversity intersects with nature; nature and the 18th-century Romantic movement; walks with dancing, singing, art, and poetry; nature and folklore; long-distance trails. Actually… perhaps having lots of random ideas is my USP!
People are often intrigued by my Mary Poppins-like bag. What’s inside? Spares—and more spares! First-aid kit, map, compass, emergency shelter, hi-vis, tourniquet, tick remover, secateurs, spare laces, duct tape, extra power pack, head torch, whistle, and more!
I was advised to “be yourself.” (Really? Surely too off-putting?!) When choosing a business name, my first idea was “Boogie Wanderland.” As a dancer, it felt obvious—however, research showed that people would have to scroll through endless extravagant Earth, Wind & Fire costumes to find me. Likewise, “Ramble On!” was forever linked with Led Zeppelin. After a lot of brainstorming, “Are We There Yet?” began as a throwaway comment, but it made perfect sense. And so, Are We There Yet – Rambling was born!
There’s still so much ahead. I’m looking into further qualifications in teaching navigation, business development courses, roles in route-marking for ultras and mass-participation events, and other freelance opportunities. This is just the beginning. In the wise words of Yoda (as I often quote to my son):
“Do, or do not. There is no try.”
Many, many thanks to the SSR founding team, the wonderful ladies from the Kent Sole Circle, and others from the worldwide group. Your support and interest in my often silly posts, weird and wonderful facts, hats, and cow encounters have buoyed my spirits and given me the confidence to persevere!
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