Testimonials

Read our clients' feedback and testimonials about their outdoor activities, mountain courses, training and adventure holidays:


Sam has always wanted to do a compass and map navigation training course, so for her Christmas present I booked a private course with Iain for 13th/14 April 2019.
I booked a private course because Sam is dyslexic and has dyscalculia so I knew she would require the undivided attention of a guide to make any progress.
We met Iain bang on time outside Wilf’s café and off we went in his vintage Land Rover to the start point in the Kentmere valley. The weather was sunny, chilly and pretty windy.
The first day was spent learning the basics of using a compass and map, orientating the map, relating the map to what could be seen, pacing distance, and learning
to walk on a bearing. First we started on roads which were easy to identify, but quickly moved onto public tracks, and off into the fields where navigation wasn’t so straight forward.
It was obvious that Iain is an expert in navigation but more importantly he was an excellent coach with infinite patience with Sam who struggled with the technical aspects. No
matter how many times she was confused, he was there to coach the solutions out of her all day long. Along with the coaching, Iain has a deep knowledge of the whole area which
he gladly shared with us, including surprisingly finding a frog in a stream.
On the Sunday we moved up onto the hills above the Kentmere valley and into more testing terrain, moving into featureless areas, and increasing our confidence of being able
to navigate off grid but still be sure of our position. Once again his dedication with Sam was fantastic, he was determined that when we finished the course Sam would know where
Kent was and be able to navigate us back to it . The weather was not great, overcast, very cold and windy, but we had a great day which was made even better as Sam really started
to get the hang of the various techniques and was growing in confidence which was a pleasure to see.
Iain, was not only a thorough professional, he was also a very down to earth and pleasant person to spend a weekend with.
I have no hesitation in recommending Iain to anybody who wants to learn navigation, or the other mountaineering skills courses he offers.
If the opportunity arises we will be booking him again.

Michael & Sam


We had a truly fantastic experience with Iain! He was extremely willing to tailor the day to our expectations and abilities, and was very flexible in what he could offer us. He had really high quality equipment, which we found very reassuring. Indeed he was completely safety conscious throughout and we felt he really put our welfare first. Iain came over as a really nice guy, with good conversation and was a pleasure to spend the day with! He was very encouraging and supportive for our first ever outdoor climb. We felt it was great value for money, the booking was very straightforward, and Iain taking and sharing photos with us on Dropbox was a really nice touch. We fully intend to climb with Iain again! Many thanks! Claire and Martin (15th Sept 2019)

Claire Errington


We had a great day with Iain up Wren Gill Scrambling over bank holiday. He provided all the equipment needed for the day from quality boots to wetsuits.
We loved how personalised the afternoon was to us as well.

We’ll definitely be booking another outdoor activity with Iain in the future! 5 stars all round.

Thanks for fantastic experience!

Sarah & Tom Miles


Thanks Iain for a great day learning how to cross a river safely and some navigation / map reading skills. Iain is very knowledgeable and ensured that we were 100% safe at all times. He was very supportive and instructive my 2 sons and we all had a super day out in a beautiful environment. I would highly recommend that you pick an activity on offer and experience something different to challenge yourself with an expert skilled instructor.

Colin M


Attended a ghyll scrambling session in Glenridding Beck, Lake district today with Iain. Myself, mother, father and my daughter aged 7 so varied ages and abilities. Iain was very welcoming and friendly, provided all the nessecary equipment and made sure everyone was safe and aware of the requirements before entering the ghyll. He made sure we were all safe during the session taking extra special care of my daughter throughout making sure she was safe at all times while she was in the water and climbing the rocks. Iain is clearly very knowledgeable of the area and all the activities and it was good to talk with him both during and after the session about his past experiences. I would definately recommend booking with him, we all really enjoyed our session, especially my 7 year old who didn’t want to get out when we had finished, and this will be the first of many that we book with Iain on our annual visits to the Lakes!

natasha moss


Easily the best gorge walking instructor in the Lake District

Iain is a fantastic instructor who offers a more personal service. By catering to much smaller groups, you get to spend less time queuing and more time doing all the fun things available.

We met Iain a short walk from Church Beck near Coniston, all the gear we needed was provided free of charge and within a few minutes we were scaling waterfalls and jumping off rocks.

The first thing to note is that if you're in the Lake District, you must try this activity! For the price and the number of hours of entertainment it's the best thing to do in the lakes.

If you're considering a range of different companies for this activity, then Iain has the best price and the best service. We spent some time comparing prices and found Iain's to be the best value, and he was the only one who promised we wouldn't be with a large group. Having passed several other groups waiting their turn in lines we definitely appreciated being just the two of us.


Aside from this, we found Iain to be charming, safe and knowledgeable.

Thanks for a brilliant afternoon - hope we can come back and do it again soon!

Amy


What a brilliant afternoon. Rainy, windswept, misty at the head of the Longsleddale Valley on Wren Gill. If you're going to be wet, as our boys kept saying, might as well get in fully. In for a penny, in for a pound etc! So in we plunged with Iain - immediately one of our boys got very nervous and nearly pulled out. But Iain then managed the brilliant task of making sure he had a slightly easier route up the ghyll, whilst at the same time allowing and encouraging our elder son to take a more challenging route up almost every rapid and small waterfall. It was done with real care and kindness in quite challenging circumstances. The water was rising - but Iain got the perfect balance of care for safety whilst also allowing a good degree of adventure. Dad got to end up floating in a pool, and we all had a perfect hot chocolate from Iain at the end of the session. Its an afternoon we'll remember for months to come. Thank you Iain so much

James Whiting


On Wednesday 17th April my family enjoyed a well organised 'Canadian Canoeing' experience on Ullswater Lake. I booked the experience for my Dad's 70th birthday as he had always discussed how he wanted to try Canadian Canoeing.
After searching online and reading many reviews from different websites, I can wholeheartedly say that I am so pleased to have booked the experience with Iain through Lakes Outdoor Experience. Every part of the trip was well managed, well organised and well led. Iain showed a wealth of experience and a real passion for his job.
My family were lucky and had beautiful weather on Ullswater Lake. The photographs from the day are breathtaking and show the stunning scenery my family witnessed as they made their way up the Lake and took in the beauty and tranquilness of the area.
Iain was very professional and covered the safety aspects of canoeing, ensuring my family felt confident and secure at every point of their experience. Iain was also very friendly and approachable and made every attempt to 'get to know' my family and showed a genuine interest in their likes on the day.
Ian took many fantastic pictures throughout the day which will be a permanent reminder of how much my family enjoyed the Canadian Canoeing experience.

Thank you on behalf of my family!

Marie Owen


Me and my wife went and climbed Scafell Pike on the 12 January my wife (Hayley) booked it for my birthday as she knows I have always wanted to climb Scafell, she booked the Scafell Hotel in Borrowdale for the weekend which I would give 5 stars ! The food was to die for and a lovely log fire.
Now on the climbing,, Iain met us dead on time at our hotel and we went in his car and parked closer to the route, well ,, what can I say about the weather, it rained non stop all day and they said on the weather report to expect 50-70mph winds, well it didn’t disappoint!! The picture of me (Sean) and my wife at the top of Scarfell Pike doesn’t do I it justice, we had trouble to stand up at the top of Scafell Pike, it was that windy and cold !!
On a very serious note the Lake District can be a very dangerous place if the weather turns nasty and you don’t no where you are going and not got the right clothes on , as Iain said in his post we met people still going up that didn’t have the right clothes on and with the light fading as it was past 3pm I worried if they were ok,( it was at least -8 to -10 at the top and the wind chill at the top just froze you ) we stopped for only 5 mins for a quick cuppa then got moving, many,many thanks to Iain !!
He showed us where to go and told us all the names and history of all the hills, paths ex that we went and also took pictures of us on our walk !
To get back to our hotel and get in a super hot bath and a 3 course meal next to a log fire after having such a challenging day was great and I would do it again in a heartbeat! Us humans have to challenge ourselves don’t we !! If you don’t life would be boring!!

Sean Glover


Booked a half day introductory rock-climbing session with Iain for my 12-year-old daughter. We were lucky and had beautiful weather in the Langdale valley. The crag Iain chose had an excellent mixture of routes of varying difficulty. Iain was very professional and covered the safety aspects of climbing whilst preparing for the climb. He got my daughter climbing as quickly as possible without much waiting around. Throughout the session he was very encouraging and pushed her to achieve more than she otherwise would have. We had a great day and will probably have another session in the spring

Paul Kelly


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Iain GallagherLakes Outdoor Experience is run by Iain Gallagher. Iain was born and brought up in The Lake District by parents who were very keen on the outdoors.

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