From Limpsfield Common to Everest with David Sullivan

Clare explores a circular route in the woodland of Limpsfield Common near Oxted in Surrey. With her is David Sullivan who recalls a recent adventure when he hiked 19,000 feet up Mount Everest to deliver a defibrillator to a Nepali village. David taught the villagers how to use it, and shortly afterwards received a phone call from Passan, one of his guides, telling him the life of a young French climber had been saved by its use.

David’s motivation was losing four friends to sudden cardiac arrest, and the subsequent experience of helping to save the life of another man who had collapsed on a local golf course. This led him away from his longstanding career in traditional roofing. He became obsessed with learning all he could about CPR and defibrillators, and now runs a business that involves training others and trying to improve the technology of defibrillator boxes.

Clare and David began their walk at What3Words: search.fields.lovely Part of their route was on The Greensand Way, a 108 mile long distance trail that starts in Haslemere, Surrey and ends in Hamstreet, Kent. It’s named after sandstone rock which contains the green mineral, glauconite, also known as green sand.

Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer: Karen Gregor