In this episode, I spoke to Kyle Matthews, also known as 'The Milky Runner', who is running the entire perimeter of the UK. At time of publishing, Kyle has run 3800km with a backpack and tent, from September through to December, at just 19-years-old.

We talked about why he is doing this, what it was like at the beginning, planning (or not) his days, running 50-60km per day, what he eats, and the effect it's had on him as a person.

Kyle finishes his race between Christmas and New Year 2025, and is raising money for Family Action,You can find his fundraiser here.

Thanks for listening.

In this episode, I’m joined by writer and novelist Chris Barkley, author of The Man on the Endless Stair.

We talk about Chris’s journey as a writer — from early manuscripts and rejection, to publication — and use that as a starting point to explore bigger questions: how stories shape our understanding of the world, how trauma influences perception, and why certainty can sometimes be more dangerous than doubt.

Our conversation covered metafiction, journalism, Buddhism, quantum physics, phenomenology, and psychology, touching on ideas like the middle path, synchronicity, and the role of wonder in a meaningful life. We also talk about Chris’s time working in an alternative school, how that experience shaped his writing, and why listening — rather than prescribing answers — matters so much.

This is a wide-ranging, reflective conversation about creativity, humility, and what it means to participate in reality rather than trying to control it.

Resources mentioned:

• The Man on the Endless Stair — Chris Barkley
• If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler — Italo Calvino
• Six Memos for the Next Millennium — Italo Calvino
• On Writing — Stephen King
• Steering the Craft — Ursula K. Le Guin
• Bird by Bird — Anne Lamott
• On Becoming a Person — Carl Rogers
• Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell — Bernardo Kastrup
• Biocentrism — Robert Lanza
• Atom and Archetype — Wolfgang Pauli & Carl Jung

Ronan Foley is a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and coach at Low Tide BJJ in Edinburgh.

Ronan was diagnosed with stage-4 Hodgkins Lymphoma earlier in the year, which stopped him from teaching and practising the sport he loves.

We talked about diagnosis, treatment, and the joy of going into remission.

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Ross