Before becoming an expedition leader, motivational speaker and TV presenter, Ken Hames, 49, was an officer with the Parachute Regiment, the SAS and the Royal Marines.

He first met Julie McElroy, 22, a Glaswegian IT graduate, in February last year, when she attended a training weekend for the TV series Beyond Boundaries, in which Julie and nine others of mixed physical abilities trekked across the Andes.

Julie works with the BBC and last month she and Ken climbed Ben Nevis together as part of a Capability Scotland challenge.

Ken

I saw everyone who got through to the interview process for Beyond Boundaries. I need to be involved at that level because I’m creating a team of people I want to succeed.

Travelling 400km on foot, climbing a volcano, wading through mud, pushing a wheelchair and testing their physical and mental limits — it’s not for everyone.

My first impression of Julie was that here was someone who was saddled with a number of disabilities. Not just cerebral palsy, but also partial deafness and mobility problems. But she was clearly coping well.

She has a brain as big as a planet and she is an articulate and well-read person. I knew that she would inspire a lot of people, both with disabilities and without. So I loved her from day one. Sometimes it’s a gut feeling, isn’t it? It’s not objective, it’s just a sense that someone’s going to be a friend and a good team player.

As an expedition leader looking after people who, rightly or wrongly, you perceive as being more vulnerable than normal, it does make you concerned about your duty of care and health and safety matters. But Julie and the others alleviated a lot of those fears, pointing out that anyone could get sick or injured on any trip.

Julie got her opportunity to speak up when there was moaning about people going either too fast or too slow, and we had ground to a halt. I knew that she would say the right thing, and she did, pointing out that everyone would be back home in a few weeks and they would be furious that they had wasted their time whingeing. It galvanised everybody, reminding them what the mission was all about.

Julie is a natural leader. Scotland seems to be a great place for creating pioneering, strong women. We’re mates for life, definitely.

Looking back at what she put up with on the trip, I did wonder on many occasions whether she would make it. She must have fallen over a thousand times. But she never complained. Maybe she’d say, “I’m tired, I need a rest,” but that was all.

One of the guys on the trip said: “We need to learn from Julie.” He was right. We all have a lot we can learn from Julie’s sheer stubborn determination to get on and get the job done.

Julie

I’ve never asked Ken why I was picked for the expedition, so I’m really interested to find out why me and not the others. I couldn't believe that he was there during the interview process. I thought he would just turn up at the end because he was the guy from TV. I’d seen the first two series of Beyond Boundaries and had been in awe of Ken and the others. The stamina and the commitment they showed was amazing.

He was approachable, but I was also aware that he was assessing people’s abilities. He knew I was from Scotland and he took the mickey out of the fact that I had climbed Ben Lomond. He was personal, but in a friendly way and seemed keen to find out more about me.

I think I was a bit interesting because I’m deaf as well as having cerebral palsy. The fact that I have a twin sister who is able-bodied was also probably good for the producers. But at the same time they were concerned that I would be in pain from so much walking. They were right, it was agonising for me, but I kept going.

Ken’s had a different upbringing from me. There’s a mental and emotional endurance that comes from 37 years in the army and from being at war. I’ve got a disability, but I’ve never stopped and said, “I can’t do that” — I’d never get anything done if I did. So I think there is a certain similarity there. We’re both interested in how to lead, how to motivate people.

By the time we got to Ecuador, Ken had grown a beard, which made things difficult for us lip-readers when it got dark, because he would hold a torch under his chin and all we could see was his beard. The three deaf people asked him to shave it off to increase communication and he was initially sceptical until I pointed out that it would make him look younger. Then suddenly he was okay with it.

Ken knows exactly what to say to motivate a person. He’s a big, muscular guy who was nevertheless sensitive to everything that affected his team.

When he suggested I climb Ben Nevis, I did, even though I had to do it on my hands and knees. He’s one of my best friends now, the guy I’ll look to for inspiration. I’ll say yes to whatever challenge he suggests next.

www.beyondboundarieslive.co.uk

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