Joseph Fiennes ‘reminded just how beautiful world is’ on Canadian expedition with explorer cousin Sir Ranulph Fiennes

This was just one of many adventures Sir Ranulph, now 80, has been on: He has circumnavigated the globe on its polar axis entirely by surface means, he’s climbed Mount Everest at the age of 65, conquered the Eiger by its notorious North Face, completed seven marathons on seven continents in seven days, and, alongside Mike Stroud, became the first to cross the Antarctic continent unsupported. It’s no wonder he’s been dubbed the greatest living explorer.

While he’s now in his eighties, and battling Parkinson’s disease, Sir Ranulph hasn’t lost his adventurous spirit. So much so, he’s retracing the steps of his Canadian expedition some 50 years on alongside his cousin, the actor Joseph Fiennes, for National Geographic documentary Fiennes: Return to the Wild.

This isn’t the first adventure the pair has been on together – five years ago, Joseph joined Sir Ranulph as he reimagined his daring 1969 expedition up the river Nile.

Fiennes: Return to the Wild not only examines how much has changed in Canada’s ecology in the last 50 years, but also gives the cousins an opportunity to reflect on Sir Ranulph’s past triumphs and challenges, and have candid conversations about male ageing, frailty and love.

“It was lovely for him to reflect on his journey, on his past,” says Joseph Fiennes, 53, Sir Ranulph’s third cousin, once removed and The Handmaid’s Tale actor.

“I think he could recognise a lot has changed,” he adds of the Canadian landscape.

“It’s lovely for him… he has the time without the stress of the military exercise of it all, where he can sit back and just observe…

“I love the reflection. And a lot has changed.”

While the Canadian wilderness is rather different to that which Sir Ranulph traversed in 1971, due to climate change, the explorer who reaches its lands 50 years on is, naturally, very different too.

Sir Ranulph has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease – a condition characterised by tremors, mild memory and thinking problems, pain, and slowness of movement, among other symptoms – and despite its acceleration, Joseph says Sir Ranulph remains determined to make the most of every opportunity. “I mean, it came (as) a bit of a shock,” Joseph says of the diagnosis.

“Between the first diagnosis and now, it’s been quite a tremendous acceleration. I think he’s been really brilliant…

“Ran, he’s an expert on expeditions… organises himself very well, and equips himself very well to deal with it. But it wasn’t easy, the trip – there are certain places and times where the producing arm (of the documentary) wouldn’t really want him to undertake climbing for six hours or getting on a horse… There were certain parts I think where it’s difficult to accept the diagnosis.

“I love that part of him that’s slightly maverick that goes: ‘Sod that, sorry guys, my life, it might be health and safety, but I want to get on a horse’.

“I love him for that.”

Visiting the frozen expanses of Canada gave Joseph pause to consider the impact of climate change, particularly while exploring the Athabasca Glacier, part of the largest icefield in the Rockies.

“It’s melting at a rate of knots. It’s scary,” he says.

“Definitely in 50 years, it’s gone. Maybe in my lifetime it’s gone.

“When you’re standing there, you can’t quite comprehend that – although I could listen to the water and the melting… When it freezes, it doesn’t ever reclaim enough ice that was lost. So it’s really disappearing.”

It was valuable, he adds, “to use this moment to talk about how beautiful Canada and these places are, but also to recognise the fragility and our impact on them”.

“We have to face the facts and be involved in the conversation,” he says.

“So enjoy the beauty, know it’s there, look after it: It is precious, our ecosystem is precious, and we ourselves are precious, and, actually, fragile.

“I see that in Ran – he’s done so much, broken so many records, and yet the fragility will catch up.

“It’s how we navigate those difficult adventures and chapters, and I take deep inspiration from the way he is navigating it.”

Fiennes: Return to the Wild, therefore, is as much a geographical documentary about the great outdoors, the climate, and the communities and cultures that make up our beautifully diverse world as it is about personal histories, connections, and inter-generational learning.

Joseph says that he hopes people watching the documentary take inspiration from the candid conversations he and Sir Ranulph have over the course of their expedition, conversations about ageing, frailty, mental and physical health, and life legacies. And where better to have those conversations, he says, than out in the beautiful natural world.

“If you can go with someone and connect – whether it’s just walking around Kew Gardens, or whether it’s at the pub, or in Canada, or in Egypt – taking these experiences, going with family, talking, being authentic to the place you’re in and the people you’re with through nature, actually, I think can pay real dividends,” he says.

“I’m just reminded just how beautiful our world is, and Canada, none more so,” Joseph adds.

“How lucky we are.”

l Fiennes: Return to the Wild premieres on National Geographic on Sunday, May 26 at 8pm, followed by the second episode on Sunday, June 2 at 8pm.

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