Veteran and double amputee Rick Clement turns to YouTube to open up countryside to wheelchair users

Sgt Rick Clement has been on the cover of Big Issue twice. The first time, an award-winning cover photo taken by rock legend and new Big Issue Ambassador Bryan Adams showed the former infantry platoon soldier in full military regalia for Remembrance Day 2014. The second, a year on, had the dramatic coverline: ‘He lost his legs. He died twice. Now he’s ready to walk,’ accompanying a picture of him testing out some revolutionary prosthetic legs. 

Clement used them to walk to lay a wreath in tribute to fallen colleagues at Blackpool Cenotaph, following five years of rehabilitation. After being hit by an IED he was resuscitated twice then flown home from Afghanistan in 2010, with the expectation that he would be able to die with his family at his side, if he survived the journey. 

Clement is a survivor. A true fighter. When he calls Big Issue in August 2026, he’s just returned from a few days in the Lake District. His trip was partly for the pleasure of being out in nature, but also to record films for his new YouTube channel, Wheels in the Wild, which aims to provide information and inspiration for wheelchair users on the accessibility of the UK countryside.

“In the military, especially in the infantry, we spent a lot of time on exercises outdoors,” says Clement. 

“After being injured, I lost that for a while as I just spent time on recovery and regaining my independence. But once I started to get back to normal, to an extent, I wanted to do the things that I used to enjoy, and the outdoors was one of them. “It started with little walks with my dog, then a bit of outdoor swimming. I wanted to spend more and more time out there and get involved with wild camping, exploring mountains and hills.”

While there are many YouTubers showing the delights and challenges of wild camping and mountain climbing, there remains a lack of information on accessibility. Clement cites the website Miles Without Stiles as a useful resource for finding pathways that are not broken up with obstacles that can make them impossible for wheelchair users. There are still, he says, “a million walks out there with zero information” about them. As I wanted to get higher up hills and mountains and do more, there was not enough information out there. So I figured, if it’s not there, then why don’t I make it and document things that I’m doing as I go along, and what I find in terms of challenges and successes.”

Be the change you want to see is the mantra, and Clement has done just that. 

“I turn up and try some of these routes and give my review from a wheelchair user’s point of view,” he says. “Can you do it in a manual chair? Could you do it in an electric? Would you need a specific off-road chair or is it just impossible? 

“Sometimes there’s a gravel track where your wheels can dig in or slip. What is accessible for one person is not the same for another – so I’ll video a lot of it and play it through fast forward. Anyone can watch and make their own judgement as to whether they can do it in their chair.”

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The love of outdoors and adventuring is what initially drew Clement to the infantry. 

“I joined as a mechanic but transferred to be an infantry soldier based on the training where we were crawling through streams and out in the open,” he says. “That’s what gave me a love for it. For some people it would be their worst nightmare.”

Clement is aware that accessibility to the countryside is a balancing act. “It depends on the place,” he says. “I love nature and the last thing I want anyone to do is go whacking tarmac paths up all the mountains and hills just so wheelchairs can get there. But there are things that can be done. Parking in the Lakes can be a nightmare for anyone, so you can imagine trying to find a wheelchair accessible parking spot is even harder. 

“More information is the starting point. There are so many pathways out there that no one’s documented.”

He knows a lack of information fuels the assumption that hillsides, river paths and coastal cliffs are inaccessible. “Whereas I just kind of just turn up,” he says. “I went up to a place called Janet’s Foss in Yorkshire, for example, that’s a waterfall. I’d seen the route on someone’s walking video and had an idea that the last section would be hard for my wheelchair. So I got on the floor and used my arms to shuffle along for the last 50 metres to enjoy the waterfall. 

“Not everybody can do that. And that’ll be part of the channel. And on the way out, I found an easy route where you could have gone up the road. 

“People in wheelchairs don’t do it because they think there’ll be a stile or the chair won’t fit through a gate. And often, that’s absolutely true. So having information about how wide the gates are gives them a better chance to plan. 

“I love the physical challenge and fitness side of it. The gym’s great, but it’s nice to do something where you almost don’t recognise you’re doing fitness because you’re too busy taking in the view of beautiful rivers or hills. But the main thing is just how I feel mentally when I’m outdoors. It just feels so peaceful. A lot of the places have no phone signal, which is a dream as well – just to have some disconnection.” 

Clement is in the process of having a new swimming leg made, he says, to enable more wild adventures. 

“I’ve had a casting for the socket, we’ve come up with a plan for it to have a small foot on the end, so I can put a training flipper onto that. It’ll take some trial and error, but I love swimming. And I’m very slow with just my arms.”

He may not be the fastest, but he can still put in the distance. “I managed to complete a 5km swim in Windermere in May for charity. It took me four hours and nine minutes, but I did it,” he says. 

Clement recently returned from New York on another outdoor quest. Alongside other military personnel, supported by Blesma – the UK military charity for limbless veterans – he took part in a cycling trip through New York State. 

“We joined up with the Wounded Warrior Project, who are an American organisation,” he says. “It was amazing, they basically shut down Times Square. We all had breakfast there then set off on our cycles and rode 20 miles a day through the Hamptons and other places. People were lined up at the side of the road, cheering us, fire engines beeped their horns and fire personnel were saluting us, it was surreal. 

“I must have heard ‘thank you for your service’ a million times. It was a fantastic occasion. We shared our stories, how we were injured, how the recovery is going, what we are doing now, and just had a laugh as well.” 

These adventures will also form part of Clement’s new YouTube channel. 

“I’m not expecting to be a YouTube millionaire or anything like that. But I do feel there’s enough people out there that I can grow a little following and benefit people in terms of what they can get out of it, and have fun myself while I’m doing it.”

See more on Rick’s YouTube channel

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