Ray Mears can shape a canoe from bark, track man or wolf and identify a tasty plant at 100 paces. The nation’s favourite survival expert will explain his passion for the great outdoors in a new tour. Kathryn Tye found out more.

If you were stuck between a rock and a hard place, Ray Mears is the man you would need carrying your rucksack. The British adventurer has squared up to the planet’s most uninhabitable environments – and lived to tell the tale.

Ray’s passion for bushcraft was sparked at a young age by his school judo teacher Kingsley Hopkins, who had fought behind enemy lines in Burma during the Second World War.

Ray, 49, said: “He was a wonderful man. ‘You don’t need equipment, you need knowledge to survive in the wild’, he would tell me, and ‘Maximum efficiency from minimum effort’, was another of his themes.”

The young Ray began reading about survival at his local library and his interest in the subject continued as an adult, leading him to travel around the world in search of information.

After years teaching himself the ancient skills, Ray wanted to pass them on, leading him to found Woodlore, the School of Wilderness Bushcraft, in Etchingham, East Sussex, in 1983.

Ray said: “I would define wilderness bushcraft as the study of people and nature. When I founded Woodlore, nobody else was doing it. My aim was to bring people and nature closer together, and show people old skills. I didn’t imagine making a career out of it, but these things are meant to be sometimes.”

His work at Woodlore led to him being approached by TV executives to present programmes on the subject, a job he takes very seriously.

“My main aim is to try to do the best TV show I can for the viewer. Veracity is everything in a documentary. It is not light entertainment and if you confuse the two then TV has no worth.”

He will be sharing some favourite moments from his adventures in new stage show An Audience With Ray Mears: The Outdoor Life which arrives in Kent this week.

For someone who loves being outdoors, his decision to embark upon a 26-date lecture tour of theatres around the UK seems unlikely, but Ray is really enjoying it.

“I have been doing these sort of shows for three years, and it is nice to met the viewers. I’m not performing, I’m just being myself and interacting with the audience, sharing my outlook on the world and nature.”

The tour has been organised to tie in with his autobiography, My Outdoor Life, which was published last month, after what he describes as a painstaking writing process.

He said: “Of all the things I have done, writing my autobiography has been the hardest thing of all. I think I will have to write another book about surviving it. Hopefully people will not be too bored.”

In addition to tales of his adventures, it also offers a rare insight into his personal life, as the normally fiercely private Ray talks about the loss of his first wife Rachel, and his father.

He also talks about the time he nearly died in a helicopter crash while filming in the USA.

He said: “I’ve been asked to write my autobiography many times, but it hasn’t felt right until now. I’ll be 50 this year, and it’s 30 years since I started Woodlore.”

The book also tells of his involvement with the tracking of the Northumbrian murderer, Raoul Moat, in 2010, which he describes as the hardest tracking experience of his life.

Ray said: “Mote was dangerous and I was glad to help and have skills that were of use. I would not say I was nervous. The most important thing was not to make a mistake.”

Despite the revelations in his autobiography, don’t expect to see Ray Mears suddenly embracing the celebrity lifestyle and appearing in glossy magazines.

“I know I am lucky to have a TV career as it is offers me unique access to see places and things which I wouldn’t be able to otherwise. But I don’t like celebrity,” he said. “I live in the countryside in East Sussex. Although I quite like attending movie premieres, it is a good way to see a film!

“I won’t be doing any reality shows. The one I really don’t like is I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here, where the contestants eat things such as wichetty grubs for entertainment.

"The show is disrespectful to the Aboriginals who eat them, and there is no need to kill the creatures. How would you feel if people were laughing at you being made to eat a roast potato?”

Some members of the public may think that Ray is enjoying a showbiz lifestyle, however, as he is often mistaken for TV presenter Adrian Chiles, best known for his work on the BBC’s One Show and launching ITV’s breakfast show Daybreak.

Ray said: “Apparently he gets stopped so much by people thinking he is Ray Mears, he actually has a signature for me!

An Evening with Ray Mears will be at Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre on Monday, October 14. It starts at 7.30pm. Tickets from £22.50 for adults, and from £15.50 for under 16s. Call 01227 787787.