How Rosie Diver Is Helping Women Reconnect With Wellness Through Walking and Paddling
Women in Wellness | Feature
For Rosie Diver, wellness was never going to be found under strip lighting or behind a desk. Long before wellbeing became a buzzword, she was finding freedom in the hills, discovering confidence through movement, and feeling most like herself in the open air.
As a young girl growing up in Cambridge, Rosie joined the Rangers and quickly fell in love with the outdoors. The Peak District became her early taste of adventure, a world away from flat Cambridgeshire. Later, after moving to Liverpool and realising Snowdonia was just a train ride away, that love only deepened. Walking, camping and time spent in the mountains were never hobbies on the side. They were part of who she was.
“I never, ever intended to spend my life sat at a desk,” she says. “I was always Mrs Outdoors.”
That passion would go on to shape decades of volunteering, leadership and coaching. Rosie did extensive walking with the Guides, delivered leader training, supported Duke of Edinburgh’s Award activity, and qualified as a canoe coach with her local canoe club in 1996. For years, she gave her time generously, helping others experience the confidence and calm that can come from being outside. Yet despite all of that experience, turning her love of walking and paddling into a business came much later.
In 2018, Rosie was diagnosed with melanoma. It was stage 3, and while she says she was never terminal, it was the kind of diagnosis that forces you to stop and reassess life. After treatment and cancer medication, she came off her first round of meds in early 2020 and began asking herself a different kind of question: if time is precious, what do you really want to do with it?
The answer was clear. She wanted to build something rooted in the outdoors, wellbeing and confidence. That was the beginning of Of Paths and Paddles — a business designed around walking for wellbeing and paddling for confidence.
The timing, of course, was far from ideal. Rosie started exploring the idea in February 2020. By March, the world had shut down. But when restrictions eventually lifted, something had changed. The idea that being outdoors supports mental health no longer needed explaining in the same way. More people had felt the value of fresh air, slower moments and open space. The conversation Rosie once thought might be a hard sell had become something people understood instinctively.
She began creating experiences that blended activity with encouragement and accessibility. In 2021, she brought in one of the UK’s top female paddleboard coaches to run a mini stand-up paddleboard festival, with sessions at Llyn Padarn and on the River Dee in Chester. It was a huge success and proof that there was real appetite for outdoor experiences that felt welcoming rather than intimidating.
But beyond qualifications and events, Rosie’s real purpose is found in impact. One story, in particular, has stayed with her. She recalls teaching a woman called Alex, who has dyspraxia and had previously been frightened by an unsuitable introduction to paddlesports elsewhere. Rather than pushing her straight into a situation that heightened fear, Rosie slowed everything down. She asked what support was needed, built skills step by step, and created a safe route into learning.
Eventually, Alex gained the confidence to paddle independently. Later, she took her canoe out alone on Derwent Water in the Lake District, drifting into the middle of the water in the sunshine. She told Rosie, “You have changed my life.”
It is a moment Rosie still feels deeply. And it speaks to the heart of what makes her work different. This is not simply about exercise, fitness targets or filling a diary with activities. It is about confidence, mental space and helping people rediscover what is possible for them.
That ethos feels especially relevant right now, as more women look for ways to protect their wellbeing without adding more pressure. Rosie believes there is something powerful about walking side by side, without the intensity of formal networking or the expectations of a traditional event. Conversations flow more naturally. People relax. New ideas surface. The pace is gentler, but the impact can be significant.
There is also growing opportunity for employers to think differently about wellbeing. Rosie can see clear potential for guided walks and paddling sessions to support teams, connection and corporate wellbeing in a more meaningful way. As businesses continue to look at how they retain good people and create healthier cultures, experiences in the outdoors may prove far more valuable than another meeting room session.
Now, in 2026, Rosie is back in a place she describes with characteristic humour as “certified stable”. After further immunotherapy and a long period of recovery, she is relaunching with renewed energy. Her Paddle Club runs on the second Tuesday of the month in Chester for people who already have their own equipment and know the basics, while Walking for Wellbeing sessions are planned for the third Thursday of the month, with half-day walks across Merseyside, Cheshire and parts of North Wales. Importantly, they are designed to be accessible, friendly and practical — including routes that begin and end at a café with toilets, a detail many women will appreciate.
It is easy to see why Rosie is such a strong fit for our Women in Wellness series. She represents a version of wellness that feels real: not polished, performative or exclusive, but grounded in experience, resilience and a genuine desire to help others feel better in themselves.
In a world that often tells women to push harder, do more and stay switched on, Rosie Diver’s message is refreshingly simple. Take a breath. Lift your head. Find some sky. Sometimes wellbeing starts there.
Find out more – https://ofpathsandpaddles.com/
