author, mountaineering writer – books, blog, opinion
Those of you who have been kind enough to pre-order Feet and Wheels to Chimborazo will hopefully have seen it appear on your devices sometime last week. The entire project, from push off to launch has taken about two years.
Read more
The sharp-eyed among you may have noticed that my second full-length book, Feet and Wheels to Chimborazo, has started to appear half price on Amazon. If if you’re a regular reader then I would be super grateful if you can spare some loose change to buy it.
Read more
I’m reaching the final stages with my follow up to Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest, and I’m keen to have your feedback about the book cover to ensure it conveys my story and reaches an even bigger audience.
Read more
Like most normal people, I swear from time to time. More unusually, I also swear quite a lot in my writing, and recently I received some feedback that it might be excessive. So when is swearing acceptable in travel writing, and when is it too much?
Read more
I’ve recently been reading In Ethiopia With a Mule, about a trek across – you guessed it – Ethiopia, in the company of a mule, by the famously brave travel writer Dervla Murphy. She is widely admired for her intrepid travelling style, but does this come at a price?
Read more
It’s become common practice for authors and publishers to give away free books to readers in exchange for a review on Amazon. It’s something I don’t do. I believe it’s in the interests of all of us to maintain trust in reader reviews by not trying to cheat the system.
Read more
How high Humboldt and Boussingault climbed on Chimborazo has been the subject of much debate. When Edward Whymper made the first ascent in 1880, he was baffled by their descriptions of the climb. So what happened, and how high did they really get?
Read more
Here’s a timely tip if you’re off trekking in Nepal this autumn and are looking for some books to read on the trail. My travel diary Islands in the Snow is now available for the first time ever in paperback form. I’m sure you will enjoy it immensely.
Read more
It’s been three months since I last spoke about my next book Chimborazo. It’s time I updated you, and gave you another short teaser from the book the whet your appetite.
Read more
Gradually I’m working through my Footsteps in the Mountain Travel Diaries series, revising and expanding the text and getting them professionally edited. The latest book to undergo this treatment is Islands in the Snow, the story of my trek around the Solu-Khumbu region of Nepal in 2009.
Read more