geographical areas covered

England

I have travelled extensively throughout England, and written books and features about all the countries notably walking guides to the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors, Oxfordshire, the Chilterns, Peak District and the Pennines.

Beyond my home county of Lancashire, my specialist area is the Lake District about which I have written ‘The Lake Mountains’ (2 volumes), the ‘Official Guide to the Lake District National Park’, the ‘Towns and Villages of Cumbria’, and various smaller walking guides. For some years I was also a voluntary warden with the Lake District National Park.

Scotland

Although I have walked and travelled extensively around Scotland my specialist areas are Southern Scotland and the islands. In particular, as a guidebook writer I focus on the islands of Skye and Mull, and have produced (with photographer Jon Sparks) ‘The Magic of the Scottish Islands’. In the 1990s, I produced a walker's guide to the Isle of Skye (now in its 4th edition), and this was followed up in 2011, with a similar guide to the Isle of Mull

I have been fortunate to visit most of the inhabited islands, along with the remote St Kilda, and have a great fondness for Skye and the Western Isles, which I have been visiting for over forty years.

Wales

My first two books were about Wales: ‘The Summits of Snowdonia’ and ‘The Mountains of Wales’; these two books were revived, in a sense, with the publication of ‘Great Mountain Days in Snowdonia’ (2010).

For a time I lived and worked in North Wales, where I was Deputy Town Clerk with Bangor Borough Council, and during this time and for some years afterwards I was a Voluntary Warden with Snowdonia National Park. My son and grandson still live on Anglesey, which I visit frequently, naturally.

Isle of Man

I have been visiting the Isle of Man since 1947, when as a family we spent our holidays there, travelling out on the passenger ships from Liverpool.

Later I returned as a journalist, and visited regularly over the years culminating in a walker’s guide to the island, and a position as the Director of the Isle of Man Walking Festival, which I pioneered.

Ireland

The beauty of Ireland came to my attention when first I attempted to climb the mountains of County Kerry in 1979, and it was mountaineering and the exquisite landscape and its people that always took me back, until I got the chance to write a family guide to Ireland. And then I was all over the place ... enjoying every moment.

France

I first visited France in 1974, when I went, optimistically, to climb Mont Blanc (but failed), and I’ve been returning to France ever since, and now reckon I know most of the country.

I gained an A level in French, and speak passable French (if you pass quickly). I wrote for Living France magazine on a fairly regular basis for several years, and found excuses to visit the country repeatedly. My particular fondness is for Languedoc Roussillon, the Pyrenees and the Loire valley, but I’m happy to visit any part of France.

For many years I edited the Michelin Green Guides to France (English language versions), notably the Auvergne, the French Alps, the Chateaux of the Loire, Paris and Northern France, Provence, Alsace-Lorraine, the Dordogne and Languedoc Roussillon...and others.

Madeira and the Azores

Madeira and Porto Santo

It was 2003 when I first had a chance to visit Madeira, doing research for a radio programme with regional BBC. So, when the chance came to write a narrative guidebook to the islands – including Porto Santo – I jumped at it.

When my contract with the Isle of Man Walking Festival came to an end, I was looking for somewhere else to stage a festival. Why not Madeira? And so, 2008 saw the first Madeira Islands Walking Festival, of which I was the Director and Project Manager. I subsequently went on to write a narrative travel guide to Madeira.

The Azores

With the guide to Madeira completed, I was invited to write a new guide to the Azores, another part of the Portuguese empire, but one that is less well known, and deserving of greater attention. Many weeks spent flying around the nine islands were hugely enjoyable and informative. Nine islands; nine passions; nine ways of life.

Australia

My 1967 plans to emigrate to Australia were frustrated, and it was many years (1998), before I had the chance to visit the country. Love at first sight is an understatement, and I have returned as often as work would allow ever since.

I have visited all states, but have a particular fondness for Western Australia and Tasmania. Perth is my favourite city, closely followed by Adelaide, and I do think there is something quaintly idiosyncratic about Canberra, but I can’t find anyone else who shares that view.

Rightly or wrongly, I have climbed Ayers Rock three times, and have an odd-ball love affair with wacky Alice Springs ... that and travelling on The Ghan and the Indian-Pacific railways ... not to mention the wines of McLaren Vale, and the rock lobster at Kalbarri.