About me

I've always loved words and the outdoors. My first book, The Family's Adventures, is on my desk. I wrote it when I was six. It has a wrapping paper cover and a jam jar label. When I was 16, after work experience with an outdoor magazine company, I decided on my career path. I was going to travel around doing fun stuff outdoors, write about it and get paid!

My first real book (a local history book) was published by Francis Frith/WHSmith while I was at university studying English Literature and Language. You can't spend all your time reading and writing though ... in fact fresh air and exercise enhances creativity ... so I joined as many outdoor sports clubs as possible. Skiing, climbing, running and horse riding mostly kept me out of mischief.

In my last year I got my head down and worked really hard, so I was proud to graduate with first class honours, and soon afterwards set off to spend a year adventuring upside down in NZ and Oz. My ticket allowed 74kg of luggage, so I took a body bag on wheels stuffed with surfing, skiing, hiking, snowboarding, running, horse riding, climbing and some kayaking gear. I had some great jobs over there, including keeping polo horses fit by riding them really fast every day.

Back in the UK, I taught skiing and climbing while getting my freelance writing career going. My job turned out to involve much more hard work than I had visualised at 16, but it does combine all the things I love best.