Patagonian Ramblings

I was lucky enough to spend the last month of 2006 exploring the wild landscapes of the deep south of the Patagonian region - The legendary wilderness straddling the southern tips of Chile and Argentina.

These ramblings have resulted in me writing sections of text for a couple of books released worldwide by New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd. The latest of these being 'Walking the World's Natural Wonders' which is now available to order through amazon.co.uk and other bookshops - online and on the high street.

The synopsis of the book is as follows:-

Aimed at the burgeoning adventure travel market, this book focuses on hikes, treks and walks that explore some of the earth's most spectacular wild places, and particularly natural wonders such as volcanoes, glaciers, unique rock formations, rivers and great lakes. This book is not aimed at expedition-type trekkers. Although some of the places are remote, all have basic visitor infrastructure, with option for a variety of walking trips. Destinations are drawn from all over the world including North America and Asia, with a significant proportion of European destinations.

I supplied the images and the text for the 'Torres Del Paine National Park' chapter, which was somewhat an honour as the fellow contributors included Tony Toole, Cameron Burns, Ronald Turnbull, Kev Reynolds, Gillian Price, John Bannon, Roly Smith and Roger Bray - with Jon Sparks supplying all other text and images as well as overseeing the complete project.

The other book featuring my work, and in this case only my words, was released earlier this year. New Holland approached me last year to write the introductory essay for the English translated version of 'Patagonia: Nature's Last Frontier' by Argentine photographer 'Marcos Zimmermann'. I have included a taster of the essay below:

Every single step forward felt like a huge achievement. Gale force winds were being channeled through the sheer valleys walls of the Fitzroy range, and with every particularly large gust we were being blown three steps back from our destination, a small ridge of the summit of the glacier moraine. Our quest to view the azure colored glacial lake was going to be somewhat of a struggle. However this was to be expected in Patagonia, a place where nothing is easy. A land where struggle is an essential part of everyday life.

If you would like to read some more, you will have to buy the book!