The UK's most popular outdoor travel blog
Author Amit Patel tells us about his favourite trip, what remains on his bucket list and how travel changed for him after his sight loss
Amit Patel was born to be a boy racer. In his teens, he nearly rode himself (and two of his friends) into a pond on a clapped-out motorbike. Around the same time, he joined his local squadron of the Air Training Corps and took to the skies every chance he got. When he finished his GCSEs, he celebrated by jumping out of a plane at 13,000 feet.
We share the best adventure travel books 2021 and explain why each should be on your reading list
From a cross-country road trip in a hostile America to boundless sand dunes in remote China, our crop of adventure travel books 2021 have one thing in common: their journeys are more than just physical.
As a difficult year draws to a close, we reflect on the top 10 posts that our readers most enjoyed
Well, what can we say about 2020 that hasn’t been said already? As a writer, I feel that I should be able to say something grand and stirring about the global pandemic, but to be honest, I can’t. I don’t know how to aptly describe the hopelessness and inertia that so many of us have experienced this year.
We take a look at the world’s most urban countries and why they go hand in hand with the most stressed
City life is stressful. It presses on our weary bones, wafts through windows on pungent fumes and boxes up our personal space.
We profile the world’s megadiverse countries, from obvious contenders like Ecuador and Brazil to one or two surprise entries
It should be comforting to know that a mere 17 countries hold more than 70% of the world’s species. It should be easy to rally this small group of ‘megadiverse countries’ to protect the planet’s extraordinary biodiversity. Alas, some of these countries are also the world’s biggest consumers and polluters.
Two thru-hikers lied and broke the law this year to finish the Appalachian Trail. Should we dismiss it as a daring adventure or tackle what lies deeper?
The first thing to admit before I begin is that I’m a person who follows the rules. I never cheat at games or quizzes despite being stupidly competitive. I hate being late to meetings or gatherings and I’ve even been known to Google “how late to arrive at a dinner party” because I know it’s impolite to turn up on time (the consensus is 15 minutes).
From Canada’s wild backcountry to the jungles of Brunei, we share some fantastic hikes through the cleanest air in the world
A few months after we moved to the country, some friends from London came up to visit. Stepping from the car, one commented that ‘it feels like mountain air up here’. I laughed and said, ‘it’s not that cold.’ He shook his head and said, ‘I don’t mean the temperature. I mean the quality.’
From grizzly bears to bugbears, five park rangers share the vagaries of their unique job
There’s no doubt that nature is flourishing under lockdown. There are heartening stories of the Himalayas emerging from Indian smog, moles in the UK being seen above ground and deer wandering the streets of Japan.
From mountains to libraries, we take a look at some of the most extraordinary international borders to be found across the globe
Over the last few years, we’ve seen an impressive collection of new websites, blogs and social media accounts dedicated to ‘travel porn’. They’re filled with big, sweeping images of fairytale lands and precarious precipices.
International Dark Sky Reserves are protected areas that offer exceptionally starry nights. We review the 16 places that hold this hallowed status
They sound like something out of Star Trek, these ‘Dark Sky Reserves’ – like they may have been conjured one evening in a lively LA writers room. Unlike the ‘Delta Quadrant’ or ‘Delphic Expanse’, however, International Dark Sky Reserves actually exist.
Sample the world’s most popular destinations without leaving your home
On a normal spring day, you can expect the Champ de Mars in Paris to be teeming with tourists. This vibrant swatch of green offers iconic views of the Eiffel Tower and hosts droves of visitors every year – possibly as many as 80 million. France is after all the most visited country in the world.
Climbing the seven summits – the highest mountain on every continent – is an improbable dream of mine… but that’s the beauty of dreams
I have always loved trekking and climbing. I usually spend several weeks of any given year on the grades of the Scottish Highlands or Welsh Snowdonia or ideally further afield such as the Arctic Circle Trail in Greenland or the K2 base camp trek in Pakistan.
We explore the best things to do in Bonaire, from pink lakes to secluded beaches and first-rate diving and snorkelling
Bonaire, a Dutch municipality in the Leeward Antilles of the Caribbean Sea, is known for its rich marine life, exceptional dive sites and desert landscape interior.
Bonaire is surrounded by a fine coral reef that lies meters from the shoreline, making it a snorkeller’s dream. The reef is a designated national marine park and is easily accessed via numerous entry points clearly marked on shore.
We profile 10 famous environmentalists, from the girl who lived in a tree for two years to the sea captain faced with Interpol arrest
I recently read a fact that stopped me in my tracks: in optimum conditions, some trees can live forever. They are vulnerable to predators, disease and natural disasters, but unlike humans, these ‘biologically immortal’ trees rarely die simply because they get old.
Diving in the Turks and Caicos will no doubt lead you to its famous wall. There you will stare into a literal abyss that dives 2,000m to the bottom of the sea
There’s a moment in the Jude Law film Black Sea where a deep-sea diver falls off a murky underwater ridge and careens into the pitch-black depths of the ocean. For someone who struggled to learn to dive, the idea was pretty bloody terrifying.
Of course, in recreational diving, this sort of thing doesn’t happen – especially when you dive no deeper than 18m. Nonetheless, I was reminded of this scene when wall diving in the Turks and Caicos on the ninth day of our Caribbean cruise.
After a busy year of trekking and writing, we decided to treat ourselves to a touch of indulgence
I’m not going to lie: I was in two minds about our Caribbean cruise. We had initially planned a cruise in Alaska but it clashed with commitments around my book. We pushed back our dates to December and were left with one obvious destination: the Caribbean.
From Kiribati to Kyrgyzstan, we list the most commonly mispronounced country names
When Donald Trump mispronounced Namibia as ‘Nambia’ in 2017, he became the subject of widespread ridicule. Journalists wondered if he meant Zambia or Gambia while social media users mocked up memes and one enterprising tweeter took the opportunity to pitch a new title to Lonely Planet.
From Inuit hunting grounds to sacred mountain monasteries, UNESCO’s newest World Heritage Sites offer outstanding cultural value
The aim of UNESCO’s list is to identify, protect and preserve sites of cultural and natural heritage considered to be of exceptional value to humanity. These sites include a range of locations such as the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, east Africa’s Serengeti, the Pyramids of Egypt and Machu Picchu in Peru.
The largest rainforests in the world are some of the most vital ecosystems on our planet. We look at where they’re located and why they need protecting
Home to over half the world’s plant and animal species, the largest rainforests in the world absorb vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping maintain the balance of the air we breathe while simultaneously playing a critical role in curbing global warming.
A handpicked selection of some of the most dramatic, absorbing long reads on outdoor survival from the last five years.
You may have guessed that we at Atlas & Boots are just a little bit obsessed with tales of endurance. From the best books about survival to epic journeys of discovery, we have written about some of the most dramatic pursuits in the history of exploration.
In recent years, we have been intrigued by a number of brilliant long reads on outdoor survival (and surrender).
