Peter John Watson
• Travel Writer •
Peter John Watson is a travel writer and founder of outdoor travel blog Atlas & Boots. A keen trekker and climber he can usually be found on the trails of the Greater Ranges. He’s visited over 100 countries and all seven continents and is currently focused on climbing the seven summits – the highest mountain on every continent. Five down, two to go...
Peter's work has been featured by The Guardian, The Telegraph, BBC Travel, The Independent, Lonely Planet, National Geographic, Cicerone Guides, Fodor's and Wanderlust among others.
Peter has contributed to several travel anthologies including Outdoor Europe, a round-up of the continent’s best outdoor experiences by DK Eyewitness, and Lonely Planet's Ultimate United Kingdom Travelist and Best In Travel series. He is currently working on his debut novel.
Peter is also an experienced photographer. His images have been published in magazines, newspapers, journals and books.
About
Born in a not-quite dystopian 1984 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, for nearly 20 years Peter fell asleep to the sound of the North Sea. In 2003, he moved to Cambridge to study film and music. Following graduation, he worked as an audiovisual engineer. In 2007, Peter moved to London and continued to work in digital media. In 2010, he gained his teaching qualification and taught creative media and computer science.
In 2014, Peter left teaching and founded Atlas & Boots, now the UK's most popular outdoor travel blog with a monthly readership of over 150,000. Readers receive weekly posts ranging from destination reports and practical tips to light-hearted listicles and topical debates. Through this mix, Atlas & Boots encourages readers to travel with curiosity, to cast off their daily routine, and to go – arms wide open, caution to the wind – from coast to countryside and everywhere in between.
In 2023, Peter took on a part-time role for the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, a charity responsible for maintaining six former British Bases on the Antarctic Peninsula including the world's southernmost post office. Peter combines several of his passions writing copy for the website, editing photos of penguins and researching the stories of the explorers, scientists and conservationists who – for over two centuries – have braved one of the most challenging environments on Earth.
Peter is happiest in the outdoors, poring over maps or watching test match cricket. Other than climbing the seven summits, his ‘life to-do list’ includes sailing the Atlantic Ocean, visiting at least half the states in the world and delivering an after-dinner speech.