Peter John Watson

Peter John Watson is an adventure travel writer, photographer and founder of the outdoor travel blog Atlas & Boots. Specialising in polar and expedition travel, he has explored Greenland, Svalbard, Alaska and Antarctica.

A keen trekker and mountaineer, Peter is most at home on the trails and peaks of the world’s great mountain ranges. He has visited more than 100 countries across all seven continents and is currently working towards climbing the Seven Summits, the highest mountain on each continent. Five down, two to go.

His writing 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’s debut book, Counting Penguins: How a Penguin Colony Stole My Heart and Changed My Life, is a work of narrative non-fiction inspired by his time living and working at Port Lockroy in Antarctica. Published by DK Red, it will be released in the UK on 22 October 2026 and in the US on 3 November 2026.

He has also contributed to several travel anthologies and guidebooks, including DK Travel’s Europe by Train; The Rough Guide to Slow Travel in Europe: 28 Inspirational No-Fly Journeys by Rail, Road and Sea; several DK Eyewitness travel books; and Lonely Planet’s Ultimate United Kingdom Travelist and Best in Travel series.

Peter is also an experienced travel and landscape photographer. His images have appeared in magazines, newspapers, journals and books.