The top 10 posts from Atlas & Boots

The top 10 posts from Atlas & Boots

As we approach the end of another difficult year, we reflect on our ups and downs – inside and outside of the blog

I thought things would be different this year. We ended 2020 on a low but hopeful note and I really thought the world would return to normal this year.

Instead, travel limps on. Here in the UK the lockdown hangs like the sword of Damocles and is once again threatening our trip to Antarctica. Time passes, especially for Peter, who lost two years of climbing in his prime, affecting his lifelong dream of climbing the Seven Summits.

As always, we try to focus on the good things. Peter made it to Switzerland and Greece, and we had our first trip together in almost two years: a beach and diving vacation in Cyprus. He ran coast-to-coast twice and began to focus more on writing, with contributions to DK's Outdoor Europe as well as features in the Independent, Telegraph, Guardian and i.

My novel Next of Kin came out this year and was named a Times Book of the Month. I was shortlisted for the Diverse Book Awards and finished the first draft of my fourth novel - currently with my editor at HarperCollins.

Our friends and family are healthy – at least physically. I think we're all running out of stamina under the pandemic. Still, we do what we can, which at Atlas & Boots means continuing to showcase the best outdoor spaces on earth. So, as is tradition, here are our top 10 posts of 2021.

1. I have lost my travel benefit

I lost my travel advantage because of KiaRead

Kia pictured at Dallol in Ethiopia

Traveling has been a part of me for more or less a decade. Whether I was sleeping with snakes in the outback or with rats on an active volcano, I could grit my teeth and carry on. However, on a short trip to London, I was tested by little things. I felt annoyed and stressed because I had to keep packing and unpacking. I didn't like having the wrong coat, shoes, or bag for my various commitments. I didn't like sleeping on pillows that were too soft or too hard, or using a hairdryer that wasn't mine.

In this post I reflect on what it was like to lose my Traveler advantage and with it part of my identity.

2. Coast to Coast: Running through England twice

By PeterRead Coast to Coast: walking around England twice

Atlas & BootsA friendly sheep greets Peter

After months of lockdown restless and loosely inspired by Laurie Lee's As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, Peter decided to walk across England...twice.

In Lee's memoir, he leaves his home in the Cotswolds and embarks on an epic journey on foot that takes him across southern England to Spain, where he spends a year walking from the north to the south coast. In Peter's case, travel restrictions meant he couldn't go to Spain, so he took the Coast to Coast Trail, which practically passes our house. Determined to make the journey alone, he walked the distance – twice.

3. Why I stopped eating fish (again).

From KiaRead Why I stopped eating fish (again).

Rudmer Zwerver/ShutterstockKia has vowed to give up fish

I was a vegetarian for 15 years until I started eating fish again at age 28, mostly for convenience while traveling. Even in developed countries like France and Argentina, restaurants often didn't have a vegetarian option, in this case I chose fish.

Slowly, fish crept back into my diet and I sometimes even found myself choosing it with a vegetarian alternative. I didn't travel at all in 2020, but I still ate fish once or twice a month. Then, in May of this year, I read an article that forced me to change my mind. This post addresses my decision to give up fish once again.

4. Virgin Peaks: the unclimbed mountains of the world

By PeterRead Virgin Peaks: the unclimbed mountains of the world

Gradythe badger; CC BY-SA 2.0Bhutan's highest mountain is probably the highest unclimbed mountain in the world

In January 2021, Nirmal Purja and his climbing team made the first winter ascent of K2, the second highest mountain in the world. Some say this feat was the last great challenge in mountaineering, but this overlooks the world's unclimbed mountains: peaks that have yet to be climbed at all in any season.

In this post, Peter looks at the most sought-after unclimbed peaks around the world. It struck a chord with readers who clearly longed for remote locations far from home.

5. Diving in Cyprus: our first dive in two years

By KiaRead Diving in Cyprus: our first dive in two years

Atlas & BootsA friendly turtle visits us on our dive in Cyprus

On our first trip together in almost two years, Peter and I stole away for a week in Cyprus. Diving was not initially planned. After a busy year, all we wanted to do was eat, drink, read and wallow in the sun. However, in typical outdoor fashion, two days into our trip we decided to go diving.

In this post I reflect on my nervous start to diving and why getting back in the water was exactly what I needed.

6. Questions and Answers: Climb every mountain in the Yorkshire Dales

By PeterRead Q&A: Climbing every mountain in the Yorkshire Dales

Descending Calf Top after climbing all the mountains in the Yorkshire Dales

Similar to his coast-to-coast hike above, another of Peter's pandemic adventures was to climb every mountain in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, home to one of England's classic outdoor landscapes.

The park's glacial valleys - or valleys - are defined by a unique terrain of high heath moorland, rolling hills and dramatic waterfalls. With 41 mountains and an excellent network of hiking trails, the Dales are great for hiking - and so it started. During the challenge, he received countless questions via email and social media. He collected his responses in this post, which was shared by many readers and picked up by the Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire Life, Living, This Is Y and other local publications.

7. Ice work: 10 first ascents by female mountaineers

From KiaRead Ice Work: 10 First Ascents by Female Mountaineers

alt=“The Norwegian adventurer Cecilie Skog”>Fair useThe Norwegian adventurer Cecilie Skog

In a male-dominated world, a select group of women have broken through the ice. In this article I review some daring first ascents by female mountaineers.

We pay homage to Junko Tabei, the first woman to climb Everest (after being told she should "raise children instead"), and Lucy Walker, who climbed the Eiger in a voluminous skirt thanks to the social mores of Victorian Britain. It's no surprise that these pioneers struck a chord with readers.

8. The 10 Most (Seemingly) Dangerous Things We've Done

From KiaRead the 10 Most (Seemingly) Dangerous Things We've Done

Atlas & BootsOur armed guards in the Danakil Depression

Peter and I have a running joke that I've fallen off my bike in the most beautiful places in the world - including Bora Bora in French Polynesia and Isabela in the Galápagos. What's interesting is that no one ever calls me "brave" or "daring" when I ride a bike or actually ride a horse, even though statistically (and in my personal experience) these activities are some of the most dangerous I've participated in.

Instead, it's things like skydiving and bungee jumping that impress others the most. In this post, I share 10 seemingly dangerous things we did - some of which posed real risks, but most of which were just fun.

9. The seven second peaks: a tougher challenge

By PeterRead The seven second peaks: a tougher challenge

Atlas & BootsThe fearsome K2 is one of the Seven Second Summits

Peter has often spoken of his dream of climbing the Seven Summits. In this post, he goes one step further and looks at the Seven Second Summits - the second highest mountains on each continent - from a safe distance.

These mountains are said to be more challenging than their higher counterparts, often with higher fatalities and lower success rates. In Into Thin Air, his best-selling book about the 1996 Everest disaster, Jon Krakauer explains that "more than one critic of the Seven Summits concept has pointed out that climbing the highest peak on each continent would be a significantly more difficult challenge than climbing the second highest peak on each continent, some of which are very demanding climbs."

As Peter explains in the post, he likes to stick with the “easier” Seven Summits.

10. Cold Shoulder: 10 Dramatic Climbing Controversies

From KiaRead Cold Shoulder: 10 Dramatic Climbing Controversies

CC BY-SA 4.0The blurred image of mountaineer Oh Eun-sun on Kanchenjunga

There was a time when climbing controversy was confined to the slopes. The small trivialities, the heated exchanges and the heated arguments were just a part of the ups and downs of the mountaineering world.

As the field became more lucrative and summiteers were endowed with fame and book deals, these once discreet disputes began to spill over the slopes.

In this post, I discuss some of the most fascinating climbing controversies in history, from contested first ascents to violent high-altitude clashes.

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