I’ve been walking the hills and mountains of the UK all my life. I’m single with 2 children that I brought up on my own from 1 and 3 years old, so they’ve been on many of the hikes with me.
My philosophy is simple: low weight, low cost, low stress – and getting in as many walks as I can before I’m dead.
I set up this website Wild Walking UK to help and encourage others to enjoy the adventure and freedom of long-distance walking and wild camping in the UK.
…continuing the tradition with my children
My life – Up until recently…
I left school with few qualifications but found a job wood-turning. Going self employed when I was 20 and continuing my business for nearly 30yrs. (they’re my turnings on King Charles’ Oak Pavilion at Highgrove House) But family circumstances meant I had to close down my turning business. I then spent a few years doing whatever work I could get, while all the time renovating my own house.
In 2022 after divorce and my kids were now grown up and leaving home, I found myself free to do what ever I wanted. So I sold my house and car and moved onto the Striding Edge narrow boat to live. This way I could live a low impact more minimalist lifestyle. Living on a boat certainly makes you think about conserving resources and limiting waste.
I’ve loved it and had an amazing time, summer 2022 touring the River Great Ouse and River Nene area. Then spending the winter on the Macclesfield and Peak Forest canals, enjoying walks into the Derbyshire hills directly from the boat.
2023 was spent touring the canals and rivers between Worcester, Birmingham, Leicester, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Great Haywood. The cities were interesting and there’s lovely scenery between them all. So I often stopped for a few days or sometimes weeks and did many good walks looking around and getting to know all these areas.
I had a continuous cruising licence so could only leave the boat in one place for a maximum of 2 weeks. And I’d missed the long distance hiking, so in 2024 I sold the boat and moved to a bungalow on Cumbria’s west coast. I miss the canal life but I’ve toured most of the system now and had the feeling that I wasn’t making the best use of my time. There’s too much time spent stuck in the boat during the long winter nights.
I’m still living a low impact lifestyle and already added extra insulation, Heat Recovery Ventilation and Solar Panels to the Bungalow to make it more environmentally friendly. And I can walk into the mountains of the Lake District National Park from home.
Plans for the future – getting fitter and more long distance walking, wild camping and canoe adventures… And being there if my kids need me. Check my Facebook or my Instagram for more up to date info.
There are links on this page to help identify the products and reviews I’ve done. Including links to Amazon and as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This helps with the website costs and is much appreciated. The links are sometimes to improved products that I am now using, because the item I used on the trip is no longer available.
Long-distance walking
I love the freedom and challenge of the hills with nothing booked. Preferring to camp wild, as this means I can change my walk to suit the weather, family demands, my mood, or even the quality of the pubs! (I know I said low cost, but I see it as my contribution to the local economy…) You can read my 11 wild camping rules.
For many years I carried too much weight – often 20kgs (44lbs) or more, due to old gear and lack of knowledge. As I got older I was just doing day walks because I didn’t enjoy carrying heavy loads. Then a few years ago when I sold a property and down sized, I had the money to change all my walking kit. So I learned as much as I could about the latest and lightest gear available, and hunted down the best deals. Which lead me to purchase a waterproof tough phone with GPS and mapping and replace all my hiking gear.
This has given me a new lease of life in the hills. Since lightening my pack weight and improving my navigation safety, I have taken on long distance hikes that I would have never considered before: the Cape Wrath Trail, the TGO Challenge and in 2019 I walked (and wild camped) 1200 miles from Lands End to John O’Groats via Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis. Then in 2020 probably my best hiking year to date, 1100 miles from Dover to Cape Wrath and The Skye Trail.
I now class myself as a lightweight hiker rather than ultralight. My winter base weight is around 10kgs (22lbs) and in summer around 6 to 8kgs (17lbs). I haven’t always gone for the lightest weight items. I’m more interested in safety and comfort in the hills, rather than ultimate weight saving.
This blog is designed to share the highs and lows of my adventures. I hope it will inspire people to enjoy what our beautiful country has to offer, without it costing the earth. And maybe try something that they didn’t think they could do. It’s also to give a little back and hopefully help others, as I’ve been helped over the years.
Gear Reviews
I write reviews of all the gear used on my walks. Most of the gear has been purchased by myself, but I have been given some products to test and review. A big Thankyou to EDZ merino wool clothing, Inov-8 and AtomPacks.
The reviews on my blog are just my opinion and how I feel about the products, companies and walks. When I find something I like or a company that is especially good (particularly if it’s a British company), I like to tell others to help them.
Walking with children
My children often hike with me and I’ve found that the same walk with my family can be a completely different experience. My children find fun in things I had barely noticed – hide and seek in the heather, playing in a mountain stream or the thrill of walking in the dark. As a family, we’ve completed Wainwright’s Coast to Coast, the Pennine Way, the Cumbria Way, the Weavers’ Way the Boudicca Way and more recently the East Highland Way+, Southern Upland Way and the Cape Wrath Trail.
The children walked a lot further than I expected them to, even from a very early age. They especially loved it if there is a hill to roll down or a river to dam up. The children look forward to the next pub just as much as me – obviously not for the pint that I’m after, but the bag of crisps, fizzy drink and game of cards. They loved the 24/7 attention and even now they are older often still join me in the hills.
I had a great time walking the Cape Wrath Trail with my 23yr old son. Then following years we’ve completed the Southern Upland Way and East Highland Way, Glen Feshie, Larig Ghru.
Thankyou for your interest and support
Thank you very much to all the people who have supported me by buying me a coffee and coming back to use my product links. It is very much appreciated and makes it possible for me to continue paying the website costs.
Please message me with your opinions on the blog and my gear reviews so I can improve and add to the site to make it as helpful to others as I can. Thank you for reading and happy trails.
Further Reading
1100 mile Dover to Cape Wrath walk
Dover to Cape Wrath Gear Review
1200 mile Lands End to John O’Groats and 3-peaks walk
Wildwalkinguk is a blog run by myself in spare time, and I pay for its running costs myself. I do have some Amazon affiliate links and adverts on the site. If you click on these adverts or links and buy what you need (it doesn’t have to be the item I’ve linked to), the company will pay a small commission to us. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This money goes towards the costs of hosting the blog. I would be extremely grateful if you could consider using our links when you next need to buy something. Thank you so much for your support. Mark.
Still buzzing to have met you today in the beautiful Scottish Borders hills Mark . Made my day !!! Ice bath is calling me now which is always a treat . All the best for the next 4 weeks my friend !!! Peace & One Love
Hi Mark, I came across your website today and I am glad I did. I have read almost all content already and would like to say you are an inspiration. I am not in a position to rush out and buy everything but after reading some of your articles I think I will start to trickle a steady exchange of my gear. Absolute pleasure reading about your exploits and I have no doubt I will read through them all again.
Hi Mark,
I’ve just spent the past two days reading your Dover to Cape Wrath blog. Absolutely brilliant! I was totally riveted and enjoyed every word.
I’ve done the Coast to Coast before back in September 2020 but have never wild camped. I want to do the Coast to Coast again, but this time East to West and wild camp the whole way. On the back of that is the West Highland Way, which I originally had planned to do in 2020, but something happened to put that on hold. For the life of me, I can’t think what that was now 🙄.
As I was reading your D2CW blog, I just thought, “I’d love to have the guts to wild camp, but wouldn’t it be good to learn from someone experienced”. Just to get in shape and test my gear I’m planning to do the Angles Way, the Norfolk Coast Path and Peddars Way in the next couple of weeks. The Norfolk Coast Path and Peddars Way, I originally walked in 2020 as well. My brother lives up near Kings Lynn and currently I’m based around Cambridge. If you ever fancy a few days walking in East Anglia, then let me know. I’ll buy you a pint and a bar of chocolate in exchange for some wild camping tutelage.
I plan to read the rest of your blogs, but just wanted to extend my thanks and appreciation for taking me along on your D2CW journey via your blog. It was really enjoyable. Absolutely.
Hope to get to meet you on a mile path at some point.
All the best to you Mark. Cheers, Graham 👍
Hello Graham
Thank you very much for the coffees, it’ll go towards the running costs of the site and is much appreciated.
I’m just back from 6 weeks away and the wild camping seems to be a lot more difficult than it used to be. Scotland was ok ish as you’re allowed to wild camp there but south of the boarder the farmers and National Park employees and possibly even the police seem to be on the look out for wild campers. Just carrying a large rucksack seemed to cause suspicion outside the normal hiking areas. The wasters camping in inappropriate places and leaving rubbish during covid seem to have put land owners on edge. I had to be very careful where I camped and didn’t feel as comfortable wild camping as I used too so will probably not be doing any wild camping locally. I like to camp in/usually find unused pieces of land, junctions in paths and uncropped corners of fields etc. I do often have to walk miles further than intended thou. Camp as it gets dark and be gone as it gets light – not easy this time of year when it’s only dark for a few hours. In Scotland you’re allowed to wild camp but some land owners still don’t like it and often the ground lower down the mountains is too rough/overgrown, so it’s not always easy. It’s possible on the West Highland Way as so many people do, it keeps the ground clear and the land owners are use to it. Good hike and I highly recommend it, but it can be busy.
Best of luck with your walks and thanks again for the coffees.
Mark
Thanks Mark
This is a fabulous resource; extremely useful. I particularly like the fact you wild camp.
I’ve spent the past twenty odd years hiking around the Himalayas, Andes and other exotic trails. Now I have a young labrador Retriever I’m looking to walk closer to home and ‘god!’ what have I missed. Not too late now though and I’ll enjoy having the company of my dog. I was initially interested in the Wye Valley River walk but I can see there are lots of other brilliant options. Any advice on walking with a large dog? Any routes more amenable or any routes that aren’t suitable?
Wishing you well. Have a good new year.
Regards
Richard
Hello Richard
Thank you for your kind words. I wouldn’t like to suggest exact walks with your dog, there’s so many options. All have good and bad points, freedom to let the dog run and but others with sheep and land owner issues. Often changing depending on the season, lambing etc.
This link may be of interest https://mistysminiguides.wixsite.com/mistysminiguides?fbclid=IwAR0NWzRbb6LLQdO6It5Wkw4uLB6iXuVbcxydHHKSslLF-G4seddAyDVHnek
Best of luck
Mark
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your wonderful site. As a Dutch Hiker who started hiking after 30 years last year with the coast to coast, I plan as you to hike as long as possible. At 65 I still hope on many years. I have learned a lot from people like you, got my backpack weight back from 15 kg to 9!
However, one question I find little information. What do you eat as lunch? Breakfast I get. Dinner I get too. Bars and so as an in between too. But bread and fillings are heavy and last only two days. Can you share your thoughts on this?
Kind regards,
Ed
Hi
So good to bump into you this week at Barrowford
Hope to see you again somewhere up the cut soon, to hear about your fascinating life and travels
Cheers
Nelly (Neil) & Pip
https://www.facebook.com/theadventuresofnarrowboatjanus
Hi Mark,
I have already thanked you last summer for your fantastic blog when I did the first half of the Cape Wrath Trail (CWT). I have a question for you about walking some of the more remote paths on the CWT. Back in 2020, you talked about getting the ” Memory Map ” app to help with navigation, especially with making a route. Is there any way that you can use this (GPS?) to inform your loved ones back home of your progress. I especially thinking of the danger of a falling, breaking a bone and no one turns up. So For example My partner could sound the alarm if I don’t make progress after a couple of days.
Hi Alan
I still use the same Memory Map on my phone and don’t think it’s possible to remote track with it, but not sure as things are forever changing. There are dedicated tracking devices available and you can also use them for emergency messaging if you’re in trouble. But I’ve no experience of using them.
I’ve never needed them as none of my ex-wives have been too worried where I was 🙂
Well done for completing the first half of the CWT.
Thanks for your message
Mark
hello Mark ,
I came across your blog while I was researching a rucsac purchase and invested in a Granite Gear Blaze , it has been a wise investment , thank you for your thorough review .
Your lifestyle is what I want to achieve and now that I have retired and have more flexibility I can move further towards that .
Keep updating your blog with trips , I have a half complete Southern Upland Way crossing , and have some free time late January , I will go and complete that path weather permitting and I will take your advice on wind direction ..
Thanks for your message Ian. It’s much appreciated as I was none exam English in school so it takes me ages to write these posts. Best of Luck with your new lifestyle and walks.