Mark Horrell's Blog, page 20

Feet and Wheels to Chimborazo: please give your feedback on my book cover

I’m reaching the final stages of writing and publishing my second book and follow up to Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest, and I’m keen to have your feedback about the book cover.

The book will be called Feet and Wheels to Chimborazo, and describes the build-up and journey that Edita and I took in 2017, when we reached the summit of Chimborazo in Ecuador after cycling from sea level, a journey that we believe may have been a world first.

The book includes my introduction to the country and...

Did Edward Whymper make the first ascent of Carihuairazo?

From the south side, it’s not easy to see which summit of Carihuairazo is the highest. Once an active volcano, there must have been a time in the distant past when this mountain was huge. It has long become extinct and has eroded so much that all that remains is a jagged outline of summits like a set of rotten teeth – not at all volcano-like.

Rising over 5,000m, it’s a substantial peak, but it is often overlooked because of its close proximity to the giant snow-capped volcano of Chimborazo (6...

Dreams of Maiella: a shepherd’s life in the Apennines

I haven’t talked much about Maiella, the high tableland on the eastern side of the Apennines in central Italy. But recently I read a book about it that brought back a few memories. I made three visits there with Edita to climb Monte Amaro and its surrounding peaks from various directions.

Maiella is dominated by Monte Amaro and its adjacent peaks and ridges, which form a network of plateaus over 2,500m in height. The plateau itself is like the surface of the moon – grey, rocky, and mostly dev...

Drohmo Ri: The Movie

It’s almost the first anniversary of the day Edita and I climbed Drohmo Ri in the Kangchenjunga region of Nepal, and I thought I’d celebrate the occasion with this entertaining video.

Despite having over 4,000 subscribers to my YouTube channel (who are these people?) I’m very much a writer rather than a videographer, and I don’t taking my video editing especially seriously.

You could call me a proponent of the 1980s Blue Peter school of video editing. Give me an old washing-up liquid bottle,...

Swearing in travel writing: when is it acceptable?

[WARNING: ADULT CONTENT – THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS RUDE WORDS – NUNS AND VICARS SHOULD CLICK AWAY NOW.]

In the course of writing my first book Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest a few years ago, I asked my 74-year-old father to beta read it and provide feedback prior to publication.

The book was aimed at a broad audience – I wanted it to be accessible to readers of all ages. Of course, this didn’t mean readers of all ages would enjoy it equally. My father made the following observation, which h...

Is Dervla Murphy most admired for her writing or her travelling style?

I’ve recently been reading In Ethiopia With a Mule, about a trek across – you guessed it – Ethiopia, in the company of a mule, by the famously brave travel writer Dervla Murphy.

Dervla undertook her journey in the 1960s, crossing 1,024 miles of Ethiopia’s mountainous interior on foot from Adwa in the far north, to Sali Dingai, a short distance north-east of Addis Ababa. For the most part she travelled alone (apart from the eponymous mule, whom she named Jock), carrying little more than food s...

Undiscovered Ecuador: Cotacachi and the Guinea Pig Lake

I passed another milestone last week, when I completed draft four of my book about our journey to reach the summit of Chimborazo in Ecuador starting from sea level, travelling only by foot or bike. The fourth draft involved another round of edits based on feedback from a team of beta readers.

I have now sent the book to my editor Alex Roddie – just recently returned from an adventure of his own to walk the Cape Wrath Trail in winter. Alex will give the book a further polish with a round of li...

What happened to Alison Hargreaves on K2?

The story of British climber Tom Ballard, who has been missing on Nanga Parbat in Pakistan for ten days now, is a particularly poignant one. Twenty-four years ago his mother Alison Hargreaves also lost her life on another mountain in Pakistan, the infamous K2.

Her story hit the headlines for the wrong reasons. The media focused on the fact that she was a mother, who selfishly pursued her dream of climbing high mountains instead of looking after her family – a criticism that rarely gets levell...

Introduction to the Apennines – Part 5: Monti della Laga

I was lucky to live and work for a year in Rome, where the highest peaks of the Apennines were accessible within a couple of hours. It was a hill walker’s paradise, with a feast of mountains of great variety, and reliable weather.

Had they been that close to London, those peaks would be crawling with walkers, but this 1,200km chain of mountains that forms the spine of Italy is undiscovered, despite being criss-crossed with hiking trails.

There isn’t much information available in English. We s...

Why I don’t give away free books to readers in exchange for reviews

Today I’m going to republish a post I originally wrote for the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), an industry body for authors who for various reasons have decided to publish our books independently.

The post concerns the practice of giving readers free books in exchange for a review on Amazon. It’s something I don’t do for reasons I describe in the post, but the practice is widespread among fellow authors and even commercial publishers, many of whom consider it perfectly legitimate.

Rev...