Mark Richards’ transition from full-time farmer to full-time outdoor writer has been a gradual one. In 1973, with the direct encouragement of Alfred Wainwright, he wrote his first walking guide to the Cotswold Way. Since then he has indulged his pleasure in exploring rural Britain by creating a range of walking guides, including guides to the Peak District, Hadrian’s Wall and more recently the ambitious series of ‘Fellranger’ guides to the Lake District, supported by ‘Great Mountain Days in the Lake District’, a new guide to 50 days out in the high fells.