Hi, I’m Chris Waldron. This is where I ramble on about walking in the mountains, wild camping and occasionally some photography or bushcraft.

I’ve recently closed down my joinery company, which I spent nearly 20 years building, so I could go all in on my outdoors business.

I started wild camping 34 years ago in a Force 10 (we called it camping then), usually in local parks, the woods or not far from the car parked as high up into the hills as we could get. When I started hiking in the Lake District I felt like I was at home and couldn’t get enough so I summited the 214 Wainwrights.

Spending so much time in the mountains, I decided I may as well get the Mountain Leader Award. Between training and assessment, they say you should have 4 nights camping experience – I had 38! and instead of 40 walking days, I had well over 100. The thing is, it was all to escape the stress of running a company and not doing what I loved. I was running away.

Eventually, after teaching hundreds of hikers how to navigate in the mountains, and running lots of events and retreats (some with a good friend, John Beamson, also an ML), I thought it best to focus on the joinery business and close it down. That’s done with now so 2026 is my true year of freedom.

I’ve been selling maps for about 10 years now and this year have designed what I call True Contour Maps of my favourite mountains and the 214 CheckMap for hikers who want to tick off the Wainwrights.

I’m married with children – so if you buy something, know that you are supporting a family (and a small business) by doing that.

Have a read of my blogs about Walking The Wainwrights and wild camping. Maybe I’ll see you in the hills some time.