Paul Steele is the founder of BaldHiker and the voice behind many of the 1,400+ articles on this site.
He started BaldHiker in 2010 as a personal blog, driven by a simple desire to share authentic, first-person stories and photos from his walks and travels.
Over the last decade, that passion has taken him to all seven continents, resulting in a rich and diverse library of content that forms the heart of the brand.
From the mountains of the English Lake District to the vast landscapes of North America and the sacred mountains of Asia, Paul’s articles are a testament to a life lived outdoors.
He doesn’t just write about places; he explores them. This commitment to personal experience is what makes his walking guides so detailed and his travel stories so compelling.
This love for adventure is backed by an unparalleled level of expertise forged over 17 years of service in the British Army. Joining at 16, Paul developed a deep understanding of navigation, leadership, and outdoor safety in some of the world’s most demanding environments.
This background is the foundation of trust that underpins every article he writes and every guided walk he leads.
As an Oldham lad at heart, you’ll often find him exploring the Pennine hills or the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, but his spirit of adventure continues to take him—and his readers—to every corner of the globe.
Today, Paul channels this extensive experience into BaldHiker’s shared mission. Together with Creative & Wellbeing Lead Zoe Potter, he creates experiences that fuse invigorating adventure with restorative wellbeing.
His goal, both in his writing and his guiding, is to take the strain of planning and navigation away, allowing people to confidently discover the joy and restorative power of nature for themselves.
We all know the old hiker’s adage: look after your feet, and your feet will look after you. Yet, how…
There is something undeniably magnetic about a waterfall. The distant rumble that grows into a roar, the moisture hanging thick…
There is a specific kind of silence you only find in Great Langdale. It’s a valley carved by glaciers, guarded…
There are two ways to experience Windermere. There’s the bustling, ice-cream-and-ferry energy of the shoreline, and then there’s the quiet,…
If you mention walking in the Brecon Beacons—or Bannau Brycheiniog as we should rightly call it—most people immediately picture the…
Whenever I find myself wandering through the rolling landscapes of Carmarthenshire, I am constantly reminded of how layered the history…
Spring in the UK is a funny old thing. One minute it’s snowing, the next the daffodils are out, and…
There is a specific kind of hunger that sets in after a long day on the fells. It isn’t just…
There are few things in nature that stop us in our tracks quite like a rainbow. We’ve all been there—trudging…
If you ask any walker to sketch the skyline of the Shropshire Hills, they will likely draw the long, flat…
There is a moment in late February when the British winter finally breaks. It isn’t marked by a change in…
There is a specific kind of joy in unfolding a map of the British Isles and spotting a name that…
