Love of Scotland

Beaches of East Lothian

2012-01-17T00:22:00.000-08:00

One of my favourite walks near where we live - perhaps the favourite - is along the coast from North Berwick to Aberlady (or sometimes from Aberlady to North Berwick!) It is a walk of constant interest, a sucession of sandy beaches separated by sea-sculpted rocks - sandstone, volcanic and conglomerate. Yesterday was clear and calm - the first really good day since mid December - with a

Old Scans

2012-01-10T06:23:00.000-08:00

Clearing out my parents garage, I found some old CDs I thought were lost for ever. The main excitement is being reunited with some songs I had lost and hadn't been able to recreate (like The People With Computers in Their Head), but along with my music CDs were a couple with scans of slides of Scottish scenes.When I first created loveofscotland.com as a project to fill my spare time when on leave

New Year Hill

2012-01-05T03:32:00.000-08:00

This winter break has been dominated by high winds and rain, the first break in the bad weather coming on the morning of 1 January - we managed to get out for a quick burst of sun before the rain closed in again. Determined to get a bit more fresh air, we headed up the Pentlands the day after.Allermuir Hill from Caerketton:What a tonic to be outside in the fresh air and sunshine! Midlothian skies

Bliadhna nan Gaoithean

2012-01-03T05:31:00.000-08:00

The Bawbag Aftermath:Given that high winds have prevented me from travelling to Glasgow today as planned, perhaps now is the time to recall the wind earlier this winter, that was quickly nicknamed Hurricane Bawbag. A trip to Helensburgh over Christmas revealed plenty of debris still littering the sea front, seaweed and driftwood heaved onto the promenade and concrete seats along the promenade

A New Year Toast

2011-12-31T23:08:00.000-08:00

Go online and you will see any number of Scottish toasts for Hogmanay. I must confess I haven't heard any of them. So try this one for size:"May the road rise up to meet you and the wind blow at your back, may a moose ne'er leave your cupboards wi a tear drap in it's ee, may your life be full of freends and never need them, may your enemies dool your fortune and lose their continence, may you

Edinburgh Pubs

2011-12-29T08:39:00.000-08:00

It gets dark by 4pm. The wind is howling outside, with fierce bursts of rain.And there is nothing entertaining on the telly. Thoughts turn to a welcoming hostelry, somewhere to take a few pints and meet some random strangers. In the countryside, you have to travel several miles to your nearest watering hole. But in the city, there is always one nearby, a

St Abbs Head

2011-12-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

If like me you grew up on the west coast, where the hills meet the sea in an island-studded eternity of summer twilight, you'll probably scoff at the supposed beauties of the southeast coast. What possible interest is there beyond Edinburgh? This is an attitude born of ignorance. For the coast of Berwickshire is one of Scotland's little known highlights. Burnmouth, Coldingham Bay, St Abbs

Love of Scotland Castles Calendar

2011-12-13T01:59:00.000-08:00

Having gone through my pictures, I've decided to offer one more calendar for 2012, this one based on castles - Scotland has such a variety of castles, from rock citadels like Dumbarton or Stirling, to romantically situated curtain walls and tower houses of Argyll, to the grim Border peels like Smailholm, or the fairytale homes of Aberdeenshire, or powerful medieval ruins like Caerlaverock or

The Love of Scotland Calendar

2011-12-09T01:15:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Alan Scott's Pictorial Calendar, I've decided to offer a Loveofscotland calendar for 2012, featuring images and text from the site. With four years worth of pictures though, I couldn't decide which articles or pictures to feature - so instead of going for classic views I've gone for impressions of Scotland, like the picture of spindrift below which is January's picture:Spindrift on

Carpe Diem

2011-12-06T01:42:00.001-08:00

Another day closer to death. And what a day! Dawn pink on Pentland and Ochil snow, ice on the side of the roads, blue sky above. If you are currently sitting at a computer, with a rare fine winter day outside, is what you are doing really that important? Of course not. I'm off.

Hard Times, Golden Times

2011-12-05T00:38:00.000-08:00

It is the time of year again when sunglasses are needed in Scotland - thanks not to baking heat but to the low angle of the winter sun shining off wet roads, making driving difficult. There is a photographer's saying that the 'golden time' for landscapes is one hour before sunset and one hour after sunrise - I have an image in my head of landscape photographers mooching around summer Scotland all

Morven on the Last Autumn Day

2011-11-30T09:11:00.000-08:00

Morven, a Corbett between the Dee and Don, provided an easy day's walk after big Ben Macdui. An Aberdonian in the Fife Arms in Braemar on Saturday night recommended the southern approach: and so after meeting Miles in Ballater, we drove a couple of miles east to a ruined chapel and walked up through woods on a good path in late morning sunshine. Morven is a far lusher hill than Macdui, covered

Ben Macdui

2011-11-23T06:21:00.000-08:00

In my youth I was always wary of the Cairngorms. Tragic tales in the media each winter of exposure and death, and the description of the 4,000ft high plateau as 'sub-arctic tundra' gave me and my early walking companions a healthy respect for the Cairngorms. It was not a place to mess around with in bad weather, as you were a long way from shelter should anything go

Fife Lomonds and the Bonnet Stane

2011-11-17T03:39:00.000-08:00

After a washout summer, autumn is serving up beautiful mild weekend days. At the risk of turning November into Little Hill Month, we went for a short jaunt out to the Lomonds of Fife. The first time I came here, years ago, I was only interested in bagging, taking the most efficient (but dullest) route up the two Lomonds from the col car park, the most intriguing sight being the village of

Allermuir Hill

2011-11-12T03:38:00.000-08:00

Following on from my previous post about taking advantage of sunshine! One of my favourite walks in the area I now live is up Allermuir Hill. It is short enough to be done in almost any 4hr-free block of time, morning, afternoon or evening, yet just high and windy enough to feel like a proper hillwalk. This is where I come when I don't have time to go further afield. It was where I came to

Taking Advantage of Sunshine

2011-11-07T09:32:00.000-08:00

One of the things that years of hillwaking has primed me to do is, at the drop of the hat, take full advantage of good weather, especially in winter - wolf down breakfast, leave the house untidy, have the rucksack semi-permanently stocked, that kind of thing. It might cloud over and start raining by lunchtime. I may not be as cunning a fox as the blueskyscotland guys, but long experience

Drumlanrig

2011-11-04T00:57:00.000-07:00

According to Billy Connolly, the mark of an intellectual is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger. That cultural reference is before my time. I am of the vintage that hears of the Madonna of the Yarnwinder and finds the Madonna With the Big Boobies popping insistently to mind.The Madonna of the Yarnwinder (Wikipedia):The Madonna of the Yarnwinder

The Stranger's Tale: a True Story

2011-10-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

The stranger in the bothy had been largely quiet up to this point. The rest of us had been bouncing stories off each other, stories of ghosts and vampires, of weird happenings in lonely bothies, the traditional stories we knew and loved that gave the familiar smiling shiver on each telling. These were stories best told by the flickering bothy fire, tales for whisky fuelled good humour and

Hitch Hiking Tales: Part 2

2011-10-19T00:42:00.000-07:00

I stood at the lay-by near Balloch hoping to catch a lift on a Saturday evening. A man stopped. "Where are you going?" he asked. "Fort William." I replied. "Aye OK," he said, I'll go there!"I got in. His wife was abroad with the kids for three weeks at her mothers and he had taken to going for long drives at the weekend, no particular plan in mind. He talked away, glad of the company. He loved

Hitch hiking Tales: Part 1

2011-10-13T04:41:00.000-07:00

I used to hitchhike regularly, as explained in an earlier post, the advantages being meeting interesting people, and not having to wait on a bus. If a bus was due in the next hour, it was always worth hitching: perhaps a lift would be procured and I'd get home sooner and cheaper. Here are some of my encounters from the lost art of hitchhiking...----------------------------------------------------

The Hugh MacDiarmid Memorial

2011-10-04T04:09:00.000-07:00

Christopher Murray Grieve was a complex and thrawn man. Born in 1892, he came to maturity as a writer in a Scotland that was experiencing an identity crisis. Both the Empire and the Depression were at their height. More Scots than ever were out of work and Catholic Irish immigrants were popular scapegoats. Meanwhile emigration of native Scots to Canada, the USA and Australia was at its highest

Poem: Aberdeen

2011-09-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

My memories of Scotland's third city are almost all good. My first decent job was working offshore, and in Aberdeen the sun always seemed to shine on the incorruptible granite. It was cold in winter winds, but more welcoming to me than the wet, decaying streets of Glasgow that reeked of unemployment and self-doubt, streets which I had gladly fled. On the other hand, Aberdeen was stony soil for a

Midlothian Doors Open Day

2011-09-16T05:17:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered what was behind the facade of that big imposing house in your neighbourhood? Wonder what goes on behind the doors of the local masonic lodge? Want to see inside the local fire station? Then Doors Open Day is for you! Last weekend was Midlothian's Doors Open Day, and we availed ourselves of the opportunity to see Arniston House for free. This estate has been home to the Dundases of

The Mysterious Poetree and Other Sculptures...

2011-09-14T08:27:00.001-07:00

Not a personal post but wanted to share this! Beautiful paper sculptures have been appearing at cultural spaces all over Edinburgh, made from books. Nobody knows who the artist is...Read more at:http://community.thisiscentralstation.com/_Mysterious-paper-sculptures/blog/4991767/126249.html

Poem: The Scots Crisis of Confidence

2011-09-09T07:46:00.001-07:00

I've been reading The Scots Crisis of Confidence recently, a book by Carol Craig that makes a great deal of generalisations about the nation and the psychological make-up of its inhabitants. It is largely a tract of self-flagellation. Yet part of it rings true, especially where she talks about entrepreneurial culture. She quotes David Landes' The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, a book that

The Three Peaks of Yorkshire

2011-09-02T00:10:00.000-07:00

One of my minor life ambitions - not as big as owning a seaplane, but bigger than wanting to go up Duns Law - has been the Three Peaks of Yorkshire. This is a big day's walk - roughly 25 route-dependent miles and 5,000ft of ascent, but is within the grasp of most fit people, given good weather and comfy shoes. It is easier than the 'national' Three Peaks of Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon,

The Carsaig Arches

2011-08-26T00:57:00.000-07:00

Some places feel like they are in the middle of nowhere. Carsaig is not like that. It is more profound than that. It is a parallel universe that exists in its own space, separate from the rest of the world. Perhaps it was a place like Carsaig Sorley Maclean had in mind in An Ceann Thall:An ceum a thug thu mu dheireadh gu fàsaich an ràin bhaoith, far nach cluinn thu ach magadh aig sruthan, eabar

My Favourite Half-Day

2011-08-19T04:06:00.000-07:00

One of the nice things about living in Scotland is that wherever you live, it is usually possible to find a pleasant walk or cycle of between two and four hours just a stone's throw from your door. These days in Midlothian my favourite half-days are Allermuir Hill from Glencorse, the Water of Leith, or the River Esk from Roslin to Mavisbank. But of all my favourite Scottish half-days, the best

Scottish Films: the Definitive List

2011-08-13T03:34:00.000-07:00

Occasionally the subject of Scottish films crops up on the internet, on radio chat shows, in the pub, etc. Not actual films made in Scotland, like Trainspotting: but puns on Hollywood movies. I would like to take the opportunity to post a definitive list of these films. I won't include ones that are already implicit in the title, like Crocodile Dundee, or High Plains Drifter. Or Waking Ned. Nor

An Old Town Encounter

2011-08-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

"Free comedy! Free stand up!" he said, trying to thrust a leaflet into my hand. "Sorry," I replied, "I have no sense of humour."

Festival time!

2011-08-04T00:20:00.000-07:00

Rain-swollen gutters, chewing gum and broken glass, drookit beggars by the cash machines, buses washing pavements at the pothole puddles, small herds of tourists in polyethene ponchos, a dripping mass of humanity drenched in rain of West Coast luxuriance; junkie-thin young Londoners in pork-pie hats or sandals, puffy with sleep-deprivation and sallow with booze; peeling comedy posters, collapsing

International Whisky

2011-08-01T04:12:00.000-07:00

Think of France, and what comes to mind? Baguettes, small dogs, squeaky bicycles, wine. What probably wouldn't spring to mind is whisky: brandy perhaps, but not whisky. The French are so protective of their own regional produce (to the extent that they had cognac, champagne and bordeaux enshrined in the Treaty of Versailles) that you would not think they would try to steal another country's

Island of Gulls

2011-07-18T04:17:00.000-07:00

Summer is the time for boat trips and islands. The premier trips in the Forth are to the Isle of May and to Bass Rock: I've tried a couple of times to book a trip to the Bass but the swell has always been too bad.Closer to shore, and less affected by the weather, is Inchcolm. This island is named after St Columba (Colm Cille in Gaelic) who supposedly visited around 567. A now-ruined monastery was

Tall Ships Race (1999)

2011-07-11T02:56:00.000-07:00

The Tall Ships Race called into Greenock this weekend - I had wanted to make it along on Saturday but other commitments reared their head so these pictures are from the last time they berthed at Greenock in 1999 - fortunately the weather was just as good this weekend. A shame I am now in the east coast where Edinburgh endured flooding on Friday and Saturday!Approaching Greenock:In 1999 I took the

The Garden Party

2011-07-06T04:13:00.000-07:00

A well-fed man in cherry-picker trousers and shiny shoes takes off his jacket to reveal braces underneath. Another man stoats by with an 18-inch feather in his hat and a longbow. Military dress uniforms or show suits for the men, floral dresses and pastel coloured hats for the women. An upper-class voice is talking about the shooting this year. This is outside in the car park with little picnic

Hailes Castle

2011-06-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

The main thing about Hailes Castle is the fact that I had never heard of it before.Out on a bike ride on quiet roads in East Lothian, we came across this intriguing ruin. Approaching Hailes Castle:What was it? Hailes Castle, on the banks of the River Tyne, just east of Haddington. We took a look round.Never mind that it dates from the 13th century and has featured strongly in the story of

Touch Rugby World Cup 2011

2011-06-24T00:17:00.000-07:00

Touch rugby is a fast-growing minority sport, and is my favourite team game. It is minimal contact, requires minimal equipment, and can be played by both sexes, even in mixed teams. It is very sociable. Imagine normal rugby with the pack and tackles removed, leading to a faster-paced game, based more on skill than brute strength. For a glasses wearer like me, unable to head a football or get

Knapdale Beavers and the Bluebells of Argyll

2011-06-13T04:14:00.000-07:00

Having seen ospreys near Kirkcudbright and dolphins in the Moray Firth recently, we fancied trying our luck at seeing an elusive recent reintroduction, beavers. Once native to Scotland, they were hunted to extinction centuries ago. But now they are back! Beavers were here!A few families of Telemark beaver were introduced to Knapdale a few years ago, and they have started to breed. North Knapdale

70 Wild Miles

2011-06-06T23:01:00.000-07:00

And so to the big event I have been training for for a while - 70 Wild Miles. This was my recovery target after damaging my knee a year ago. But 70 Wild Miles is not a normal triathlon - the 47 mile bike ride from White Corries to Taynuilt, the 10 mile canoe up Loch Etive, and the 13 mile run back up Glen Etive towards White Corries is for charity - CLIC Sargent, the children's cancer charity.I

Day Out in Linlithgow

2011-06-01T06:31:00.000-07:00

Linlithgow is one of the nicest towns in Scotland - a rose in the dungheap for some, located as it is in West Lothian, home of the shale bing and departed industry.Linlithgow however has the history as one of the first four royal burghs, the location by Linlithgow Loch and the canal, the real ale pubs and the leafy avenues that other towns in West Lothian lack. If you meet someone middle-class

On the Moray Coastal Trail

2011-05-23T03:58:00.000-07:00

Lossie Beach:Having read Cameron McNeish's description of the Moray Coastal Trail in the Scots Magazine, a two-day coastal daunder from Forres to Cullen (or vice-versa), we were keen to see it for ourselves.Lossie Harbour:Rather than doing the entire walk, we walked a taster from Lossiemouth to Findhorn. I don't know if this is the best bit of the trail, but it was certainly eye-openingly

Moray Firth Dolphins

2011-05-17T02:58:00.000-07:00

When you are near the Moray Firth, one of the things you should try to see is the pod of dolphins that inhabits this stretch of water. They are the biggest dolphins in the world apparently - bulky due to the fat reserves demanded by their chilly northern home! We were told that the best place on land to see dolphins was from Chanonry Point at high tide, where the Moray Firth narrows between two

Dark River

2011-05-09T06:24:00.000-07:00

Since reading Jamie Whittle's book White River, I've been keen to visit the River Findhorn, especially since realising it lies on the same fault line as the Etive-Taynish gap on my preferred Coast-to-Coast walk. A recent trip to Randolph's Leap enabled me to fulfil this ambition. The first thing that struck me, apart from the beauty of the general situation, was that the river was not so much

Election Communication Manifesto

2011-05-05T01:06:00.000-07:00

Good morning, let me introduce myself before you toss this leaflet straight into the recycling along with all the other election leaflets, flyers for fast food restaurants, etc. Pause a while and read, for you hold in your hand a communication of originality and vigour the propals entailed within which I hope will persuade you to vote for the only candidate of true vision in this constituency,

Thingabouts: a Royal Wedding

2011-05-01T04:09:00.000-07:00

As far as royal weddings go I have no interest, and assumed most people in this country felt the same. This impression has been easy to sustain as I have been spared the royal wedding gossip that has surely taken over TV in the last month. Indeed on Friday I had hoped to be on Ailsa Craig, making the most of the public holiday. But due to circumstances outwith my control, we were still in Moray

New Bridges on the Clyde

2011-04-27T07:14:00.000-07:00

When driving on the M8 motorway, one of the few highlights is crossing the Kingston Bridge. For a brief moment a view opens out, up and down the Clyde in the centre of Glasgow. It has been so long since I have strolled along the Broomielaw that there have been a couple of new bridges built in the meantime. It was high time I returned to old haunts.The Squiggly Bridge:The first bridge is

Threave Castle

2011-04-21T00:23:00.000-07:00

My last post was on the coast at Kirkcudbright. On the way back we visited Threave Castle as well. Threave panorama:Threave was built by the norsely-named Archibald the Grim, 3rd Earl of Douglas in the 1370s on a small island in the River Dee, using the river as a natural moat. This gives a very pleasant approach: after a walk of a mile from the car park, you get ferried over to the island.

Kirkcudbright Coast

2011-04-14T08:19:00.000-07:00

For an April taste of summer, the place to go is the Scottish Riviera - a.k.a. the Solway coast, and its central town, Kirkcudbright. Kirkcudbright is an attractive town at the head of one of Scotland's few rias, a coastal area of extensive mud that floods every tide. Kirkcudbright:Kirkcudbright Bay is a paradise for birdwatchers, with a few sandy beaches, guarded at its seaward end by low,

Funky Train

2011-04-08T02:51:00.000-07:00

December 2010. Not only did we have a lot of snow but I learnt the hard way one of modern life's great lessons - *back up your data*.Something simple - a laptop balanced precariously on a coffee table falling onto a carpet - resulted in a hard drive crash. Everything was gone. When had I last backed up? The start of March 2010. A haiku ran through my head:With searching comes loss and the

Beinn a' Chrulaiste

2011-04-03T04:16:00.000-07:00

In my last post out and about, I waxed lyrical on Meall Mor, a tiny hill with a huge view. There are plenty more in that glorious area between Loch Etive and Badenoch: my favourite probably being Beinn a' Chrulaiste.Beinn a' Chrulaiste is a Corbett, a steep but dumpy hill surrounded by the supermodels of the Scottish hills, the Buachaille, Bidean nam Bian, Aonach Eagach, and Ben Nevis. It is

Weekend Fix Reviews

2011-03-30T05:35:00.000-07:00

My entertaining book about hillwalking - the Weekend Fix - has been out for over a year now, but has only recently started to garner reviews. I'm pleased to say they are positive - although I would tell you that, wouldn't I!From The Angry Corrie noting favourably that 'the great man' (Hamish Brown) had provided an introduction and concluding with "It is a rare volume that could inspire me to

The Blackbird and the Rowan Tree

2011-03-23T00:42:00.000-07:00

A blackbird in our garden has taken to singing a recognisable tune, over and over: The Bonny Lass o Fyvie. Several times an hour, amongst what seems like otherwise random warblings, the unmistakable first five notes pour out from our troubadour on the telegraph pole. Along with the days getting longer and warmer, the song of the blackbird is one of the sure-fire indicators of spring.Did I say the

Above Glen Lochay

2011-03-17T01:56:00.000-07:00

A misty, dull day. The car wound its way along the Glen Lochay road towards the day's objective: Beinn nan Oighreag. It is 2983ft high though, according to the SMC guide The Corbetts and Other Scottish Hills, was resurveyed in the 1930s and temporarily found to be a Munro, resulting in "a flurry of activity unequalled to the present." And this was the 1930s! The area certainly felt quiet enough

Fort William in the Rain

2011-03-12T03:14:00.000-08:00

Due to the nature of the superlative scenery and possibilities for outdoor pursuits in Lochaber, its main town, Fort William, is a major tourist hub: but despite this, it is not somewhere people stop for long. It is somewhere hillwalkers pass through on their way to more interesting places, stopping only to buy chips from the takeaway and refill the car with petrol. This is probably because the

The Birdman of Ardmore Point

2011-03-08T04:26:00.000-08:00

On a grey, soft, windless, listless day, the sort of day when time seems frozen and spring is just marking time, we took a walk around the Ardmore Peninsula. This is a special yet neglected place, the western end of the Highland boundary fault that runs the length of Scotland from just near Stonehaven on the east coast. The rocks here are the same conglomerate so noticeable on Conic Hill on the

Crail to Anstruther

2011-02-25T04:04:00.000-08:00

Unlike Cameron McNeish in Scotland’s 100 Best Walks, I already knew how picturesque the villages of East Fife are: but like him, I was not prepared a few years ago for just how enjoyable the Fife Coastal Path was to walk, especially the two-day section between St Andrews and Elie.Crail Harbour:My last post took you to St Andrews. So while we are in the area, why not have a look round more of the

St Andrews

2011-02-15T04:04:00.000-08:00

At this time of year - the first day of spring for some - thoughts turn to love. For me, ever since a mid-February family wedding in St Andrews, thoughts turn to that grey town on its low cliff between two fine beaches. East Sands on a sunny day:I have always liked St Andrews: it has strong childhood memories of family holidays, of playing on the East Sands, investigating rock pools, eating chips

The John Buchan Way

2011-02-06T09:16:00.000-08:00

In the old days, forty-plus years ago, there was the Pennine Way. This was Britain's first official long distance path (LDP), and was followed by the likes of the Cornwall Coastal Path and, in 1980, the West Highland Way. Further LDPs followed in England, with its tradition of restricted access to the countryside, but in Scotland there was not the same demand. The longer, harder, and less scenic

The Wise Woman and the Goat

2011-02-04T09:14:00.000-08:00

This time of year reminds me of the tale of the wise woman and the goat.It's great when you realise it has started to get dark at 5pm rather than 4pm. If I get in to work early, for 8am, then through the wonders of flexitime I can potentially be home before dark! It's still dark setting off in the morning, but each day rolls the darkness back a minute or two further. What a tremendous feeling,

Poem: Dawn Rider

2011-02-01T06:31:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've done a poem on here. And what better time than in the afterglow of Burns' Night? In the aftermath of injury I've been getting the bus to work rather than cycling - am only just back on the bike - and have been envious of those I see shooting past early in the morning from my bus.Bone cracker frost and sliver moonFirst cuppa tea can't come too sooneyelids gummed at bus

The Great Neep Hunt

2011-01-28T06:31:00.000-08:00

Burns Night was approaching. I went to Tesco to get neeps - but they had sold out. I went to the corner shop - they didn't do them. At lunchtime at work the next day, I went to another Tesco. No neeps. On the way home from work on the 25th I popped in to a Co-op. Sold out. Neeps, neeps! My Burns Night for some neeps! The great neep hunt was not going well. I was neepless in Newbattle.My guests

Stirling in Winter

2011-01-24T01:48:00.000-08:00

This is Staneybreeks. He stands proud on the belltower of George Cowane's 17th century hospital. When he hears the bells of Hogmanay - so parents tell their credulous children - he dances a wee jig. Any child who stays up late enough on Hogmanay is liable to disprove this story. On confronting their parents, they are told, with devastating adult logic, the obvious truth: auld Staneybreeks has

The Ultimate Challenge vs the Coast to Coast

2011-01-18T04:23:00.000-08:00

Late every May, hundreds of walkers complete the Ultimate Challenge: a sociable walk from the West Highlands to the east coast of Scotland, starting and ending at a number of permitted points. Conceived by Hamish Brown, it is now organised and promoted by The Great Outdoors magazine, and so has now become known, with unavoidable tautology, as the TGO Challenge.Loch Nevis - on a potential route

Cairngorm for Sunset

2011-01-12T03:08:00.000-08:00

Great to be back at work, isn't it? Fortunately there are weekends and holidays to come, and memories to sustain us. Memories like a snowy sunset on Cairngorm.Sunset silhouette at Cairngorm cairn:We started at the Coire Cas car park - full of skiers' cars - and took the path along the base of the Northern Corries, a popular and easily accessible winter climbing area. I've tried some easy winter

A New Year Hill

2011-01-04T15:34:00.001-08:00

Hill bagging is a funny game. You slowly work your way through whatever list of hills you are bagging, and whilst reading your guidebook note in advance that some look boring. However, some day in the future, they Must Be Climbed. Why? Because they are on a list somebody made. No other reason. They wouldn't be on your own personal list if you thought in advance they might be boring. Meall

New Year in Scotland

2010-12-31T02:55:00.000-08:00

Scotland in winter. The snow has melted, leaving dead, saturated grass, brown leaves turning to mush, tree branches bare sketches in a grey, dark sky. Stained concrete and grey harl of housing weeps with water. Roads are lined with crusty piles of old snow dirtied by salt and grit. Brown rivers dash down gorges, too dark to photograph easily even at midday. In the city, a white-haired drunk sits

You're Not Alone - a Christmas Song

2010-12-24T15:05:00.000-08:00

This song, from my forthcoming album, is for those who have lost someone they love recently - or who have never loved at all. For those alone tomorrow. For those who need uplifted by a good tune. Comfort and peace to you all.You're Not Alone

Grangemouth and the CIA

2010-12-17T00:22:00.000-08:00

Ask an American tourist what the main sights in Britain are and they might reply: Buckingham Palace, Stonehenge, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Dove Cottage, the Loch Ness Monster. It is unlikely that Grangemouth petroleum refinery would be high on their list of priorities.Beautiful Grangemouth:Which is why the CIA World Factbook is so illuminating.The CIA, historically, has furthered US interests

Winter Walking in the Ochils

2010-12-10T06:07:00.000-08:00

This weekend just gone, a bothy trip up north was cancelled due to bad weather conditions on the roads. But carpe diem! We took the opportunity of a fine Saturday to stretch our legs and get some fresh air and scenery in the modest braes of the Ochils.Ochil escarpment from Abbey Craig:Although these Central Belt hills are low compared to the Highlands - 721m at their highest on Ben Cleuch - they

A tour of the Scottish Parliament Building

2010-12-04T14:42:00.000-08:00

In 1707, the long-chreished dream of Stuart royalty - a United Kingdom - was formed, when the Scottish Parliament voted to disband itself. Its members were absorbed into the English Parliament under the Act of Union. In 1999, due to popular pressure and a sucessful referendum, the Parliament was reconvened. Five years later it got its own new building. The building was delivered over time and

St Andrew's Day Snow

2010-11-30T12:49:00.000-08:00

Whilst some lucky folk this week have been experiencing some of the finest sunsets they will ever see in their lives, from the likes of Rois-bheinn's summit or wee Meall an Fheadan, I have been convalescing at home with a bad cold then struggling in to work.Waiting for a bus that is't coming:Sledging:Even with a cold I had to get out and see a bit of the surroundings, changed utterly by the thick

Four Lochs of Argyll

2010-11-25T02:09:00.000-08:00

A trip to visit my grandma's old house in Innellan.From Helensburgh the road immediately crosses into the Highlands at Loch Lomond, famed in song. Ben Lomond's bald frosted head rises above knobbled moor and skirts of forest, reflected in the still waters.Two miles from Tarbet on Loch Lomond, the road skirts the head of Loch Long, a canoeist breaking the mirror-smooth surface.Loch Long:Over the

Ascending Shalloch on Minnoch

2010-11-21T04:33:00.001-08:00

A solo trip to South Ayrshire for another rehabilitation walk. This time to my last Corbett in Southern Scotland, Shalloch on Minnoch. This is an unfrequented and desolate part of the country, the hills lacking the tourist-attracting character of the Highlands, the damp streets of former mining villages threading steep hillsides. The village of Straiton is the exception, with plenty signposted

Loch Katrine and the Trossachs

2010-11-08T08:56:00.001-08:00

I'd always found the Trossachs a disappointment. Long trumpeted as a beautiful area, this was the earliest tourist spot in Scotland. Victorian entrepreneur Thomas Cook brought his first Scottish tours to the Trossachs. People clamoured to see the area that Walter Scott wrote about in The Lady of the Lake, one of the seminal works of the romantic movement. All across Europe the rationalism of the

The Meadows

2010-11-05T07:08:00.000-07:00

November, and the leaves lie thick along the avenues of the Meadows, the park between Edinburgh Uni and the upmarket tenements of Marchmont and Bruntsfield. Students in scarves and dark vintage coats, breath hanging in the dull daylight, walk from class to digs. An enticing steam puffs from the porridge vendor, young people on bikes glide silently past on the cycleways, barely raising a sweat. It

Speyside Fire

2010-10-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

The time of year to go and look at trees has just passed its climax. The pre-dawn skies are storm-rent on the way to work, the stars are out, and silvery, moonlit clouds race across the sky, great masses in the sky ripping in pieces like bits of wet tissue paper. Small branches, leaves still on them, land at my feet.So where will you go at the weekend to look at the trees? The forecast is

The Bute of St Blane

2010-10-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

Away from Mountstuart and Rothesay, the visitor finally feels they are getting into Bute proper. This is the Bute as described in Alex and Bob's Blueskyscotland, a pastoral place of majestic horizons, thanks to its position as a low-lying island in the Firth of Clyde, surrounded by the mainland and other island hills.Dunagoil Bay and Arran:We lunched on the bay next to the prehistoric fort of

Mount Stuart

2010-10-14T03:49:00.000-07:00

From Rothesay (see previous post) the tourist heads, inevitably, to the great house of Mountstuart. In a land studded with the gothic piles of the aristocrats and industrialists of the steam age, Mountstuart stands out as one of the grandest. On the Mountstuart estate:The Stuart monarchs of Scotland traced their origins back to Norman overlords on the Clyde in Renfrew, and the hereditary Earls of

The Isle of Rothesay

2010-10-11T02:36:00.000-07:00

Years ago, on school trips or summer holidays, we would take the Waverley for a daytrip down the Clyde to Rothesay, flinging chips to seagulls and staring in fascination at the Waverley's immaculate steam engines. The Waverley - the last seagoing paddle-steamer in the world - is still going strong, and provides a link with the Victorian past of the Clyde holiday resorts:PS Waverley:Rothesay was

Braes of Lochaber

2010-10-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

Whenever I've been to this area before, it has been on business: the business of climbing hills. However a schedule enforced by a bad knee meant the low-level charms around Roybridge got a look in this weekend.The weather was poor, so no great loss to miss out on some hilltops. I'd often fancied seeing the gorge on the River Spean (there are actually a few), and so we wandered from

Greenock & Lyle Hill

2010-09-28T01:17:00.000-07:00

Situated on a steep north-facing slope, Greenock recieves more rain than anywhere else in the Lowlands. It is the heart of Inverclyde - one of the most deprived areas in Scotland. It was once one of Britain's major ports - hundreds if not thousands of emigrant ships sailed for the New World from Greenock, and it was the major landing point for Glasgow before the dredging of the Clyde. It has a

Approaching Shetland

2010-09-17T05:57:00.000-07:00

Shetland is the most beautiful place in Britain.An April storm. We had been at sea in winds of up to force 10 for a week, sitting on station 62 degrees north in the Norweigan Sector, unable to do any survey work due to the bad weather. It was my first trip offshore and I had been seasick since leaving Aberdeen, subsisting on water and plain toast. Everyone on the boat was at a low ebb. The boat's

The Pope's Visit to Bellahouston

2010-09-13T02:24:00.000-07:00

What is most remarkable is that the Pope should come to Scotland at all.Scotland was one of the most enthusiastic of Protestant nations. In 1560 Parliament was taken over by men who proclaimed a Presbyterian commonwealth.These prophets were not practicioners of the bloated Episcopal flavour of Protestantism favoured by the English, with its bishops, decorated churches and human head (the monarch)

Seacliff Beach

2010-08-31T23:58:00.000-07:00

To Seacliff! This 'secret' beach is an open secret, has been blogged about recently by a number of others (like nothing to see here and Undiscovered Scotland), and appears with regularly in the Saturday sections of local newspapers, every time some journalist discovers it for themselves. Yet its reputation as a secret is understandable. Unsignposted, you don't just happen across Seacliff - you

Blackwells at the Fringe

2010-08-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

I had planned to give you a more interesting post than this one, but DIY has been getting in the way. So apologies in advance.This Thursday 26 August, at 18:00-19:30, there will be 5 x 15-minute book readings from myself and various others. One will talk about his book on Darwin, there will be someone discussing Orkney recipies (with, it is rumoured, free nibbles!), there will also be a choir to

Festival Rules

2010-08-17T08:38:00.000-07:00

Heard in a bar in Central Edinburgh..."Pint of Leffe please.""Sorry, we only do half pints.""Two half pints then.""Do you want that in a pint glass?"".... Aye."

It's All Happening in Edinburgh at the Festival

2010-08-05T02:56:00.000-07:00

This month sees Edinburgh's annual festival and fringe, the world's biggest arts jamboree. Most of the acts come from outside Edinburgh, outside Scotland, but one at least - Shakespeare's The Tempest updated and set on a boat in Leith, features music by an Edinburgh friend, and there is also my performance at Blackwell Writers at the Fringe - free entry, nibbles provided - between 18:00 and 19:30

Westray

2010-07-28T04:19:00.000-07:00

We arrived in the Orkney island of Westray for a daytrip, not intending to do it justice, but at least see some of its highlights. The inter-island games were on and the ferry stopped at another island on the way to Westray, filling up with schoolchildren. "Remember," said the teacher to her pupils, "you're representing your school and your island. Any bad behaviour and everyone will know where

Consider Orkney

2010-07-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

I knackered my knee recently and have been unable to do much in the way of walking or cycling - and definitely not hillwalking or other sweaty sports. Our two-week cycling holiday wasn't going to happen. Where could we go? I fancied somewhere quiet where I could still do some small bimbly walks, Colonsay, Coll, Eigg. But ten days of visiting the same beach might get boring. It had to be somewhere

The Water of Leith

2010-07-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

A walk along the Water of Leith yesterday to have a look at the Anthony Gormley statues that have been placed in the river. There are six in total. Can you find them all? Apparently the one nearest the sea is particularly hard to spot.We didn’t walk the whole of the river: rather its most scenic section, from Canonmills to the Roseburn Viaduct and back.Statue at Gallery of Modern Art:The Water of

Interesting Facts

2010-07-15T06:20:00.000-07:00

Here are some interesting facts I have gathered on my travels. They may or may not be true, but it is too much bother to try to find out:*Chinese people use chopsticks because an emperor decreed they couldn't use spoons any more, as they were all getting indigestion.*St Andrew's bones were moved from Patras to Kinrymont in the 4th century.*The first recorded sighting of Nessie was by St Columba.*

Poem: Auliston

2010-07-11T07:06:00.000-07:00

A poem inspired by the clearance village of Auliston.I came to the promised landthe difficult placewhere a rickle of stones stuck in heart.Land of hardship! Land of space!Land of cowering, fear pinched race!Green beauty pines for want of love.We'll build again, though cold I troththe wind that knifes this hearth.In comfort had you better learn -beware when history burns.

Inniemore and Auliston - Clearance Villages

2010-07-09T07:06:00.000-07:00

Another trip to the romantic-sounding North Atlantic Rainforest. This time I was in Morvern, and having badly damaged my knee playing sport over a month ago was only able to do a short walk. I chose a forest walk to see Inniemore, a village cleared of its tenants in 1824 by the Lowland-based landowner to make way for sheep. Once the tenants were thrown out of their houses by the estate factors,

The Perth Loyal

2010-06-27T06:59:00.000-07:00

One of the bigger black holes in my experience of Scotland is Perth. The ancient capital is a place I have skirted many times on the way to the surrounding countryside, but I have never actually stopped in the city itself to have a look around. Given its place in history and central location in the country this seems an astonishing oversight, so in Perth on business I decided to rectify it. What

The North West Highland Way

2010-06-09T03:20:00.000-07:00

Many years ago I walked from Ardnamurchan Point to Cape Wrath. I called it the 'Northwest Highland Way', but there were few paths on the ground. Coincidentally, soon afterwards a book appeared called the Cape Wrath Trail. Another book appeared soon after that, North to the Cape. My route was quite different to both of these routes, the main difference being that they both started in Fort William

SIPR 6: Arran and home

2010-05-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

Click here for the previous installmentOne o'clock on Monday morning and Graham and I weren't feeling at our best. Getting up in the middle of the night is always unpleasant, and we had had considerably less rest than before Jura. Just as well Arran was the last of the runs! In our befuddled state we messed up navigation leaving Lamlash, and it seemed to take us an age to reach Dun Fionn and the

SIPR 5: Kintyre

2010-05-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

Click here for the previous installmentLeo worked out the timing for our route ahead. "We might just make the tidal gate round the Mull of Kintyre," he said. We sailed into a fog bank approaching the Mull and with visibility down below 50 yards put the engine on for safety. Graeme popped up from the cabin and handed me a novelty horn. "Blow this every two minutes," he said. "Aye, right!" I said,

SIPR 4: Jura

2010-05-27T07:50:00.000-07:00

Click here for the previous installmentGraham and I woke to the sound of the engine. The tide had turned but the wind had not risen. We were motoring to Craighouse and had thus forfeited the race. But we all felt it was the right decision: we were still determined to complete the course and sail when possible, even if we were no longer in the honours. Phosphoresence glowed round the boat, and we

SIPR 3: Corryvreckan

2010-05-27T05:32:00.000-07:00

Click here for the previous installmentLate on Saturday morning I climbed up to the cockpit to see where we were. We'd been gybing like mad and seemed to be moving at a respectable lick. My eyes screwed up in the daylight and picked out a small Calmac ferry... a ruined castle... some white houses... Lochaline! We'd only gone a few miles. Saturday was a long hard sail for the crew: not because of

SIPR 2: Mull

2010-05-27T05:30:00.000-07:00

Click here for the previous installmentThanks to some fine seamanship we'd clawed our way up the field by Salen, Graham and I looking at each other in astonishment as we set off jogging for the first checkpoint. It was really happening! "It would be good to get to the first checkpoint before being passed by the lead team," I said, only for Mark Hartell and Alex Johnson to pass us a few minutes