walkhighlands



Common Ground – Phoebe Sleath

Her watercolours of Scotland’s high mountains – painted in her sketchbook whilst in the field – have deservedly drawn attention for Aberdeen-based geology student and mountain leader Phoebe Sleath (see her website, Sketching from sea to summit). Here she tells of her approach to our great outdoors. Can you begin by telling us a bit about yourself and your background? I’m a Geology PhD Student and creative adventurer living in Aberdeen. I grew up in Herefordshire and, although my parents liked walking and took us on family holidays to Scotland and the Lake District, it took quite a long time

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Posted in Common Ground inteviews, Features, Magazine

Common Ground: Joshua Adeyemi

In our new series, we aim to find out what makes our fellow outdoor enthusiasts tick. Joshua Adeyemi is the man behind the hugely popular talesbyjosh instagram account, through which he shares videos of his adventures in Scotland’s mountains. Josh describes himself first and foremost as a human. He was Ramblers Scotland’s ‘Walking Champion’ in 2023, and is a co-founder of Black Scottish Adventurers, a community-interest company that aims to: introduce more ethnic minorities to the Scottish outdoors, help benefit their physical and mental wellbeing, and educate people about how their daily activities impact their environment and, ultimately, the climate

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Posted in Common Ground inteviews, Features, Magazine

Common Ground: Kirsty Pallas

In our Common Ground series, we hear from the some of the incredible variety of people who enjoy Scotland’s great outdoors. Can you begin by telling us a bit about yourself and your background?  I’m a mountaineering instructor based near Oban, and I work part time for Mountaineering Scotland as a Mountain Safety Advisor, and the rest of the time freelance. This means I do a whole range of work from navigation courses, guiding on the Cuillin Ridge, teaching rock climbing, training up new Mountain Leaders, and delivering winter skills courses. We moved here as a family over 20 years

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Posted in Common Ground inteviews, Features, Magazine, News

Common Ground: Glenn Campbell

In this new series of short interviews, we aim to find out what makes our fellow outdoor enthusiasts tick, the experiences they share and their hopes for the future. Glenn Campbell will be a familiar face to many from his role as Political Editor at BBC Scotland. Following his diagnosis last year, he is currently raising funds for Brain Tumour Research; you can support via his Brain Power JustGiving page. Can you begin by telling us a bit about yourself and your background? I was born and brought up on the beautiful whisky-making island of Islay where my parents ran

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Posted in Common Ground inteviews, Features, Magazine

Our pick: Scotland’s best coastal clifftop walks

If you asked someone to think of archetypal Scottish landscapes, mountains and lochs tend to be at the forefront. Yet Scotland’s convoluted coastline – not just on the mainland but on the many islands too – is no less glorious. Here we pick out a selection of 21 of the finest clifftop walks to be found all around the country. Duirinish peninsula, Isle of Skye Skye’s grandest sea cliffs are on the distant Duirinish peninsula. The highest of all are at Biod an Athair, but it is the coastal walk from Ramasaig to Orbost – around Idrigill Point – that

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Posted in Features, Magazine, Our picks

Bid for Affric & Loch Ness National Park launched

A bid to nominate Affric and Loch Ness as Scotland’s third national park has been launched, with organisers saying the area’s globally important natural and cultural heritage deserves protection and celebration. The latest nomination joins previous expressions of interest for National Park status including for the Tay Forest, Galloway, the Isle of Skye, and Lochaber. The partnership behind the proposal says the Affric and Loch Ness area is one of the world’s most beautiful places, and national park status would benefit current and future generations. It would empower local communities, and open up economic opportunities including nature-based jobs, allowing people of

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Posted in Magazine, Nature, News

Lee Craigie wins top mountain award

Organisers of The Fort William Mountain Festival have announced that Lee Craigie, the mountain bike adventurer and cross country mountain bike racer, nomadic storyteller, author, outdoor therapist, award winning film maker, campaigner for active travel, and champion for women in the outdoors, is the 17th recipient of the Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture, sponsored by JAHAMA Highland Estates. Born in Glasgow to a sporting family, Lee Craigie has always had a passion for exploration and adventure in the outdoors and for promoting its physical and mental health benefits. It was the driving force behind her outdoor education degree and a three year Post Graduate Training in

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Posted in Magazine, News

Conservation and community groups demand review of phone mast programme

A coalition of community, conservation and outdoor recreation groups has written to the UK Government asking it to review its rollout of the Shared Rural Network programme to prevent causing unnecessary damage to communities and wild places. Applications for telecom masts are flooding into Local Planning Authorities across Scotland with little justification as to their specific siting and design. Many of the applications lack meaningful knowledge of the sites they are proposed on with blatant disregard for whether communities will actually benefit. The rushed approach is being driven by a geographical target, set by the UK Government, to bring 4G

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Posted in Magazine, Nature

Our picks: Glasgow walks by public transport

Tips for using Walkhighlands Whether you are using the free Walkhighlands app that lets you download our detailed route descriptions and GPS mapping for use offline, or just using the website, when doing any walk search you can specify if you are looking for walks that are accessible by public transport – just tick the ‘advanced search’ box to bring up the option. You can search for walks in any specific area, but here are our ideas for 10 walks you can reach from Glasgow. Walking using public transport in Scotland does take a bit more effort to plan your

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Posted in Features, Magazine, Our picks

Ramblers Scotland research reveals inequality in access to the Outdoors

New research from walking charity Ramblers Scotland has revealed that Scots living in more deprived areas have far fewer local paths than their wealthier counterparts.  Data-crunching by the walking charity has found shocking inequality in the number of ‘core paths’ that communities can enjoy.  ·         Residents in the most deprived* half of society have a total of 4,579 miles of local core paths, compared with 10,351 miles within the least deprived half of Scotland.  ·         People in the healthiest** 10% of areas have nine times (1,891 miles) more local core paths than the least healthy communities (211 miles).   Core paths are legally designated by Scottish councils

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Posted in Access issues, Magazine, News


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You should always carry a backup means of navigation and not rely on a single phone, app or map. Walking can be dangerous and is done entirely at your own risk. Information is provided free of charge; it is every walker's responsibility to check it and to navigate safely.