The four Scottish Coastguard search and rescue helicopters that were grounded last week following a fatal crash in Canada, have been given the all clear to fly again.

Last week the helicopters, which are based in Shetland and Lewis, and cover a vast area of northern Scotland, often on mountain rescue missions, were grounded to allow for safety checks after the Canadian crash revealed a fault. The Sikorsky S-92 aircraft have been fitted with replacement parts and returned to service following the accident in Newfoundland last week in which 17 people died.

During the grounding, emergency cover has been provided by Sea King helicopters operated from RAF Lossiemouth and HMS Gannet.

Courtesy of the Isle of Skye Food Company, we have a clutch of hand-made foods from the Isle of Skye to give away!

The pack includes a mixed bakery box from the Skye Baking Co., with shortbread, oatcakes, biscotti & gingerbread, a trio of Calina’s conserves and ‘Gourmet spring tasters’ from Keith and Rachael Jackson’s farm, as featured on BBC TV’s Monty Halls’ Great Escape.

For details of the competition and to enter, click here.

For walking routes and accommodation on the beautiful Applecross peninsula, click here.

The BBC report that the hillwalker who had been reported missing overnight in the Kintail area has been found injured by the RAF Kinloss Mountain Rescue team. He was unconcious.

The walker had failed to return last night from a hike and has now been airlifted to the Belford hospital in Fort William. Three mountain rescue teams, as well as the RAF, coastguard, police and search dogs were involved in the search.

An RAF spokesman said “Everything possible was done to get the man to hospital as quickly as possible. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.”

The John Muir Trust today announced the winners of the 2009 Wild Writing Competition as part of this week’s Fort William Mountain Festival. Tom Bryan from Kelso won the first prize for his piece Seven Ways of Looking at Suilven. Alan Gay from North Berwick was awarded the second overall prize for his poem Deer Path and Neil McRae from Skye won the Gaelic category for his story Doilleireachd an T-Sleibhe.

Now running its third year the Wild Writing Competition, sponsored by John Muir Trust, encourages both aspiring and professional writers to pen stories about Scotland’s landscapes and wild places. The competition is free and open to all and there are prose, poetry Gaelic and children’s categories. Tom Bryan’s first prize this year is a place on a writing course at Moniack Mhor.

Judging was particularly hard this year as there were over 100 entries, twice as many as in 2008. The Judges were Hamish MacDonald, playwright, novelist and Director at Moniack Mhor Scotland’s writing centre and writer and teacher Linda Cracknell. “The entries took us to wild places all over Scotland, Britain and the world,” commented Linda. “The winners for me were personal, immediate and poetic with a touch of mystery in the landscapes and the human responses they portrayed.”

The judges also highly commended three other writers. Kate Blackadder from Edinburgh for Oldshoremore, Stephen Busby from Findhorn for All Exhilaration and Jenny Holden from Onich (by Fort William) for The Climb. The runners up for the Gaelic category were Tearlach Quinell from Inverness and Derek Mackay from Glasgow.

“The wild writing competition was set up to highlight people’s experiences of wild places,” commented Alison Austin, the brainchild of the writing competition and Nevis Conservation Officer for the John Muir Trust. “I hope that more and more emerging writers who feel passionate about exploring and enjoying our incredible landscape will take part in the coming years.

The winning piece can be read here
For more information go to: www.mountainfestival.co.uk/writingcompetition.asp

The National Trust for Scotland has announced a number of cost saving measures in response to an expected downturn in income this year. On the closure list is the Mountain Visitor Centre at Ben Lawers which is popular as an interpretation centre for the special and fragile habitat on the mountain as well as with walkers setting off on one of the most popular Munros.

Also to be closed are Arduaine Gardens in Argyll, Hill of Tarvit Mansion House in Fife, and Leith Hall House in Aberdeenshire. The NTS is seeking external sponsorship or volunteer support to keep a number of other properties open this year including Hugh Miller’s Cottage in Cromarty.

The Trust said that they were taking this action in response to reduced income as a result of the economic downturn and were having to make cost savings in their biggest area of expenditure, staffing. If there is further news about the Ben Lawers centre or any of the other properties in the Highlands we will report it here.

The first episode of the BBC2 series Monty Halls’ Great Escape has caused a frenzy of interest in the Applecross peninsula, prompting hopes of a bumper year for tourism in the remote community. The programme, filmed during the perfect weather of spring 2008, followed Monty’s attempts to live as a crofter for six months and featured stunning shots of the scenery of Wester Ross and the adjacent Isle of Skye. The jaw-dropping visuals had viewers rushing to their computers to find out more about the idyllic spot.

“Since the programme aired on Sunday night we’ve experienced a 1300% increase in visitors reaching our site via Google searches on the name Applecross”, said Paul Webster, who runs the walkers’ website Walkhighlands which helps to promote the area. “Searches for the remote village are usually steady but few. We’ve never seen such an explosion of interest in a place before. The Inn there is always popular but I’m sure that Applecross is going to have a bumper year.”

Until April 7th you can enter our competition to win a food hamper, including meats produced by Keith and Rachael Jackson as featured on Monty Halls’ Great Escape.

If planning to visit the area, see Walkhighlands’ accommodation and walks in Applecross.