a bloody German

[Dirk Winter]

Ok, if nobody else starts, I'll begin with an introduction of myself:
I'm a bloody German, 39 years old and live near the lovely city of Mainz (at the river Rhine), which is home of the quite famous football club 1. FSV Mainz 05.

It was my sister who infected me with the Scotland virus. My first visit here was in the year 1997, and from 2001 on I've been travelling to Scotland each year. First we just visited the scenic castles, lochs, glens and coasts (and Edinburgh) and did only comparatively short walks. But in 2001 I made the mistake to buy Cameron McNeish's book "100 best walks". This had the effect that our walks got longer - up to about 9 hours is ok for us now. Luckily we don't confine ourselves to munroes - otherwise we would have missed The Cobbler or Suilven, which would have been a shame.

If I was asked which areas in Scotland I like most, I would probalbly start with Skye, Torridon, Glencoe, Glen Nevis and Glen Shiel, but there are so many beautiful places in Scotland.

Of course, this year we'll be back in Scotland again (in July), and I'm just planning which walks we could do this year. Maybe White Coomb, Ben Cruachan, Bidean Nam Bian, Beinn Alligin, An Teallach (not the pinnacle ridge), An Diollaid, Glamaig or Arkival... Well, I think, I'll have to come back again next year.

[wandererjon]

You think being German's bad? You should try being English with a Scots upbringing now stuck in England and desperate to get back!!!! Talk about frustration!!! I miss the mountains and the sea

[Paul Webster]

Hi Dirk

Glad you are coming back again after your interesting route up Beinn Eighe last year Yes, there is an endless list of great route options - can't imagine when this site will really be comprehensive just yet!

Scotland seems to be hugely popular with Germans - quite suprising maybe given how close the Alps is. I suppose Scotland just seems a bit wilder maybe, or is it the coastline? Or perhaps it is that the mountains are more managable for most. But then it could just be the character of the hills - can't imagine landscape gets much better than Suilven.

[Dirk Winter]

@wandererjon:
Yes, you're right, being a German isn't too bad in Scotland - far better than in England, or maybe France.... Anyway, I remember when we had a bar meal in a pub in Blairgowrie one evening in September 2001 (some days before the 11th), when there was a football match Germany vs. England shown on TV. First the German team scored, and all the Scotsmen in the pub cheered loudly. Later the English team scored about five times, and the Scotsmen became more and more quiet. Seems, you're right.
Hope you can be back in Scotland soon.

@Paul:
Yes, we will be in Scotland again, probably also on the Isle of Skye. We won't climb up Beinn Eighe again, even if our host from Kinlochewe wrote to us that his route was just a bit to the right from our route. But he said that the Horns of Alligin are easy and straightforward, therefore we'll go for that (we believe him everything).

I also noticed that there is really an enormous list of great walks in Scotland. By the way, do you do all the walks which are described here by yourself? It seems to be a lot of work to put all the information together.

About Germans in Scotland: I know many Germans who like to visit Scotland. Maybe we like to be there because of the peopl*16tons*. Well, there are also loads of Germans visiting the Alps, but one thing I like especially about Scotland is the remoteness of some areas. Sometimes you can do a nine hour walk in Scotland and don't meet anybody - that's what happened when we climbed Streap. In addition to that you get mountains, glens, lochs, shorelines in one single walk. Well, maybe I think a bit more about that when we're back in Scotland in July.

[Paul Webster]

Yes, we have actually done all the walks - unlike some other well-known Scottish hillwalking websites that have written the routes straight from the map!

There are some shorter walks on the site that I haven't done - those were walked and written by Helen, and vice-versa, though we tend to do the longer hillwalks together. It is alot of work but also great fun - and we are getting more accommodation advertisers all the time so will keep on going!