A tale of wilderness, weather and venison

Posted on October 2, 2023 by Helen Webster

September’s walk report of the month has been awarded to a realistic write up of an epic three day trip to Knoydart. Here Alex, David and Stefan battled Storm Betty, bogs, busy bothies, chest high bracken and a lot of rain, but somehow managed to totally enjoy themselves. Alexdw win’s a £100 Highlander prize voucher, read his walk report and maybe plan your own adventure to these amazing mountains in Knoydart: Glenfinnan – Inverie via Sgurr na Ciche Munros. The £50 runner up pize went to old danesian for Cùl Mòr … or frustratingly less – a great account with…

Posted in Magazine

Visitors to Scotland’s hills urged to head online for deer stalking information

Posted on September 20, 2023 by Helen Webster

With deer stalking activity increasing until 20th October, NatureScot is encouraging hill-goers to check the Heading for the Scottish Hills service to avoid disturbing essential deer management during this key period. Managing the number of deer is vital for preventing nature loss and tackling the climate change crisis facing Scotland. Reducing deer impacts, such as overgrazing and trampling, will enable the recovery of upland habitats, resulting in a more diverse landscape that benefits biodiversity and absorbs more carbon. As part of the response to the nature and climate crises, the Heading for the Scottish Hills service has expanded to cover…

Posted in Access issues, Magazine, News, Walkhighlands news

Scaling a Kashmiri peak 45 years ago and literally walking all the way around Edinburgh

Posted on September 3, 2023 by Helen Webster

August turned out to offer plenty of Scottish walking opportunities with loads of great reports hitting the Walkhighlands forum. Every month, two winning Walk Reports are chosen, with the winner taking £100 of vouchers to spend at Highlander, with £50 of vouchers to the runner up, and this month’s winners are a bit different ….

Posted in Features, Magazine, News

Gear Review: Waterproof Jackets

Posted on July 12, 2023 by Helen Webster

Waterproof jackets are one of the most important (and expensive) bits of outdoor kit. We’ve put a range of jackets through their paces during an increasingly wet Scottish spring and summer. All of them are made from layered fabric, basically an outer woven layer, usually treated with a water repellent coating, bonded to waterproof membrane (Gore-tex is the best known brand here; many of these products contain PFC/PTFE “forever chemicals”) – this construction is referred to as 2-layer and will normally have a liner to protect it. On 2.5-layer fabric an additional coating is applied to the membrane itself to…

Posted in Gear reviews, Jackets, Magazine

Fisherfield highs and bagging error lows

Posted on July 3, 2023 by Helen Webster

Phew! June was quite the month weather wise across Scotland, and the seemingly endless sunshine led to you submitting a bumper bundle of 238 walk reports through the month. Every month, two winning Walk Reports are chosen from the Walkhighlands forum, with the winner taking £100 of vouchers to spend at Highlander Outdoors, with £50 of vouchers to the runner up. The June winner was jimbell21 for his report of a memorable wild-camp on Scotland’s most remote Munros – Fisherfield 6 – summit camp & inversion on A’ Mhaighdean. What a sensational trip – paid for by a potentially terrifying dunking…

Posted in Magazine, News, Walkhighlands news

Record for fastest Munro round smashed by Jamie Aarons

Posted on June 26, 2023 by Helen Webster

Hill runner Jamie Aarons has smashed the record for a continuous round of the Munros. She summitted her final Munro, Ben Klibreck just before 5pm today, 26th June – in a time of 31 days, 10 hours and 27 minutes. Jamie began her round on May 26 at 6:30am on the Isle of Mull. Her round was undertaken on foot, bike and kayak. The route involved 1,315km of running and another 1,249km of cycling, 11km of kayaking, with a total of over 120,000m of ascent. The previous record was set by Donnie Campbell who completed the round in just over 31…

Posted in Magazine, News

Gear Review: Best summer walking trousers

Posted on June 25, 2023 by Helen Webster

Walking trousers tend to get little attention in gear discussions compared to waterproof jackets or rucksacks, but they are a vital part of being comfortable out on the hill or in the woods. Here we take a look at a wide range of trousers suitable for summer wear in the UK – some very light for the hotter months, some aimed more at three season use. The big advance in recent years is the improvement in fabrics, with stretchy, quick drying synthetics becoming the norm. Most offer good wind resistance, and durable water repellent coatings on some help with light…

Posted in Gear reviews, Magazine, News, Trousers

Galloway routes on Walkhighlands updated and expanded

Posted on June 8, 2023 by Helen Webster

We’ve just completed a major update of our routes across Dumfries and Galloway – focussing on the walks at lower levels, and the first sections of the Southern Upland Way. Over the last week 40 routes have been completely rewalked, rewritten and photographed, which combined with last years updates means almost all the routes in the region have been rewalked and written in the last year. The expanded coverage includes four routes which are completely new to Walkhighlands. The Watson Bird Walk at St John’s Town of Dalry which was created in 2022 to celebrate the late Donald Watson, a…

Posted in Magazine, News, Walkhighlands news

Beinn a’ Ghlo car park fees to fund path maintainance

Posted on June 7, 2023 by Helen Webster

A share of the car parking fees from the new Beinn a’ Ghlo car park at Loch Moraig are to be invested in Outdoor Access Trust’s annual mountain path maintenance volunteer programme. John Swinney, MSP for Perthshire North, has today opened a new 60 space car park for hill walkers on Beinn a’ Ghlo and its three Munros, near Blair Atholl on the southern edge of the Cairngorms National Park. The £172,000 partnership building project was spearheaded by the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland (OATS), a leading environmental charity promoting sustainable public access, and funded by both the Cairngorms National…

Posted in Magazine, News

Foil Blanket, Mobile Phones, Helicopter Rescue, Broken Bones

Posted on June 5, 2023 by Helen Webster

The title of last month’s winning Walk Report says it all. Foil Blanket, Mobile Phones, Helicopter Rescue, Broken Bones is gld73’s gripping tale of how easy a relatively straightforward hillwalk can go horribly wrong. The guys at Highlander who sponsor the competition said they were speechless reading this report, describing it as an incredible (and lucky) story shared with the community – well worthy of the £100 voucher prize. May’s runner up was tomyboy73’s account The Aonach Eagach at last. A great mix of fear, fun, atmospheric photos and great memories is described as a group of friends tackle this…

Posted in Magazine, News