Common Ground: Kirsty Pallas

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Paul Webster

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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Common Ground: Glenn Campbell

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Paul Webster

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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Our pick: Scotland’s best coastal clifftop walks

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Paul Webster

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…

Posted in Features, Magazine, Our picks

Bid for Affric & Loch Ness National Park launched

Posted on January 13, 2024 by Paul Webster

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…

Posted in Magazine, Nature, News

Lee Craigie wins top mountain award

Posted on December 22, 2023 by Paul Webster

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…

Posted in Magazine, News

Conservation and community groups demand review of phone mast programme

Posted on November 27, 2023 by Paul Webster

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…

Posted in Magazine, Nature

Our picks: Glasgow walks by public transport

Posted on September 30, 2023 by Paul Webster

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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Ramblers Scotland research reveals inequality in access to the Outdoors

Posted on September 20, 2023 by Paul Webster

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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Five years of Radical Road closure marked with call for urgent action

Posted on September 11, 2023 by Paul Webster

Campaigners today marked the fifth anniversary of Edinburgh’s Radical Road closure with an urgent call for Historic Environment Scotland (HES) to “see sense”. HES shut the iconic 200-year-old path on 11 September 2018 due to concerns about rockfall. It is one of the most popular ways up Arthur’s Seat – Edinburgh’s top attraction on TripAdvisor – yet five years on, it remains blocked and ringed by ugly fencing. Stakeholders including Ramblers Scotland, Cockburn Association, Edinburgh Geological Society, Mountaineering Scotland and ScotWays are urging HES to make a more holistic assessment of risks. They want HES to weigh the low risk…

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Our picks: 10 walks you can reach by train

Posted on August 14, 2023 by Paul Webster

Whether you have no car, are trying to minimise your impact on the environment, or are just looking to save the stress of driving and instead enjoy the comfort of relaxing on a train rather than face driving home with tired legs, Scotland’s railways can help you reach some truly superb walks in comfort. In this article sponsored by ScotRail, we choose ten great walks you can reach by train, scattered all around the country. Birnam Hill (Dunkeld / Birnam) Walk the walk This superb circular walk climbs up over beautifully-wooded Birnam Hill. It offers superb views over the surrounding…

Posted in Features, Magazine, Our picks