Our pick: Scotland’s West Highland beaches

Posted on April 26, 2021 by Paul Webster

Whilst most people associate Scottish landscapes with mountains and glens, the coastline is equally magnificent. When it comes to beaches, there is truly an unmatched range from tiny rocky coves to majestic windswept bays of perfect shell sand. There’s really far too much to cover in just one ‘Our picks’ article, so here we look at the beaches of the West Highlands, from the Great Glen heading north to Durness. In further posts we take a look at the unmatched beaches of the Scottish islands, and the best beaches of Eastern Scotland. Sanna Bay, Ardnamurchan The Ardnamurchan peninsula – the…

Posted in Features, Magazine, Our picks

Chain of rewilding ‘stepping stones’ to tackle Scotland’s nature and climate crises

Posted on April 22, 2021 by Paul Webster

A chain of nature-rich hotspots bringing together a diverse group of estates, farms, crofts and community-owned land is to be created across Scotland with a new rewilding network launched by charity SCOTLAND: The Big Picture. The Northwoods Rewilding Network will allow more of Scotland’s many smaller landholdings of 50 to 1,000 acres to play a bigger role in restoring and connecting rich habitats full of life to boost declining species, tackle climate breakdown, and create new opportunities for rural communities. Northwoods will complement Scotland’s major landscape-scale rewilding sites by filling in the gaps in local areas and joining together a tapestry of smaller nature recovery…

Posted in Magazine, Nature, News

Scots set for return to the hills from Friday

Posted on April 13, 2021 by Paul Webster

In a surprise announcement today, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that restrictions on travel within Scotland are to be lifted from this Friday 16th April. It had been expected that this was to happen on 26th April, but it has been brought forward “to benefit people’s mental health”. All categories of accommodation still remain closed until the planned reopening on 26th April, when it is also expected that travel into Scotland from the other UK nations will also be permitted. Also from 26th, upto 6 people will be able to meet outdoors – currently there is a maximum of 4…

Posted in Access issues, Magazine, News

Use of MBA bothies: latest advice

Posted on March 29, 2021 by Paul Webster

The Mountain Bothies Association has issued an update to its advice. The bothies that the charity maintains in Scotland, England and Wales through its volunteers should not be used at present except in an emergency. This is because Covid-19 precautions such as social distancing, regular sanitising and wearing of face coverings might not be practised by some visitors which would put other people at risk irrespective of reducing rates of infection. MBA Chairman Simon Birch said: “While we now have a timetable for when travel restrictions might be removed, there is as yet no firm information about when other restrictions…

Posted in Access issues, Magazine, News

Linn of Dee and Glen Muick roads to be restricted during busy periods

Posted on March 26, 2021 by Paul Webster

Aberdeenshire Council has put in place new road orders to allow for the roads to the Linn of Dee and to the Spittal of Glenmuick to be closed when car parks are full. Last year there was serious overcrowding at both locations, with vehicles parked dangerously, blocking emergency access roads and, in some cases, causing damage. The council will, when the car parks are full, be restricting entry over a 7-month period commencing from April 1st. Pete Crane, Head of Visitor Services at the Cairngorms National Park authority, said “Last year, as part of the visitor management work, Aberdeenshire Council…

Posted in Access issues, Magazine, News

Project 282 – Film

Posted on March 25, 2021 by Paul Webster

Check out this superb 10 minute film of Emily Scott’s continuous round of the Munros in 2018. Back on the 26th of May 2018, Emily set off to climb all of Scotland’s Munros (mountains over 3,000 feet), attempting to make a continuous, self-propelled and self-supported round. The continuous, self-propelled and (largely) solo expedition took her 120 days and involved 2,200km on foot and 2,600km on the bike, with over 195,000m of ascent. Her great film of the trip – Project 282 – has received some success with film festivals, although of course Covid has meant that the majority of these…

Posted in Features, Magazine

More investment in nature reserves and rangers

Posted on March 24, 2021 by Paul Webster

Funding of £750,000 is being invested in NatureScot’s National Nature Reserves (NNRs) in preparation for visitors this summer. Up to 20 additional rangers and other staff are also being recruited to welcome people back and help them to respect, protect and enjoy our great outdoors. This is in additional to the new rangers already announced by both the Cairngorms National Park and Highland Council. More than a million people are estimated to have visited one of the nature agency’s 29 National Nature Reserves in 2020, a record number that is expected to increase this year. With coronavirus restrictions set to be eased…

Posted in Access issues, Nature, News

Walkhighlands plans major responsible access campaign

Posted on March 22, 2021 by Paul Webster

We’re planning to run a responsible access campaign across Walkhighlands during this summer. When mainland travel restrictions are lifted on 26th April, we’ll be replacing the Covid messaging (currently “Stay at Home”) across the website to a call of “Let’s Keep Scotland’s Outdoors Special”. The messaging will run across the top of everyone of the 2,100+ free walks on the website, which has also removed all automated advertising. Last summer, we saw more than a million walks being downloaded from Walkhighlands in a single month. All walks will now include the new messaging. The campaign aims to reinforce Scotland’s Outdoor…

Posted in Access issues, Magazine, Nature, News, Walkhighlands news

Travel restrictions within mainland Scotland to end on 26th April

Posted on March 16, 2021 by Paul Webster

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced a new timetable for the lifting of Coronavirus restrictions. The instruction to ‘Stay at Home’ will end on 2nd April, subject to continued positive data, and will be replaced by an instruction to ‘Stay Local’. More significant for those interested in outdoor recreation and getting away from the cities, it is hoped that restrictions on travel within all areas of mainland Scotland will end on 26th April. It is expected that this lifting of travel restrictions will also include those from the rest of the UK coming to Scotland. Accommodation businesses are expected to…

Posted in Access issues, Magazine, News, Walkhighlands news

Plea for dog owners to take the lead and be responsible

Posted on February 12, 2021 by Paul Webster

Several Scottish organisations have united in an urgent plea to dog owners across the country to keep their dogs under proper control around livestock. Lambing season is already well underway in Scotland, and most of the ewes we see now grazing the hills and fields are heavily pregnant at this time of year. Already farmers are reporting worrying attacks on their sheep by dogs, often because dog walkers have not kept their pets under control. Many attacks also involve unaccompanied dogs which have been allowed to stray. Some reports include horrible physical injuries to sheep. However, a dog doesn’t need…

Posted in Magazine, Nature, News