walkhighlands

Features

Common Ground – Phoebe Sleath

Her watercolours of Scotland’s high mountains – painted in her sketchbook whilst in the field – have deservedly drawn attention for Aberdeen-based geology student and mountain leader Phoebe Sleath (see her website, Sketching from sea to summit). Here she tells of her approach to our great outdoors. Can you begin by telling us a bit about yourself and your background? I’m a Geology PhD Student and creative adventurer living in Aberdeen. I grew up in Herefordshire and, although my parents liked walking and took us on family holidays to Scotland and the Lake District, it took quite a long time

Read more ›

Posted in Common Ground inteviews, Features, Magazine

Common Ground: Joshua Adeyemi

In our new series, we aim to find out what makes our fellow outdoor enthusiasts tick. Joshua Adeyemi is the man behind the hugely popular talesbyjosh instagram account, through which he shares videos of his adventures in Scotland’s mountains. Josh describes himself first and foremost as a human. He was Ramblers Scotland’s ‘Walking Champion’ in 2023, and is a co-founder of Black Scottish Adventurers, a community-interest company that aims to: introduce more ethnic minorities to the Scottish outdoors, help benefit their physical and mental wellbeing, and educate people about how their daily activities impact their environment and, ultimately, the climate

Read more ›

Posted in Common Ground inteviews, Features, Magazine

Common Ground: Kirsty Pallas

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

Read more ›

Posted in Common Ground inteviews, Features, Magazine, News

Tawny Twits and Tawny Twoos

Winter nights are rather quiet affairs, but I’d forgotten just how quiet they were until a familiar sound pierced one of them last week while I was out for a torchlit stroll. Huuuuu……..Huh….Huhuhuhuuuuuu. It sailed through the chill night air, clear and sharp, from somewhere within the dark recesses of a granny pine. I stopped in my tracks and waited for a repeat, which duly came after 10 seconds or so. Huuuuu….. I waited, listening for the familiar response. A short moment later a fainter, more distant sound, high pitched and squawky, called out. Kewick!…….Kewick! Tawny owls. The walls of

Read more ›

Posted in Features, Magazine, Nature

Common Ground: Glenn Campbell

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

Read more ›

Posted in Common Ground inteviews, Features, Magazine

Our pick: Scotland’s best coastal clifftop walks

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

Read more ›

Posted in Features, Magazine, Our picks

Brown Hares – My Companion Animals

I’ve had my trail camera out at home recently. Now it’s getting colder, I’ve been investigating what creatures are milling about outside the house, in search of warmth or food. Last winter there were various rodents and shrews sneaking under the porch door, so I rather expected to see something similar this time. Maybe a red squirrel foraging nearby. Tawny owls on the fence posts. Or, given they have left conspicuous scat on the road, pine martens. But no. After the first night, I looked through the new videos and they all showed one of two brown hares, nibbling grass

Read more ›

Posted in Features, Magazine, Nature

What’s your favourite coire in Scotland?

“We need a couple of volunteers next week to walk into Garbh Choire”, said our conservation manager. My ears pricked up. It would doubtless be a tiring day, as we’d be retrieving some 1t bags, wooden stakes and rolls of wire netting. But I jumped at the chance because, for some reason, I’d never actually visited An Garbh Choire. To my considerable shame, I might add, given its reputation as a grand and wild place, the home of the Sphinx (Scotland’s most famous snow patch), and it simply being the gnarliest, farthest flung corner of my office. Sandwiched between Braeriach

Read more ›

Posted in Features, Magazine

Our picks: Glasgow walks by public transport

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

Read more ›

Posted in Features, Magazine, Our picks

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

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 ….

Read more ›

Posted in Features, Magazine, News


Share on 

Share  

You should always carry a backup means of navigation and not rely on a single phone, app or map. Walking can be dangerous and is done entirely at your own risk. Information is provided free of charge; it is every walker's responsibility to check it and to navigate safely.