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Features

Our picks – Scotland’s greatest glens

Scotland is as known for its glens as it for its bens. The word glen comes from the Gaelic and means a steep-sided valley – most of them were carved by glaciers during the last Ice Age; the word strath usually denotes a broader, wider valley. We pick out 16 of our favourite Highland glens, whether for their stunning landscapes, flourishing wildlife or wildness and isolation. Glen Clova, Angus Angus is a region where the glens are perhaps better known than the mountains around them. Glen Esk is the longest and a real gem with a great variety of scenery,

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Posted in Features, Magazine, Our picks

Some lessons from Glen Etive

“Fruitful glen of pools and fishes, Glen of hawks, blue eyed, crying” – Gleann Measach Iasgach Linneach – Deirdre of the Sorrows According to Irish mythology, Deirdre and her love Naoise founded Glen Etive after fleeing Ulster. What was a place of refuge has become a place of conflict, where environmental priorities are weighed against each other and land justice issues play out. David Lintern looks at the context and wonders what can be learnt. First, a recap. Last year, developer Dickens Hydro Resources put in planning applications for seven run of river hydro schemes, off every main tributary feeding

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Posted in Features, Magazine, Nature

Monarch or Menace?

Scotland’s largest land mammal is also one of its most contentious. Photographer and Director of SCOTLAND: The Big Picture, Peter Cairns, explores the ecological and cultural divide over the Monarch of the Glen.

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Posted in Features, Magazine, Nature, Photography

Out of the woods

Finding peace and mental renewal on a mindful walk in the woods.

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Posted in Features, Magazine

Our picks: the 10 finest Munros

The Munros are the mountains in Scotland over 3000 feet high. First catalogued by Sir Hugh Munro in 1891, the list has been revised ever since to keep up to date with the latest height measurements, and opinions on which summits count as separate mountains and which are just subsidiary tops. Climbing all 282 summits is a long-term objective of many hillwakers. Here’s our favourite 10 Munros – listed alphabetically – but don’t forget Scotland has scores of magnificent mountains which don’t quite make the ‘magic’ height of 3000 feet and most hillwalkers will have their own favorites that are

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Posted in Features, Magazine, Our picks

Our pick: walks from the NC500

The NC500 – the ‘NC’ standing for North Coast – has become a hugely popular road trip around the North Highlands over the last few years. The route – a loop around northern Scotland from Inverness – has achieved wide publicity in recent years, and been acclaimed as offering one of the greatest road trips in the world as more and more people make the journey. There’s no doubt it’s a spectacular drive through some of Scotland’s greatest landscapes… but there is so much to see you really ought to take your time in order to get the most from

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Posted in Features, Magazine, Our picks

‘Insect apocalypse’: my waking nightmare

Like anyone with more than a passing interest in the environment I keep a keen eye on the latest headlines from the natural world. There’s plenty of good news to celebrate…

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Posted in Features, Magazine, Nature

A Circuitry of Ways Old and New

This time last year I wrote for Walkhighlands about the joy of spending early January amidst the scalding, short light on more Northern Islands. But the island this time is Harris.

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Posted in Features, Magazine

Conservation in the 21st Century

The chief executive of the Cairngorms National Park Authority Grant Moir ponders changing approaches to conservation and wonders whether we are at a pivotal moment in the history of the movement.

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Posted in Features, Magazine, Nature

Snow and Consequences

Thinking about getting started on graded winter routes? David Lintern has a few suggestions. All we need now is the snow…

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Posted in Features, Magazine


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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.