I walked through Edinburgh’s West End after yet another late night in the office. First one in and last one out again. On crossing Shandwick Place, I kept my head down and avoided eye contact with other pedestrians but allowed myself sideways glances into bustling restaurants, brightly lit with festive decorations and bursting with office workers enjoying Christmas parties. The city around me was alive and buzzing yet I no longer felt a part of it. My Christmas was effectively cancelled by the deadline looming before me at work and the pressure to deliver on schedule. Any free time I…

In the 25 years that I have been visiting Aviemore, the size of the Scottish Highlands town and the volume of people that stroll the streets has vastly increased. Some might say that this has been to the detriment of the attractiveness of the settlement, located in the naturally beautiful Cairngorms National Park. Certainly, the modern housing estates that sprawl to the north of Aviemore do it few architectural favours and the pubs, cafés, restaurants and shops are often full to bursting with visitors. But I like the busy, yet relaxed and friendly, atmosphere of the outdoors town. It is…

Cameron McNeish laments the loss of our traditional mountaineering hostelries. I was initially surprised by the amount of criticism directed at the development plans for the historic Kings House hotel on the edge of the Rannoch Moor. Mountaineering Scotland, the John Muir Trust and the National Trust for Scotland have objected to the latest revisions made to the original proposals while social media has seen a fair amount of comment ranging from “why interfere with an historic droving inn” to “refurb this Scottish treasure and bring it back to its former glory, albeit the wonky fireplace and walls.” I’m not…