Following on from last month’s article, David Lintern seeks a further audience with she who must be obeyed – the Cailleach. The Cailleach, the Scottish spirit-feminine of wild nature, sometimes benevolent and sometimes malevolent, is an integral part of our placename culture. The mother of autumn stormy chaos, sister of frigid winter snows and daughter of regenerating spring bubbles up from our primeval consciousness everywhere we look – in coires, lochs, burns, moors and summits right across the country. On the Isle of Lewis, a whole moonlit panorama is named after her. Viewed from the standing stones of Callanish, the…

It was hard not to feel impossibly smug as I propped my bike up against the ruined house at Gortenbuie. It was absolutely calm, not a breath of wind, and as I peered through the empty windows the only sound I could hear was the rigid dried-up leaves falling from the adjacent sycamore tree. As expected, I’d seen no-one. “How many people ever access the hill from this direction?” I wondered. I stepped out of the ruin’s shadow and looked to the south. The undulating skyline of Mull’s interior burned rusty red in the rising sun, the high hills scattering…

All Hallows Eve is almost upon us, so it’s time for another seasonal excursion into Scottish mythology. David Lintern braves the cold, twice. Right at the very end of Glen Lyon, there’s a little shrine called the Tigh Nam Bodach, meaning the house of the father, or old man. And before we go any further, the name Lyon is reckoned to be a corruption of Lugdunum, after Lugh, the Celtic sun god, a character significant in the first chapter in this story, linked at the foot of the page. But we’ve heard enough from the men. Today it’s the turn…

I WAS saddened to hear of the death of the wildlife writer and naturalist Mike Tomkies, a man who penned some of the most riveting accounts of living in the natural world alongside golden eagles, wildcats and pine martens. He was a man who more or less shunned society so that he could live as close to his wild subjects as possible. Mike had been the Hollywood correspondent of The Times and had interviewed and befriended cinema personalities like Ava Gardner, John Wayne, Dean Martin, Elvis Presley, Peter O’Toole and Sean Connery but the showbiz life eventually soured and he…

David Lintern pays his respects at the Craigallian Fire memorial. After last month’s pilgrimage to the birthplace of British conservation all the way up in Torridon, I wanted to take a look at something much closer to home, but just as significant in our shared outdoor story. It’s somewhere that tens of thousands from all over the world will pass each year, and a place that is within easy reach of most of us in the Central Belt. It’s easy to miss, but one of the most important heritage sites in Scotland when thinking about the development of outdoor access…

I get very excited on 1st September because this is when weather presenters announce the end of summer. Doubtless many of you in Scotland will wryly smile and say “Ha! That happened months ago!”….but despite appearances to the contrary 31st August is widely taken as the last day of summer and 1st September the first day of autumn. But can seasons run to such rigid timetables? If not, what DO they run to? Given the contentious nature of the topic I opened it up to completely unscientific debate by asking Twitter and Facebook the following: ‘For you, when does autumn…