THIS summer I’m celebrating 40 years as an outdoor writer. I’m going to mark the occasion by taking a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon with my two sons, followed by a five week campervan and mountain walking trip with my long suffering wife to the hills of France and Spain. Then, all going well, it’ll be back on the training bike as I prepare for an autumn ride around the North of Scotland 500. In between I have to spend a few weeks working – I’ll be filming my second series of Roads Less Travelled for BBC Scotland –…

Ever been lost on a hill? Last week, David Lintern found himself with Mountaineering Scotland. “I’d have thought you Walkhighlands guys would have your navigation all sorted, no?” said Steve, with a bit of a twinkle in his eye. We were walking in on the approach to Ben Donich, a popular Corbett above the Rest and Be Thankful, and our training ground for a one-day navigation course provided by the Mountaineering Scotland. Steve was only teasing, but he probably had a point. I do OK I suppose, but I can’t pretend for a minute I’ve got it licked. To be…

I was in my sleeping bag by 6:50 PM on the night of the Spring equinox and still able to write by natural light. I looked east, watching through the tent flap as the light died over Meall nan Tarmachan, Ben Vorlich, Stuc a Chroin. I couldn’t see the sunset directly, having pitched my tent at about 750 m on the south-eastern crags of Meall Ghaordaidh to shelter from increasing night winds. However, a sharply demarcated block of shade had risen up the hills, contrasting with a diminishing russet glow on the tops as blue-grey clouds draped over them, the…

Once seen, the sight of a black grouse in the hills is rarely forgotten. One of Scotland’s four grouse species (the others are red grouse, ptarmigan and capercaillie), the Black Grouse was a game bird but after years of decline is on the red list for its endangered status – with only 5,100 males left in the UK at the latest survey. There are reasons to be optimistic though, with recovery in some areas following positive land management. Like the even rarer Capercaillie, Black Grouse cocks perform at a ‘lek’ – an area where they strut, call, fight and display…

The badger It’s dim. Though the days are getting longer the spring light is fading fast and I will soon be staring into darkness. I need to look to my right but I daren’t move my head, so I move only my eyes as I peer into the forest. I can feel two or three midges crawling across my forehead – hardly a plague but their insistent marching across my skin feels like an army. Normally I’d rub the midges away with an unconscious reflex swipe of the hand, but I can’t do that. All I can do is sit…

David Lintern shares a few basics for staying out in the mountains. After last month’s column about backpacking food, I thought I’d follow up with a few camping tips and tricks. I’ve met a fair few dedicated Munro baggers who are still a bit unsure about camping, especially for more than a night or two, but if that describes you, please – don’t miss out any longer! After a good walk, staying out in the mountains really is the icing on the cake. Even if the weather is a bit sketchy, camping out equals more time in the places you…

Last month I had the pleasure of hosting the National Adventure Awards in Glasgow, an annual gathering that celebrates the achievements of folk who have pushed the boundaries of their particular adventurous activities. It was a great event, an evening in recognition of some truly amazing accomplishments and an antidote to the prescribed, sanitised society that most of us live in. The nominees for this year’s Awards include some extraordinary individuals, people who quietly and effectively close the door on normality and set out to push their own limits in a wide variety of settings, from the wilds of the…

As we mark John Muir Day, April 21, Peter Pearson, Chair of the John Muir Trust, invites hillwalkers and mountaineers to get involved with the organisation that honours his name. “Who wouldn’t be a mountaineer! Up here all the world’s prizes seem nothing,” noted John Muir in My First Summer in the Sierra, a collection of journal entries describing his 1869 adventures in the magical mountain wilderness of Yosemite. Muir would later rise to fame in the USA as a writer, scientist and campaigner. He is today hailed as the founding father of the modern conservation movement, and the inspiration…