From Crieff To Aberfeldy on Wade’s Military Road Linda Cracknell is an-award winning Highlands-based writer known for her creative approach to exploring wild places and man’s interaction with them. Her Walkhighlands’ essays cover the cultural aspects of the Scottish landscape on a quarterly basis. ‘I’m just reading a book about that,’ the bus driver from Aberfeldy said, having learnt I was going to be walking a road made by General Wade. ‘It says he took all the credit, but his successors did most of it.’‘Major Caulfeild?’ I asked.‘That’s the one!’‘You’ve a braw day for a hike anyway,’ he said when…

If only winter skills were as simple as listening to good advice. David Lintern reflects on lessons learnt in the Winter Mountains. “Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions” – Mark Twain (possibly) Scotland is amazing – I’m a big fan. In winter I run out of superlatives. The probability of foul weather is at an all time high, but that means the rewards, when they come, are hard earned and so much more appreciated. Meanwhile, outdoors media is full of seasonal advice about the dangers of the winter outdoors, often from official organisations with a…

The winners have been announced in the first-ever Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year competition. Craig Aitchison from Kirkintilloch won the overal title with his incredible shots of Buachaille Etive Mor snow scene, Loch Etive and a rainbow over Loch Tulla. Craig said: “I am surprised and delighted to hear that I have been awarded the prestigious title of Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year. From the beginning my number one photographic inspiration has always been Scotland’s unique landscape. “To a photographer it has the perfect ingredients that can, at times, produce real moments of magic and it is these…

In the last few weeks we’ve enjoyed (or suffered, depending on your point of view) some colder interludes where the temperature has fallen below freezing. As a result, ice in its various forms has been a conspicuous companion on many of my bike rides and walks this past month. It mightn’t have the hypnotic beauty of falling snow, but there’s something equally beguiling and enchanting about the secretive way ice appears on the ground from out of nowhere. There are too many varieties of ice to do justice to here, so I’m taking a look at a select few of…

THREE years ago the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park authority introduced bylaws to combat the loutish behaviour that was turning the east shore of Loch Lomond between Balmaha and Rowardennan into a midden. At certain times of the year, notably Bank Holidays, hordes of visitors descended on this area, set up camp on the lochside, lit bonfires, consumed lots of alcohol and occasionally fought with each other. Then they would go home, leaving much of their rubbish and mayhem behind them. That, at least, was the story I was sold when the last East Loch Lomond bylaws were proposed.…

TO suggest I was shocked to get a press release the other day telling me about a new waterproof jacket that retails for £750, with matching over-trousers that cost £630, would be an understatement. Someone later sent me details of a snowboarding jacket that cost a cool £1200! Has the outdoor industry gone berserk? I thought we were living in times of austerity? Apparently not for some… Like many hill goers I’ve gone through periods of being a bit of a gear junkie. Having edited outdoor magazines for over 30 years I’ve pretty much had access to the best of…