Everest summiter, Antarctic adventurer and guidebook author Mollie Hughes explains how she came to love Scotland’s watery landscapes. It was in the dark depths of lockdown that the idea to write a guidebook to Scotland’s wild blue spaces first entered my mind. When access to the outdoors, to adventure, was taken away and I was restrained to my small flat in Edinburgh, I began to crave the open spaces of Scotland. My book, Blue Scotland, was born out of this craving for open, wild, blue spaces, it is an inspirational guide to adventures into Scotland’s waters, our coastlines, lochs, rivers…

“All those trees that were blown over. Are you going to do anything with them?” It’s a question I occasionally get asked by visitors to the ranger hut. Storm Arwen did for quite a few big old trees along the Dee, and almost two years later they still lie where they fell. Folk are always really nice about it, enquiring politely and sincerely, but you know what they’re essentially asking is: “When are you going to tidy up?” I do understand how, from a conventional aesthetic point of view, dead trees might look a bit jarring in an otherwise ‘ordered’,…

Acclaimed author and presenter of BBC’s ‘Scotland from the Sky‘ James Crawford introduces his favourite abandoned or ruined sites across Scotland, many of which can be visited as part of a walking exploration. Today, we live almost entirely among the physical impression and presence of the past. Often it emerges in the shapes of our towns and cities; in the ways our fields look; in the bare reaches of our sheep-wandered hills and moorlands. Some ancient or historical sites have even been afforded special status, segregated from the present to be offered up as preserved, curated ruins and tourist attractions;…

Calum Maclean is a presenter, writer and film-maker, currently to be seen on SpeakGaelic on BBC ALBA. I grew up speaking Gaelic, first in the Isle of Skye and then Inverness. As a family, we spent many holidays walking in the hills and exploring Scotland. Maybe not that much has changed for me as an adult! I still remember a family trip walking the Làirig Dhrù, camping by a burn, getting eaten by midgies and drenched in a downpour on the last day. Great memories, which are still strong today. I think it was these opportunities that really instilled an…

Duncan Chisholm is perhaps the best known Scottish fiddler of his generation. With an intense personal connection to the Highland landscape that so deeply inspires him, Duncan instils pride and passion into recording music influenced by Scotland’s wild places – most recently on his latest album, Black Cuillin. We were lucky enough to catch one of Duncan’s recent concerts with Hamish Napier earlier this month, and asked Duncan about how the landscape and such a strong sense of place feeds into his work. Three of your albums – Farrar, Canaich and Affric – form the Strathglass trilogy, all being close…

Alice Goodridge shares her favourite spots to combine walking with a dip