As something of a winter enthusiast I have a hard time letting go of the coldest season, even when…as this winter has been…..it’s the warmest, least frosty and most snow-starved winter I’ve experienced since moving to the Lomond Hills in 2010. Under those trying circumstances I stubbornly ignore the exit signs for as long as possible, not least the big patch of snowdrops that appears outside the house. For weeks I have to pass it every morning, but I make a point of looking in the opposite direction as I do so because I’ve no interest in looking at flowers…

Agitated is how I feel when I can’t get out onto the hills. I find it unbearable therefore I am unbearable and a bit of a nightmare to live with for most of January and February (though my partner Paul may argue I’m a pain most of the year round). I swear the skin on the tips of my forefinger and thumb have virtually worn away from the constant swiping as I check and re-check forecast updates. One storm system after the other has swept in over Scotland from the Atlantic. Conditions on the mountains have been fairly grim, and…

The Beaches of Scotland is a new guidebook by Dr Stacey McGowan Holloway, a guide to over 150 hand-picked beaches around Scotland’s coast, stretching from the mainland to the Outer Hebrides before sweeping north to Orkney and Shetland. Here Stacey explains why she loves to swim in the sea, and picks some personal favourites. The Scottish coastline extends nearly 19,000 kilometres in length including some 900 islands, several of which were formed and shaped by volcanoes, and is scattered with beaches. I currently live on the coast, and being able to look out daily to the sea and the Isle…