Magazine

Gear Review: Berghaus Womens Fast Hike Waterproof Jacket

Posted on September 6, 2018 by Helen Webster

RRP: £150 Weight: 200g (UK size 10) Mens version available I received this lightweight waterproof jacket just at the start of the longest rain-free period that the Scottish Highlands has experienced in my lifetime. So it sat in my rucksack walk after walk with only minimal use as a windproof layer, proving its worth in terms of being very lightweight and packable – it packs down into one of the mesh pockets and could be easily clipped to a belt for very minimal walks or runs. Scottish weather has now resumed more normal service and I’ve had the chance to…

Posted in Gear reviews, Jackets, Magazine

Ullapool Hill and Far Beyond

Posted on August 22, 2018 by Linda Cracknell

Modest Ullapool Hill or Meall Mor (270 metres) beckoned on an early August day. I normally just have to open pink OS sheet 15, see the tightly packed contours of deep salmon pink contrasting against the pale spread of broken peninsulas, to be excited towards the pitch of the Coigach and Assynt Hills. Or looking the other way, sheet 20 with its expanse of roadless land, makes me want to pack a rucksack and to twist and turn through that interior that fastens in Beinn Dearg and Seana Bhraigh, and walk right through to the east coast. There is no…

Posted in Features, Magazine

How to Improve your Landscape Photography

Posted on August 13, 2018 by Karen Thorburn

Karen Thorburn shares her tips for taking better landscape photographs. If you’ve been following my recent posts, you’ll know by now that my favourite topic to write about is my emotional attachment to the landscapes of Scotland. This month sees a brief departure from that; instead, I’d like to share with you some of my top not-too-technical tips to help you to improve your landscape photographs. 27 years after picking up my first camera as a young child back in 1991, I’m still striving to improve my skills and expand my knowledge of the landscapes around me. It’s a life-long…

Posted in Features, Magazine, Photography

Looking after what we love?

Posted on August 9, 2018 by David Lintern

Scotland’s environmental record so far this year isn’t that easy to digest, but David Lintern has had a go… It’s 2018, and god knows there’s a lot of bad news competing for our attention. But in a slight change to our usual programming, we’ve decided on less detail but more scope for this, a roundup of Scottish conservation issues. Why? Because there’s only a few of us here at Walk Highlands Towers and many more of you, and we need your help to keep up with what has also been a hell of a year for the Scottish environment. Here’s…

Posted in Features, Magazine, Nature, News

New first stage for South Loch Ness Trail set for opening

Posted on August 5, 2018 by Helen Webster

The South Loch Ness Trail is complete with the officially opening of a new section between Fort Augustus and Loch Tarff on August 8th. The trail runs for almost 58km from Fort Augustus to the outskirts of Inverness, following a mix of purpose-built paths, forestry tracks, minor roads and ancient paths along the southern side of Loch Ness. The trail previously started at Loch Tarff, a beautiful spot high above Fort Augustus but with no public transport or accommodation options. The new path links Loch Tarff with Fort Augustus and provides a spectacular start to the route on a well-graded…

Posted in Magazine, News

800% parking charge increase shocks hillwalkers

Posted on July 31, 2018 by Helen Webster

Hill walkers have been outraged by a proposed 800% increase in parking charges at one of Scotland’s most popular mountains. Argyll & Bute Council has announced its intention to increase car parking charges in Arrochar, at the head of Loch Long. The proposed increase will take the hourly charge from 30 pence to £1 and the rate for the full day from £1 to £9. The car cark at Succoth is well used by walkers heading for the distinctive rocky peak of The Cobbler, as well as Beinn Ime and other of the Arrochar Alps. Davie Black, Access & Conservation…

Posted in Access issues, Magazine

Forgotten Heroes – Galen Rowell

Posted on July 24, 2018 by Cameron McNeish

DURING my editorship of The Great Outdoors magazine I had the pleasure of working with the celebrated American mountain photographer Galen Rowell. He had just climbed a Himalayan peak called Cholatse with a good friend of mine, the English mountain guide Bill O’Connor, and we planned a photographic feature on the expedition. I had come to know Galen through Bill – the mountaineering world is full of such personal connections – and I corresponded with him for some years. During that time I published three or four of Galen’s illustrated articles in TGO. At the time Galen Rowell was making…

Posted in Features, Magazine

Gear review: Summer base-layers

Posted on July 17, 2018 by Paul Webster

I’ve not known a Scottish summer to be as warm as this one so far… and it’s provided the ideal conditions to test out a range of lightweight baselayers. Summer t-shirts for walking are generally one of two fabrics these days: polyester and merino wool (it’s important to avoid cotton which traps moisture next to the skin, becoming cold and uncomfortable). Polyester and merino wool have their advantages and disadvantages; polyester is lighter, cooler, cheaper, quicker drying and more durable, whilst merino wool is softer to touch, requires more care when washing, is warmer, less durable, more comfortable when wet,…

Posted in Baselayers, Gear reviews, Magazine

Team Heavy and the Big Rig ride out

Posted on July 12, 2018 by David Lintern

Walkhighlands, or bikehighlands? This time it’s a temporary two wheeled takeover, as David Lintern and family take to their steeds to reach the parts that little legs can’t quite manage. Getting a young family out and about is harder than it should be. Mum is bone tired and the kids (aged 4 and 1) aren’t independently mobile as yet. Before the really cold weather came in last year, we enjoyed one wild camp, but carrying the volume of stuff needed for four means that moving from place to place becomes next to impossible without tantrums… and that’s just the adults.…

Posted in Features, Magazine

Wild swimming: Where have you been all my life!?

Posted on July 11, 2018 by Ben Dolphin

I always enjoyed messing about in water when I was younger but I’m not sure I ever truly enjoyed swimming in it. I certainly wasn’t a bad swimmer, in fact I took part in inter-school competitions, but I think it was more something that I HAD to do because it might save my life one day. And as I got older and completed the various levels of swimming proficiency awards, culminating in swimming up and down a large pool fully clothed and then treading water for what seemed like hours whilst simultaneously self-inflating my pyjamas (seriously!)… the interest waned. I…

Posted in Features, Magazine