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…

I’ve travelled a fair bit around the world and the one thing I keep encountering again and again, no matter what country I’m in, is the superlative settlement. That is to say, those tiny towns or villages with superlative claims to fame. The tiniest church, the longest slide, the highest chimney, the angriest lama. Often they’re dreamed up or made in a deliberate attempt to get people to stop in a town, but some lucky wee places are blessed with the genuine article. Fortingall in Perthshire is one such place but frankly you’d never know it if you were just…