With Christmas upon us, here’s our pick of Boxing Day walks that may help you digest all that over indulgence – or perhaps escape your least favourite relative! Allermuir Hill and Swanson, Pentland Hills, Edinburgh At the time of writing a white Christmas doesn’t look very likely, but whatever the temperature Allermuir Hill offers the most stunning views over Edinburgh. The nearest of the Pentland Hills to the city, Allermuir is within easy reach for a great many people for their Boxing Day jaunt. Benarty Hill, Fife Though it may be smaller than its neighbours amongst the Lomonds, Benarty Hill…

Earlier in the year we featured our pick from Scotland’s best wee hills. But apart from the promise of a view, little attracts people more to climb a smaller hill than the chance to visit a hilltop monument. Built to become local landmarks, these follies, memorials and towers appear in many forms, and scattered all around the country. They form the subject of our latest gallery. Fyrish Monument, Easter Ross The striking monument on Cnoc Fyrish above the Cromarty Firth is a familiar sight to travellers on this part of the A9. Close up it is even more impressive than…

Loch Lomond Loch Lomond, its bonnie banks famously celebrated in song, is Britain’s largest freshwater lake by area, stretching over 71 square kilometres. The loch is at the heart of Scotland’s busiest National Park, and has many islands, including Inchmurrin – the largest on any loch – and beautiful Inchcailloch. The Highland fault line runs right through the loch and ensures a great variety of scenery, ranging from the placid Lomond Shores at Balloch, to the foot of towering Ben Lomond. The West Highland Way path follows much of the eastern shores of the loch. Loch Ness Loch Ness may…

Scotland’s first settlers arrived over 10,000 years ago, and even today there are incredible monuments to the peoples of long ago. Burial cairns, brochs, hut circles and other remains are abundant across much of the mainland and islands, but it is standing stones that perhaps draw the strongest reactions from visitors. For standing stones and circles the mystery is often around their purpose – something that has been subject to speculation by archaeologists for many years. Here’s a few of Scotland’s finest: Callanish, Isle of Lewis One of the most spectacular and celebrated monuments in the country, Callanish – set…

For our latest gallery we’ve picked out some of Scotland’s most dramatic mountain landscapes that can be seen from the roadside. Inevitably this means many of these mountains rank amongst the country’s best known… but we’ve hopefully included a few surprises too! An Teallach, Dundonnell near Ullapool Many hillwalkers rank mighty An Teallach as Scotland’s finest mountain. Its two Munros and the Corrag Bhuidhe pinnacles are well seen from several roadside viewpoints; one classic view is a distant one from Loch Droma on the A835 Ullapool road, but the photo above is more up close and imtimate, from the ‘Destitution…

In Scotland, Bothies are a remarkable part of our outdoors’ culture. The word bothy can really mean any form of very basic accommodation, but to hillwalkers the term is usually applied to ‘open’ bothies – buildings which are left unlocked for anyone to use. This year is the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Mountain Bothy Association, which was set up by outdoor enthusiasts Bernard and Betty Heath to try to save from ruin many of the uninhabited buildings in the wilder parts of Scotland, which had traditionally been used as dosses. Today the association maintains – entirely through…

Scotland’s tortuous coastline stretches for almost 10,000km on the mainland alone – or up to 16,500km if the islands are included. As well as picturesque fishing villages and stunning sandy beaches, there are sections of fantastic cliff scenery, including huge natural arches, deep geos (inlets) and – our subject here – mighty sea stacks. Am Buachaille, Sandwood Bay, Sutherland Rising 65m (213′), Am Buachaille – meaning the Herdsmen – rises as a splendid sentinal at the southern end of the almost legendary beach of Sandwood Bay (walk description) in the far northwest corner of Sutherland. The stack was first climbed…

The remoter corners of the Scottish Highlands and Islands are dotted with the remains of long deserted settlements. Some of them were victims of the Highland Clearances, when whole populations were forcibly evicted to make way for sheep; others actually became villages due to the Clearances, with people being forced to move there from more fertile ground. Still others were abandoned due to changing economics, the decline of hill-farming, the shift to towns and cities, or the sheer difficulty of making a living in remote and sometimes inhospitable locations. All are eerie places to visit, remembering the cruelty and hardships…

Beyond the obvious attractions, Scotland has some more curious treasures to discover… Achmelvich Castle, Assynt Scotland has hundreds of castles – we’ve already offered in a previous gallery a pick of 10 of the best. But those wandering the magnificent Assynt coastline have this strange structure to discover. This tiny ‘castle’ was constructed in concrete in the 1960s by a newly qualified architect… After completing the castle and making local friends, it is thought he spent only one night in it before leaving never to return. You can find it on our Achmelvich Beach walk. MacCulloch’s Fossil Tree, Isle of…