A scheme to reduce the cost of Scottish ferry travel is to be extended, the Scottish government has announced. The road equivalent tariff (RET) has been operating on a pilot basis and is now to become permanent on services to the Western Isles and Coll and Tiree and will also be extended to Sounds of Barra and Harris routes. The RET scheme pegs ferry fares at the rate it would cost to travel the same distance by road. The Scottish Government also plans to extend the scheme to to cover the Colonsay, Islay and Gigha ferries from October 2012 and…

This year’s Dundee Mountain Film Festival boasts a glittering array of varied films covering caving, climbing, kayaking, mountaineering, running and cycling. In addition there will be talks by round the world cyclist, Mark Beaumont, hillwalking writer Ian Mitchell, and Peter Habeler, who climbed Everest without oxygen with Reinhold Messner in 1978. Art work and photographs will be on display during the Festival as well as stalls, a raffle, and the chance to vote for the People’s Choice Film. The 29th Festival will run from the evening of Friday 25 and all day on Saturday 26 November at Bonar Hall in…

Tonight (Tues 22 November) BBC Scotland will be showing a programme that aims to show that rock climbing started in the Northwest of Scotland rather than the English Lake District as is usually claimed. On The First Great Climb three of Scotland’s best climbers embark on a challenging mission to scale the Great Stac of Handa, an isolated pillar of rock on the north-west coast. Dave MacLeod, Dave Cuthbertson and Donald King hope to replicate an ascent first made by a trio of climbers from Lewis nearly 140 years ago, using only equipment and clothing that would have been available…

Cameron McNeish will give an illustrated talk, sponsored by Tiso, in Inverness on 25 November. Over the past twenty years writer and broadcaster Cameron McNeish has made a number of television programmes for the BBC including the highly successful series The Edge: 100 Years of Scottish Mountaineering and Wilderness Walks. More recently he has appeared as a regular presenter on the acclaimed BBC Scotland series The Adventure Show and he has made a number of programmes about long distance trails in Scotland, including the Sutherland Trail, the Skye Trail and the Hebridean Trail. Last year he led the commentary team…

Author, photographer and renowned long-distance walker, Chris Townsend, will give an illustrated talk at the launch of his book, A Year in the Life of the Cairngorms. The talk is to be held on Thursday 17 November at 7:30pm in the Grant Arms Hotel in the centre of Grantown on Spey. Chris, who lives and works on the edge of the Cairngorms, knows the landscape better than most having spent endless days hiking and wild camping in all four corners of the National Park. The book is primarily a photographic record of the year and Chris will illustrate his talk…

Ferry operator, Caledonian MacBrayne, has started a Sunday service from Tarbert on the Isle of Harris. Up until yesterday (23 October) Tarbert was the only Outer Hebrides port without a Sunday sailing, usually a boat would leave empty and head to Lochmaddy, on North Uist, from where a Sunday service to Uig on Skye was provided. The introduction of this final Sunday service is controversial with locals, where Sabbath observance is still an important way of life for some. CalMac said that the decision to start taking passengers at Tarbert on a Sunday was taken after consultation with the local…

Three amateur photographers from across Scotland have triumphed in the fifth annual Nature Photography Competition, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) announced today. SNH wanted to hold a photo contest with a difference this year, so asked entrants to explain how their photos showed the gifts of nature. Photos were judged along with the entrants’ explanation of what their photos meant to them. Zeshan Akhter, a SNH biodiversity officer who organises the contest, said: “The pictures, and our winners’ words, show how beautiful places and wildlife can move us and make our lives better and more meaningful. Nature gives us so many…

The best of the best in the fields of climbing, mountaineering, round the world expeditions, base jumping and mountain photography are among those who will be flocking to the Scottish capital for the 9th Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival (EMFF) from Thursday 6 to Sunday 9 October 2011. This year’s diverse and packed programme of mountain films, lectures and exhibitions is guaranteed to inspire, enlighten and entertain the capital’s annual gathering of the adventure sports, photography and filmmaking communities; as well as those who love the outdoors, travel and mountain adventure. Over the last eight years the EMFF has built a…