With the addition of route descriptions for a handful of walks at the north end of the Isle of Lewis, walker's website, Walkhighlands, has reached the milestone of 1,500 walking routes. The site now covers the whole of Scotland with current projects including adding more walks in Lewis, Harris, Orkney and the Borders. All the routes are walked and researched on the ground and GPS recordings taken so that the routes can be accurately mapped. The routes range from short family rambles to epic long distance multi-day walks and include descriptions of all the Munros as well as many Corbetts…

Walkhighlands has teamed up with online gear retailer OutdoorKit.co.uk to give away £100 worth of vouchers to spend on outdoor equipment. The free prize draw will run for the month of February and as 2012 is a leap year there’s an extra day to get your entry in! OutdoorKit is one of the UK’s leading online supplier of outdoor clothing and equipment. Based in a warehouse in Luton, Bedfordshire which stocks over 2,900 outdoor products, the company also have an established shop in St. Albans high street. Entry is simple, just visit Walkhighlands and answer a simple question about OutdoorKit…

ViewRanger has chosen Walkhighlands as its Branded Publisher of the Year in the mobile phone mapping app’s annual awards.  Walkhighlands also had the Most Popular Route of the Year (by Value) with its Ben Nevis by the Mountain Track route. On making the award ViewRanger said, “Walkhighlands publish more than 1,400 of the best trails across Scotland through the ViewRanger platform.  What stands out about the Walkhighlands trails is the information that is provided along with the GPS route – including audio files that help explain the pronunciation of those tricky gaelic hill names!” ViewRanger also awarded two “Community Publisher of the Year”…

Each month two outstanding walk reports submitted to Walkhighlands are awarded prizes. The competition is sponsored by online retailer Webtogs, who choose the winners and donate the prizes. Commenting on the December walk reports, Gareth from Webtogs writes “Well the Festive season has finished and although feeling little flat, plans to head in to the hills have gathered pace and sparked a few excited grins here at Webtogs. Not sure about you good folk, but I personally find the hills in winter to be the most beautiful and exciting for walking. As a result I was really looking forward to…

To celebrate the start of 2012, Walkhighlands is giving away a rucksack and sleeping bag worth £100 to one lucky visitor. The Echo 400+ sleeping bag is rated at 4+ seasons, whilst the Summit 25 rucksack has been designed for the hillwalker. The prize has been provided by Highlander, a Scottish based company specialising in the manufacture and design of camping and outdoor equipment. With over 25 years experience, the company is still a family owned business with products ranging from sleeping bags, tents, camping furniture & accessories to waterproofs, walking poles,gaiters, socks and footwear to lightweight sleeping bags, insect…

If you’re still stuck for want to buy anyone who loves the Scottish mountains, there is still time to take up the offer of gift membership of the MCofS. Membership of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland comes complete with a quality free gift (Harvey Map, DVD, Silva Compass, or Chalk Bag), quarterly magazine, discounts at many outdoor retailers and accommodation providers, and the warm glow you get from supporting an organisation that does loads of behind the scenes work on access and conservation issues, helping walking and climbing clubs, running climbing competitions for kids and much more. The MCofS is…

A bumper number of Walkhighlands business members have made it to the shortlist for this year’s Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards. The results will be announced at a ceremony in Inverness on Friday evening (18 Nov) – good luck to all the entrants. Walkhighlands’ members shortlisted for awards are: Highland Campervans – up for no less than three awards (Best Visitor Experience Small, Best Entrepreneurial Business in the Great Outdoors, and Best Leader) Gordon Pearson from Wow Scotland, providing great walking adventures in the Highlands – shortlisted for Young Ambassador Sands Caravan and Camping Park – shortlisted for Best in…

Walkhighlands has announced the winners for the October Walk Report competition. Each month, two winners are chosen by the team at online retailer Webtogs, from all the trip reports submitted and published on the site in the last month. Gareth Jones from Webtogs said, “It’s been another hard month deciding who wins this months vouchers and there have been some stunning reports yet again as the days get shorter. “Runner up has to be Echoes of fire, water and a visionary – Liathach’s west end which has rightly been given 17 likes on the site, and we would heartily agree…