Forestry Commission Scotland’s new visitor centre in Glentress Forest, near Peebles, is now fully open for business. The new state-of-the-art development, known as Glentress Peel, will cater for the 300,000 plus mountain bikers and walkers that flock to the forest every year, making it the top tourist attraction in the Borders. The popular Hub cafe and bike hire shop, which lost out in the tendering process to run the new cafe, will remain open until the end of the year. Built on fully sustainable principles and using timber from the forest, the new Peel centre offers modern facilities including a…

A new, semi-formal, campsite at Sallochy Bay, on the banks of Loch Lomond is now open. The campsite has been set up to provide additional camping facilities following the ban on wild camping on this stretch of east Loch Lomondside. The new site is run by Forestry Commission Scotland and has basic facilities offering a “wilder” camping experience. The new site is on the West Highland Way between Balmaha and Rowardennan. There are 20 pitches available (only one tent is permitted per pitch) with a maximum tent size of six persons. There iare toilets and overnight parking and costs £5…

Donald Trump has been forced to put his golf resort plans on the Aberdeenshire coast on hold. The golf course, which is currently under construction, will go ahead and open next year, however the large complex planned to go with it including luxury villas and a large hotel has been postponed. Trump is blaming the economic downturn for the delay in building the £750m resort at Menie, just north of Aberdeen. The controversial golf course, which has cost an estimated £60m to construct and is sited on dunes of ecological importance which are designated as a protected area, will open…

2010 was the first year in which the number of mountain rescue incidents in Scotland declined. Mountain rescue teams in Scotland made 534 call outs in 2010, a reduction of 24 on the previous year. The figures, released by the Mountain Rescue Council of Scotland also show that the number of non-mountaineering call-outs, for example to look for missing persons or to deal with extreme weather like flooding, rose from 172 to 194. These types of call-outs now represent 36% of all incidents that rescue teams are called to. 2010 also had the lowest number of mountaineering fatalities in 30…

The Dava Way, which links Forres to Grantown on Spey, will host a series of walks and talks during the summer. The Edinkillie Community Hall Committee have organised the series which start from the Dunphail Breathing Place, part way along the Dava Way. All the walks will be on Sunday afternoons and will last about 1.5 to 2 hours with refreshments in the community hall afterwards. The interesting and fun walks begin at 2:15pm, meet at Dunphail Breathing Place (see Dava Way website for map), everyone welcome, visitors and locals alike. The walks will take place on the following Sundays:…