Win Black Isle beer with Walkhighlands

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Helen Webster

Walkhighlands has a mixed case of 20x500ml bottles of organic beer to give away, to celebrate the opening of the brand new brewery building at the Black Isle Brewery. The Black Isle Brewing Company is a small intensely independent organic brewery in the heart of the Scottish Highlands. Its mission is to produce a range of top quality organic beers packaged in recycled materials. The barley and hops used are grown on organic farms, without artificial fertilisers or herbicides. The folks at Black Isle Brewery believe that their beer is the best for both you and the environment, but for…

Posted in Walkhighlands news

Torridon walking festival launched

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Helen Webster

A new festival has been added to the bulging line-up of Scottish walking festivals. The Torridon Walking Festival will run for the first time this year between 1st and 3rd October and offers a varied programme of walks aimed at beginners all the way through to experienced walkers. If you’ve always put off tackling some of the harder routes such as Liathach perhaps now is the chance to do it in the company of an experienced guide. There will also be a selection of lower level walks, the option of an overnight trip to a bothy, a photography walk and…

Posted in News

TGO Challenge report wins online prize

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Helen Webster

The latest monthly prize for the best trip report on Walkhighlands has been awarded for a heartfelt account of the gruelling Scottish coast to coast TGO Challenge. The walker’s website received well over a hundred walk reports in June ranging from amusing tales of short family outings to epic backpacks. A surprise were two great reports from Conachair on St Kilda coming in in quick succession! The monthly competition is sponsored by online gear retailer, Webtogs, and £30 of Webtogs vouchers were awarded to runner-up Ray MacKay for the sheer enthusiasm in his account of his first trip into the…

Posted in News, Walkhighlands news

Dave Macleod to reveal climbing secrets of Ben Nevis

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Helen Webster

Top international climber Dave MacLeod and the John Muir Trust will lead a guided walk into the corries of the North Face of Ben Nevis on Sunday 24 July as part of the countdown to the London 2012 Olympics. The chance to explore the climbing history of Britain’s highest mountain in the company of one of Britain’s leading climbers is part of a series of sporting and cultural events taking place across the UK to celebrate the ‘One Year to Go’ countdown to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. During the walk the exciting climbing secrets of the mountain will be…

Posted in News

Drovers' Tryst open for bookings

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Helen Webster

This year’s Drovers’ Tryst walking festival offers a packed programme including many walks, a ceilidh, music, mountain film, pub quiz and of course the famous Hairy Coo and St Fillans mountain bike challenges. The friendly festival has now opened its doors for bookings and will take place this year from the 8th to 15th October. Crieff & Strathearn Drovers’ Tryst annually celebrates the life, work and play of the people who made Crieff the cattle-droving crossroads of Scotland in the 1700s. The modern day Tryst is run by volunteers and built around a programme of guided walks in the stunning…

Posted in News

Police patrols for Loch Lomond capercaillie

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Helen Webster

Extra National Park Rangers and an increased police presence are now in place in a bid to step up conservation of threatened capercaillie on the islands of Loch Lomond. The birds are vulnerable to disturbance from people and dogs. That can be particularly apparent where capercaillie use habitat in heavily visited parts of the countryside. One area affected at busy times is the Loch Lomond islands, which will now see new signs strategically placed to educate people about capercaillie. It is hoped this will avoid further disturbance issues at five islands within Loch Lomond. Visitors enjoying the stunning scenery will…

Posted in Nature

Bananas invade Ben Nevis

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Helen Webster

Members of staff from the John Muir Trust are taking to the slopes of Ben Nevis dressed as bananas to ask people to take their litter off the mountain. Sarah Lewis, one of the Trust’s Conservation Officers at Ben Nevis (aka Bananaman), said: “We’ve been talking to walkers going up the hill about the effect that organic litter can have on the environment. There’s been a great response to the costumes so far. Hopefully they’ll make the message stick in people’s mind. “A lot of people who wouldn’t normally dream of dropping litter don’t realise that things like banana skins…

Posted in Nature, News

Game and Conservation interests agree to work together

Posted on July 3, 2011 by Helen Webster

An agreement paving the way for more collaborative work between conservation and game interests is welcomed by Scotland’s Environment Minister Stewart Stevenson at the Scottish Game Fair at Scone last Friday. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) have agreed that both organisations will promote integrated and balanced land management through farming, sporting, fisheries and forestry to benefit Scotland’s economy, wildlife and habitats. A key aim is to address nature conservation issues in the wider countryside, as well as protected areas, by promoting suitable management activities. Minister for Environment and Climate Change Stewart Stevenson said:…

Posted in Nature

Glentress Peel open for business

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Helen Webster

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…

Posted in News

First survey at Bat Reserve

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Helen Webster

At the same moment it was announced that some of the next Batman movie will be filmed in the Highlands, a full survey of bats and their habitats at Scotland’s only bat reserve is underway. The survey, which started on Friday 24 June and runs until Friday I July, is the first to take place at the National Trust for Scotland’s Threave estate in Dumfries and Galloway since it became the nation’s first ever dedicated bat reserve last summer. A group of Thistle Campers (working holidaymakers) are onsite at Threave this week, assisting with the work. Opened with generous support…

Posted in Nature