Outdoors celebration planned for Scott

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Helen Webster

The 200th anniversary of the publication of Sir Walter Scott’s poem Lady of the Lake, is to be celebrated in a series of outdoor events later this year, including a new walking trail around Loch Katrine. Scott’s work transformed popular perspectives on landscape and generated the first surge of tourists to the Trossachs and Scotland. The new event, Scottsland – Celebrating the Language of the Landscape will run from June to October this year. It will include a varied programme of cultural and literary events to take place throughout the Trossachs. These include a new art and literary trail around…

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Heather Hopper funding withdrawn

Posted on January 24, 2010 by Helen Webster

The Cairngorms National Park Authority is to stop funding the Heather Hopper bus service which currently runs in the summer months. The heavily-subsidised service, which runs twice a day in the summer and connects Ballater to Grantown on Spey with connecting buses to Aberdeen, only carried an average of 40 passengers a week last year. The National Park said it would consider how best to use funds to provide transport. As well as making the Park more accessible, one aim of the Heather Hopper service was to reduce car use and lower the carbon footprint of the Park.

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Balmoral access bust up

Posted on January 21, 2010 by Helen Webster

The Westminster and Holyrood Governments have had a serious bust up over access to paths at Balmoral resulting in a humiliating climbdown by a Scottish Minister. It is understood that the Home Office put Roseanna Cunningham, Scottish Environment Minister, under pressure to scrap plans to include two paths near Balmoral Castle on a new paths map because of alleged worries about royal security. Previously Buckingham Palace, the UK Government and top police officers had expressed concerns about the inclusion of two paths on the new Core Paths Plan being developed by the Cairngorms National Park Authority. Ms Cunningham had dismissed…

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GO Outdoors plans major Scottish expansion

Posted on January 20, 2010 by Helen Webster

The UK’s fastest growing outdoor retailer GO Outdoors is to open five new superstores in Scotland in the next two years. The expansion will begin in March when its second Scottish superstore opens in Clydebank. In a break with traditional outdoor store layouts the new store will feature a centre-piece family-friendly five-metre high indoor climbing wall will allow customers to experience indoor rock climbing. GO Outdoors already operates Scotland’s largest outdoor superstore in Coatbridge. The 70,000 square feet store opened in 2007. In addition to the new superstore in Clydebank, the Sheffield-based company is targeting two more openings in the…

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Plans for Bungee-jumping venue in Perthshire

Posted on January 20, 2010 by Helen Webster

Perth and Kinross councillors will today meet to decide whether to approve plans for the construction of the UK’s first dedicated bungee jumping platform. The structure would be built from the Garry Bridge (on Walkhighlands’ Bealach na Searmoin walk between Pitlochry and Killiecrankie). A company, Highland Fling, has been set up especially to promote the development. Phillip Riddle, chair of VisitScotland, was reported on the BBC as stressing the economic importance of adventure tourism, “whether it’s climbing, or walking, sailing, or bungee jumping”, whilst the John Muir Trust warned that there is a danger that such developments could harm the…

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MSP call to limit hill tracks

Posted on January 19, 2010 by Helen Webster

The Scottish Parliament will soon get the chance to debate whether the cutting of new tracks in Scotland’s hills and mountains should be more tightly controlled. Following lobbying from the Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) previously reported on Walkhighlands, a Labour MSP has lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament to control such hill tracks. Labour’s environment spokeswoman Sarah Boyack asked sumbitted the motion which calls on the Scottish Government to tighten planning regulations on where new routes through the hills could be cut. Announcing the potential measure, Ms Boyack said, “The magnificent scenery in the Scottish uplands deserves to…

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Speyside Way upkeep dispute

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Helen Webster

Highland Council and the Cairngorms National Park Authority are at loggerheads over who should pay for the upkeep of a 30 mile section of the Speyside Way. Most of the Speyside Way, which runs from Aviemore and Ballindalloch to Spey Bay, is in Moray. However part of the Aviemore branch, which opened in 2000, is located within Highland Council’s jurisdiction. The National Park have offered to pay 70% of maintenance costs if Highland Council funds the remainder and takes over responsibility for the route. The Council is arguing that it is not legally obliged to manage it and does not…

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Too much snow closes Cairngorm ski-centre

Posted on January 15, 2010 by Helen Webster

Following two days of snow and strong winds, the Cairngorm ski-centre has been forced to close. Operations manager Colin Matthew said that the access roads were blocked by fifteen foot snow drifts. He told the BBC that “further up the mountain the drifting has buried our funicular railway track in about 10 places, and the tunnel mouth, and some of our ski-tow towers are just sticking out of the snow.” A major operation was under way to clear the snow, with 17-tonne caterpillar earth movers which have already spent two days working 18 hours a day to dry to clear…

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Ramblers Scotland victorious in Snowie access case

Posted on January 14, 2010 by Helen Webster

Ramblers Scotland and Stirling Council have been successful in the latest attempt to keep walkers out of the Boquhan Estate near Kippen. Landowners Euan and Claire Snowie had sought to exclude walkers, cyclists and horseriders from 40 acres of their Boquhan estate near Kippen, claiming they needed such a large area for privacy and security. In April 2008, Ramblers Scotland and Stirling Council won their legal case against Euan Snowie and Claire Snowie, which came to court during May 2007. The judgement was appealed, and the case was set to be heard in the Court of Session. However the case…

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Eigg is Big Green Challenge winner

Posted on January 14, 2010 by Helen Webster

The Isle of Eigg is set to receive £300,000 from the Big Green Challenge Fund as one of four winners in a competition to reduce CO2 emmissions. The Eigg community has managed to reduce their carbon emmissions by 32% in the last year and aims to use the prize money to make even greater cuts. The Eigg project has set out to try and show that other small communities in all parts of the country could use some of the same techniques to reduce their carbon footprint. In all, four community groups have won NESTA’s Big Green Challenge – a…

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