Walking out of Inverness
A rare free weekend allows for a walk along one of Inverness’s few walkable routes out of town, but a trusted favourite – the start of the Great Glen Way.
Applecross
A few words and pictures from a spectacular day trip to Applecross – surely one of the best places on the west coast of the Highlands.
Nothing to report
Recent trips to Edinburgh and London have made me realise I saw nothing of the two places. Catching up with friends in the evenings is great, but just occasionally I think I’m going to go wandering by myself to see what interesting thing lurk waiting to be discovered.
A long walk to Beinn Mheadhoin
I was out hillwalking this past weekend for the first time in a long time. The attempt to get out lots during 2014 has become slightly unstuck during the latter part of the summer for various reasons, so it was good to be out again. With a group of friends I did a walk from…
Wild camping at Loch Ericht
This year will see at least four camping expeditions, and the past weekend will probably be the toughest-going as it will be the only actual wild camping, where we were in the middle of nowhere with no facilities. Trowel on standby… A group of us spent two nights wild camping by Allt Na Bealach Dubh…
Shenavall circuit
The year’s mission to get out more at weekends and make the most of the beautiful walking opportunities nearby, continues. As does the weather’s mission to be as miserable as possible. Thankfully Saturday’s walk around the Shenavall circuit, south of Ullapool, wasn’t a particularly rainy one. But the mist obscured our views quite considerably, even…
Return to Kintail
This weekend past saw a trip to Kintail to knock off a few hills, during which a group of us stayed at the NTS bunkhouse that we’d stayed at on one previous occasion two years ago. We had planned to spend Saturday doing the well-known Five Sisters of Kintail, a stunning ridge of peaks close…
The old railway at Invergarry
Much of Britain is littered with the often rarely visible remains of closed railways, many of them victims of the infamous Beeching Axe. Of course, Beeching can’t take all the blame for railway closures in this country, because many closed long before (and, in some cases, after) his efforts. One of those that closed beforehand…
Camping at Clachtoll and Badrallach
Find all my posts from our freezing yet sunny Easter 2013 camping trip here, including on the journey westwards, exploring the famous Assynt region, a hike to the unconnected village of Scoraig, a bit about camping in the cold, and the curious evoution of passing place signs.
Walking the Coulags circuit
The problem with agreeing to go hillwalking on a certain date is that you can’t wimp out when the weather forecast is rubbish. Our plan was to do the Coulags circuit, which runs northwest from near Achnashellach. According to MWIS the prognosis was not good, though: below zero temperatures at summits, and as low as…
Meall a’ Bhuachaille and Creagan Gorm
We did a ten mile walk in the Cairngorms today. It was a lovely clear day, but bitterly cold above the snow line. Our destination was Meall a’ Bhuachaille and Creagan Gorm, a corbett and long plateau that made for a scenic circular walk of about six hours. You can read about the route at Walk…
A walk round Inverness
Inverness boasts a lovely circular walk of a couple of hours or so that takes in the River Ness, the Ness Islands, the shores of the Beauly Firth, and the Caledonian Canal. Only it doesn’t really boast it. It’s not well-known or advertised as a single circular walk, but it is admittedly easy to put…
Hike and bike
I was away this weekend past with Nicole and a bunch of friends to do some hillwalking and cycling. Based near Braemar in the Cairngorms National Park we had two excellent days, both of which involved longish cycles and then Munro-climbing at the end. Our first day saw us tackle Carn Bhac, south of Braemar.…
Ben Wyvis, at last
Given it sits among comparatively flat landscape (by Highlands standards), it doesn’t take much for Inverness to be towered over. That’s why Ben Wyvis, over half an hour’s drive away, is a dominant feature in Inverness, especially in the popular views across town to the north from the castle. There, seemingly just at the mouth of…
A long trek
This past weekend, Nicole and I were away hillwalking with a group of friends from Glasgow. Our base was a hostel near Roy Bridge, and our route was Corrour to Spean Bridge. The start and end points lie on the famous and beautiful Glasgow to Mallaig train line, and so we headed by train to…
Travelling into the past
If you pop into the Glen Mhor Hotel on the banks of the River Ness you’ll be transported back in time. Not because it’s an antiquated place, but because in its front lounge there is an array of vintage Scottish rail posters. They’re all, I think, prints of paintings by Norman Wilkinson, a famous landscape…
Ormond Castle
In another piece of local history I knew nothing about until I visited its site, here are some photos from Ormond Castle, which I walked around the other weekend. It’s not really a castle any more – in fact, not even “not really”, more “not at all”. It’s just a hill, flat at the top,…
Fyrish Monument
It’s a sad state of affairs that it takes someone from abroad to encourage me to see something under my nose. I try to be good at making the most of the amazing scenery and history on my doorstep, but in the case of the Fyrish monument, about half an hour north of Inverness and…
Glen Affric
Nicole and I went for a walk out Glen Affric the weekend before last and I’ve just got round to uploading a few photos. It was our first time out there, I think, since we got engaged. Shame really, it’s such a lovely walk and one of the prettiest and most accessible parts of the…
A weekend up west
Nicole and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary this past weekend (it’s a great fortitude that our anniversaries are on the same day, really). We’ve set a pattern of taking it in turns to organise a surprise for each other, and last year I took us to Austria. This year was Nicole’s turn and she…