Blog
What I’ve been reading this week, 21 November 2020
The legacy of the Clearances, sketching Scotland’s mountains, the digital dilemma, and why readers should wean themselves off Amazon. Nature and environment How the shooting industry is exploiting the legacy of the Clearances — an excellent piece from David Lintern about the controversial idea of reducing deer numbers in the
What I’ve been reading this week, 15 November 2020
Touching cloth on the Black Cuillin, avalanched on the Lancet Edge, choosing your next adventure, and the 80/20 rule. Nature and environment Campaigners warn of fragile future for Scotland’s beavers — Walkhighlands highlights a documentary, Beavers Without Borders, premiering on YouTube tonight. Outdoors Conversation & whisky, sunshine & splendour
What I’ve been reading this week, 7 November 2020
The value of human silence, cognitive navigation and GPS, wild camping in winter, and taking on Amazon. Nature and environment Our shared vision to restore nature on Exmoor — the Exmoor National Park Authority launch ambitious plans for landscape-scale nature restoration on Exmoor. Looks promising. ‘The proposals also include dedicating at
When Glen Coe resembled the Himalaya
The perfection of winter in a collection of images from ten years ago It’s easy to forget, when away from the mountains, just how good winter mountaineering can be at its best. There is nothing in the world like it. The anticipation, the planning, the failures, the gradual accumulation
What I’ve been reading this week, 31 October 2020
The trouble with pheasants, different perspectives on the Cairngorms, the transition month of October, and the campaign for free access to our landscapes. Nature and environment Pheasant and partridge classified as species that imperil UK wildlife — I think this can be cautiously welcomed as a step in the right direction,
Make a difference for wild places with Wanderlust Europe, Alex Roddie, Chris Townsend, and the John Muir Trust
Today I am launching a fundraiser to help the John Muir Trust by auctioning a copy of Wanderlust Europe and a day out on the hill with myself and Chris Townsend. Bid for a signed copy of Wanderlust Europe, the new book on Europe’s most inspiring long-distance hikes, and
What I’ve been reading this week, 24 October 2020
A bumper instalment this weekend, as I didn’t publish last week. A landscape of hope, the impact of Coronavirus on outdoor education, traverse of the Mamores, an open-source fleece, and photographs from peak to shining peak. Nature and environment Red Backed Shrike And Vigo The Bearded Vulture — wonderful images
Sidetracked Vol. 19 shipping now
I’ve just received my copies. This one is breathtaking. Working on Sidetracked magazine continues to be a pleasure, and this issue contains some truly spellbinding stories. During the editorial process I was particularly enthralled by the piece ‘Leaning to Listen’ by Luc Mehl, about a long-distance ice-skating expedition in
Five-minute storm
The sky knows more than we do, and it always did. As tier three creeps closer stormclouds queue over the marsh, a fire’s set and for five minutes arrowed droplets dance in Velvia haze. The moon tries to come up while light peels back, laserburned by the taproot of
What I’ve been reading this week, 11 October 2020
Outdoor education in crisis, how to walk across Scotland, beating the winter blues, and travel in a time of Covid. Outdoors School’s out: the crisis facing outdoor education — ‘the ban on overnight school trips, gaps in the government’s coronavirus support offering and continued Covid restrictions has created a
