I HAD in mind a jaunt round the northern corries of the Cairngorms, but with a forecast of wind gusts up to 40mph I was a little apprehensive.
IT ranks as one of the finest scrambles in the Cairngorms and the rock scenery is dramatic indeed.
THE area north of Ben Wyvis is wild and largely pathless, so you need to keep your navigation skills up to scratch if you venture there. The reward is…
A CHANGE of job, from sub-editor on Scottish Provincial Press’s titles based in Inverness to reporting on the Ross-shire Journal, means my cycle…
THERE can be few more dramatic views in the Cairngorms than that from the summit of Sgor Gaoith.
I NORMALLY avoid wind farms like the plague, but I couldn’t give this one a body swerve. There are Beinn Tharsuinns all over the place…
THERE’S always that tingle of anticipation and excitement about getting out on snowy hills for the first time in the season. And last weekend brought…
IN early August 2005, Labour politician Robin Cook and his wife Gaynor were on holiday in the Highlands. On the afternoon of August 6, while walking down…
THERE are two thoroughbreds in north Sutherland I’d been yearning to climb for years. But it’s a long way up to Durness and I’d never…
The route features in a new cycling guide by Alasdair Cain, a mountain guide living in Kingussie, who is also a devotee of road cycling.
THE last throw of winter? It certainly felt and looked like it when I traversed Creag Dubh. With lots of snow on the Cairngorms, well into May, I carried…
WITH a population of not much over 1,000, Brora is well known these days for the fortunes of its football team. The Highland League champions lost…
IT was the Great Glen link that never was. The canal’s there and the road’s there, but the Invergarry to Fort Augustus railway, built between…
THEY gather from all over the world in Badenoch every year to celebrate their clan link, to dance, sing and exchange stories. The Macphersons have a strong…
THE Torridon mountain path that starts from the Coille na Glas Letire car park on Loch Maree-side is a challenging circuit for walkers not used to steepness.…
THERE’S something special about setting foot on virgin snow. It’s almost as if no-one’s ever walked the ground before. It makes me feel…
RYVOAN bothy holds a few memories for me, connected to a west-east backpack across Scotland. My walking partner Clive Tully and I stayed there overnight…
THERE are times when you make decisions about a route you later wish you hadn’t. What seemed like a good idea at the time turns a walk into something…
A SHORT distance from Dornoch and a stone’s throw from its famous golf course lies a small, solitary gravestone. The "Cholera Grave" marks the spot…
WATER can be a bit of a nuisance when you’re planning a bike ride if it gets in the way of completing a circuit.