Category: Scotland
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Sgùrr nan Carnach and Sgùrr Fhuaran from Sgùrr na Ciste Duibhe
The Five Sisters of Kintail, on the north side of Glen Shiel, is one of the classic ridge walks in Scotland. As you might have guessed, the Five Sisters refer to five peaks of which two are Munros: Sgùrr na Ciste Duibhe (The peak of the dark chest) 1027m Sgùrr na Càrnach (The rocky peak)…
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Gruinard Bay
Fuelled by President Trump in a blatant attempt to shift blame for the handling of the coronavirus epidemic from himself, the suggestion that the virus was manufactured in a Chinese laboratory has now hit the mainstream media rather than being confined to conspiracy theorists in the darker reaches of social media. But it would do…
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Cùl Mòr
At 849m, Cùl Mòr is the highest of the Assynt Corbetts, a towering and majestic beast of a mountain. This view is from Stac Pollaidh. Cùl means ‘the back of’ so cùlag, for instance, is your back tooth. And mòr is the adjective ‘big’. So the name translates as ‘big back’. Which raises the question…
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Calgary Bay
The Gaelic name for this idyllic beach of white sands is Cala ghearraidh, the ‘beach of the meadow’, which has been anglicised to Calgary. Like many other Scottish Highland communities, those at Cala ghearraidh were evicted, the land cleared and given over to sheep. This would probably have been in around 1817 when the Mornish estate…
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Remains of old forest, Gleann Sithidh
Today is Earth Day 2020, an event which I fear will go largely unheeded. Without doubt Corvid 19 is a global crisis yet we are in another global crisis which is not happening so fast, but it is happening all the same. Climate change. The theme for this 50th anniversary of Earth Day is climate…
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Isthmus between Port an-t Slaoichain and Port Bheathain
In Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Kidnapped‘ the hero, David Balfour is kidnapped and is shipwrecked landing up at Erraid on the Ross of Mull. The story then follows his journey back to Edinburgh to confront his wicked uncle. In June 2016 two mates, Bob and Andy, and I followed in the footsteps of Balfour, from Erraid…
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Overnight camp Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon 1997
This is a scanned image and to be quite honest, I am not 100% sure that it’s actually one of mine. I did do the 1997 Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon with my eldest son, who would then have been 17. However neither he or I are in the photo and I can’t think why anyone…
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The old schoolroom, Strathan
A tin hut stands at the confluence of Glen Pean and Glen Dessary at the head of the 12 mile Loch Arkaig. This is Strathan, the end of the public road from Spean Bridge and a parting of the old routes north to Loch Nevis and south to Glenfinnan. It is probable that the Glen…
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Loch nam Ban Mòra
I read this morning that it was on this day in 1997 that the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust finally succeeded in buying the small island off the west coast of Scotland from the laird after an eight-month ownership battle. The community buyout was a forerunner of land reform in Scotland under the Community Land…
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The Cuillin Ridge
The Black Cuillin Ridge is one of the classic mountain ridges in the United Kingdom, some say the only true mountain ridge. 14 km of rough igneous rocks, gabbro and basalt, with 11 Munros many requiring rocking climbs and abseiling. This image and the one below are scans of proper photographs taken on a traverse…