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And There’s Another Country (Another Country – Part 2)
I’M in a dislocated place, somewhere that’s been shifted by forces stronger than gravity. I appear to have strayed onto a planet similar to our own and into a land similar to our own – only it’s a land...
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A Faithful Heart (Another Country – Part 3)
JOHN PRESCOTT is still the main topic of conversation at breakfast. The outrage is tangible. Meanwhile, after enjoying a second bath to discourage any remaining deer ticks (I find another behind my...
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The Descent of Man (A Fire in Glen Elchaig)
IN Glen Elchaig I trudge west along a rough road to a stone bridge over a stream that I’ve pinpointed on the map as a potential place to camp. This is called forward planning – a concept I am not …...
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Hail Storm Behind Conival
A HAIL storm rolls along the flank of Beinn Uidhe – a white curtain sweeping down the glen, engulfing everything in its path. Soon, within a matter of minutes, I’ll be alone in a completely white world...
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Strathchailleach Bothy – And the Spade Behind the Door
SO much for Sandwood Bay and the ghosts. So much for Scottish weather. Last night I spent a half hour walking along the sand while a thin drizzle leached off the Atlantic, and another half hour...
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A Night on the Cluanie Ridge
“TAKE CARE. You are entering remote, sparsely-populated, potentially dangerous mountain country.” I gaze at the green warning sign thoughtfully as rain slants down from the invisible heights of Spidean...
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The Half-Naked Man (Bearnais Bothy to Achnashellac)
A HALF-NAKED man stands on the banks of the River Carron with a pack on his back, gazing forlornly across the water towards the first main road he has seen in three days. Travellers on the A890, their...
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Cape Wrath – the Edge of the World
THE roar of waves pounding ancient cliffs echoes from somewhere far below. Before me, the blue Atlantic stretches to distant rocks where only seabirds venture, lands where glaciers grind to the sea,...
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Martindale Fells and the Three-Legged Pig of Prague
YOU think you know your parents. You presume that, after a lifetime of familiarity and togetherness, their lives, their characters and their pasts are so utterly immovable and unchangeable that they...
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The Quest for Breakfast Above Loch Lochy
ON the crest of a wet and desolate Cam Bealach, as rain streams in from the north, a desperate man wanders through the mire . . . Continue reading →
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Madeira: So Let Me Get Right to the Point . . .
A clifftop path through some of the most spectacular coastal scenery in the world . . . Continue reading →
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What Does Adventure Mean to You?
DO you work in a factory, an office, a shop, or drive a company van? Are you a member of parliament, unemployed, a doctor, a refuse collector, a teacher or the chief executive officer of a...
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Days Like This, No 17: Sleeping Giants of Assynt
CONIVAL and Ben More Assynt are mountains with majesty. I read an article a long time ago about these northern giants glimpsed in the rays of the setting sun, and the quartzite stones on their summits...
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