REWILDING THE WILDERNESS
textbook. After visiting Lynbreck, I can’t help but appraise the landscape differently, and find myself wondering whether it has always looked like this, or whether 500 years ago things would have been starkly different; the fact that we are following a rough track through largely treeless estate land is enough to tell me the answer. Still, there’s no denying the thrill of this landscape, even under rain so heavy that it drips off my eyelashes. The track ahead has been rendered sepia in the fading light, the presence of Loch Ossian betrayed only by flashes of gunmetal grey through the towering trees we are now riding through. ‘Turn turbo on,’ our guide says, and we do so, zooming the final few miles in a race against the setting sun. But when the light from the youth hostel appears, blinking out of the mist like a beacon, all I know is that I don’t want to stop – I want to keep going, not just across Rannoch Moor but beyond, to the coast, or around the whole of Scotland. I’m travelling with adventure-holiday company Wilderness Scotland, on a trip that began with my favourite UK train journey – the Caledonian Sleeper to Inverness. With Wilderness Scotland’s commitment to
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S C OT L A N D
sustainability – which has so far included building a net-zero office, calculating the carbon impact of their trips and introducing an opt-out conservation contribution for their trips – they are, as head of marketing Ben Thorburn says, ‘leading the industry in creating change’. At a time when it feels like anyone can stick a ‘sustainable travel’ logo on their offerings, it feels like a big claim, but over the course of the three days I spend with Wilderness in the Highlands, it becomes clear that they’re actually taking practical action to ensure they live up to this. Part of this is achieved through their partnership with Trees for Life, a charity that is working to rewild the Highlands, and one of the beneficiaries of Wilderness’ conservation scheme. Today, less than 2% of Scotland’s temperate Caledonian forests still remain, including a fragment at Dundreggan Estate, seven miles west of Loch Ness. Here, Trees for Life are currently finalising construction of their rewilding centre, which will enable visitors to experience the ancient woodland and to find out more about the important work the charity is doing to restore native forest both here and elsewhere in the Highlands.
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Highland cattle at Lynbreck Croft. OPPOSITE PAGE:
A burn cuts through the barren landscape near Loch Ossian.
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