Spring 2012

MAKING A

SPLASH Adventures in Arran and Ayrshire

The positive impact of community buy-outs

LANDSCAPE APPRECIATION Take a photography walk on the Isle of Skye

GOING UNDERGROUND Enter the secret world of Scottish caving

PLUS: Cosy camping at Comrie Croft • Climbing photographer Lukasz Warzecha • Why peat bogs matter

www.scotoutdoors.com

Spring 2012 £3.80

REALISING POTENTIAL

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Discover a different world visit Orkney O and Shetland

Contact us today for our 2012 guide

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WELCOME

A word from the editor

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Forsinard, Sutherland p8

Applecross p40

here’s something very compelling about places like Rum, Eigg, Assynt and Knoydart – all have a wildness that stirs the imagination and excites the senses. And it’s not just the locations themselves that are exciting, but also what’s happening within their communities, for they are among a growing number of places in Scotland where local people have opted to shape their own futures through community ownership of the land.

For many, it is a fascinating and challenging journey – one that Catriona Ross explores in our lead feature on page 30. Her article serves as an important reminder that such places are not just beautiful to visit, but also living, breathing entities that have to work hard to prosper long after the last tourist has gone.

Elsewhere, we don our head lamps and take a glimpse into the secret underworld of caving – a sport more readily associated with other parts of the UK, but which nonetheless hit the headlines recently when a brand new cave system was discovered in Applecross. See page 38 for the full skinny.

This issue also has something of a photography theme.

Keith Fergus explores the subtle charms of the Ayrshire coast (page 46) as part of a wider section exploring both Ayrshire and the Isle of Arran, while Australian writer Lorellie Bow recalls a challenging photography trip to Skye. As you can read on page 58, the island’s notoriously tempestuous weather didn’t disappoint.

We hope you enjoy the issue. And don’t forget to subscribe to ensure that you receive every copy direct to your front door – see page 26 for full details.

Richard Rowe Editor, Scotland Outdoors

Skye p58

WINNER Best small publishing company magazine PPA Scotland Awards 2009, 2010 Inchree p22 Staffa p6

Scotland Outdoors online You can find our website at www.scotoutdoors.com

Comrie Croft p20

Look out for special online features and sign up for our e-newsletter to receive regular updates

Join us on Facebook and tell your friends! www.tinyurl.com/somagfb p46

EXPLORE ARRAN AND AYRSHIRE

You can also follow us on twitter www.twitter.com/scotoutdoors

PHOTOGRAPHY: COVER: PADDLING ALONG THE COAST OF ARRAN, ALEX ULIVI ABOVE LEFT: SUNSET OVER FAIRLIE, AYRSHIRE, KEITH FERGUS

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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CONTENTS

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Contributors

Catriona Ross Catriona Ross was born and brought up in the Highlands.

Having worked abroad for several years, she now lives on the Black Isle and is a freelance journalist and communications specialist with a longstanding interest in land reform and community empowerment. Buying futures, page 30

Keith Fergus Outdoor writer and photographer Keith Fergus has walked all over Scotland, but the Ayrshire coast remains a particular favourite of his. As well as writing for a variety of outdoor magazines, Keith runs his own photographic business and photo library, Scottish Horizons. He lives on the outskirts of Glasgow. All along the Ayrshire coast, page 46

CONTENTS PHOTOGRAPHY: DOUGLAS ROBERTSON; ALAN JEFFREYS; GLEN CAMPBELL; SCOTTISH WATERSPORTS CENTRE, CUMBRAE; LORNA RITCHIE; NATIONAL TRUST FOR SCOTLAND; PETER CAIRNS; ROB ROY CHALLENGE; GEORGE SLOAN; LUKASZ WARZECHA

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Alan Jeffreys A retired police officer with more than a half-century of caving experience around the world, Alan Jeffreys founded the Grampian Speleological Group (GSG) 50 years ago and also started the Scottish Cave Rescue Organisation in 1966. He lives in Edinburgh and remains active in the running of GSG. Secret underworld, page 38

The Scotland Outdoors team Editor: Richard Rowe t 01721 588140 e richard@scotoutdoors.com Associate Editor: Ida Maspero t 0131 4676121 e ida@scotoutdoors.com Associate Assistant: Hilary Little t 01721 588140 e hilary@scotoutdoors.com Copy Editor: Ruth Noble Editorial Board: Nick Williams, Chris Surgenor, Charlotte Manwaring, Andy Ross Advertising sales: Alison Fraser t 0141 946 8708 e alison@scotoutdoors.com Design & Production: CMYK Design e production@scotoutdoors.com w cmyk-design.co.uk

Scotland Outdoors is published quarterly. It is available by subscription and through in-room copies at high-quality accommodation providers; farm shops and galleries; ferries and airline lounges; leading wildlife and adventure travel companies; activity and visitor centres; outdoor retailers and other specialist suppliers. For a full list of stockists see: www.scotoutdoors.com ISSN 1757-224X

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All contents © Big Bend Publishing (2012) This magazine is printed on Claro Silk, which is FSC-certified and produced using ECF pulp.

Subscriptions: Hilary Little t 01721 588140 e subscriptions@scotoutdoors.com Printing: J Thomson Colour Printers Published by: Big Bend Publishing Port Brae House, Port Brae, Peebles, EH45 8SW, Scotland

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Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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FEATURES

LIVING

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Buying futures

From chunks of woodland to whole islands, community buy-outs have become increasingly commonplace in rural Scotland, particularly in the Highlands and islands. But to what extent does this new model of land ownership benefit local people and visitors?

Catriona Ross investigates

ADVENTURE Secret underworld

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With such matchless mountain scenery to be found in the Highlands, it may seem perverse of people to seek adventure below ground. Alan Jeffreys explains the lure of caving, while Ritchie Simpson tells of the euphoria when his team discovered a brand new cave system in Applecross recently

EXPLORE ARRAN AND AYRSHIRE

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All along the Ayrshire coast

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Take your pick

Underrated but exceptional, the Ayrshire coast is a diverse landscape with a wealth of natural features and an important historical legacy. It is best explored on foot, argues Keith Fergus, whose images capture the subtle beauty of this coastline

EXPERIENCE Framing Skye

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Creating photographic memories worthy of the island’s renowned beauty and drama – this is Australian visitor Lorellie Bow’s goal as she explores Skye’s incomparable landscape on foot

From long-distance walks to staying at a Buddhist island retreat, here’s our pick of the very best activities and adventures to enjoy across Arran and Ayrshire

Visit our website for additional online features submitted by readers www.scotoutdoors.com

REGULARS

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Reader adventures Reader photographs of wild getaways

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Board and lodging

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Day in the life

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Innovations

Big picture Staffa, Inner Hebrides

2020Vision More than just bogs Treeless, remote and wet, peat bogs are a hard sell to the public in comparison to lush forests and flower-rich meadows. But we neglect them at our peril, argues Niall Benvie

News Outdoor news from around Scotland

Top five…

Walkers’ gardens Our pick of wilder, woodlandstyle gardens that offer walkers a good stomp or serve as jumping off points for exploring the surrounding hills

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Events Get active with our round-up of outdoorsy events

Competition Win a two-night outdoor break for two on the Isle of Arran

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Camping with young kids in the depths of winter? Why not, says Andy Ross as he samples a Swedish-style tent complete with wood-burning stove and sheepskin rugs at Comrie Croft, Perthshire

Founder and director of the British Canyoning Association, Ben Starkie provides the lowdown on what it takes to train fellow canyoning instructors

A glance at some of the best new products for spring and beyond

Outdoor passions Polish-born but now Edinburgh-based, Lukasz Warzecha is a rising star on the international climbing photography scene

Traveller’s tale Richard Rowe recently spent a month in New Zealand and couldn’t help drawing comparisons with back home

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OUTDOOR • ADVENTURES

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CHECK OUT OUR SELECTION OF THE BEST READER PICTURES SUBMITTED IN RECENT MONTHS

Who done it?

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1 Fire starting during bushcraft training with Borders Environmental Education Services, Ruth Noble 2 Sunset over Elgol, Isle of Skye, Susan Rowe 3 Worm casts in the sand, North Berwick, Fiona Alsop 4 Enjoying the Torridon Walking Festival, Lorna Ritchie 5 Canoeists on the Spey, Darren Little

6 Skimming stones on the shores of Loch Ness at Dores, Jonathan Wallace PLEASE KEEP THE PICTURES COMING:

Show us what you get up to and we will publish the best pictures in our next issue. Just tell us where you are and what you are doing.

Email your high-resolution images to: richard@scotoutdoors.com

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Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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Isle of inspiration Staffa, Inner Hebrides Standing on the clifftops of Staffa, watching clouds of puffins taking to the air in wheeling flight before coming in to land at your feet, or listening to the music of the waves inside the majestic Fingal’s Cave, it’s easy to see just why this tiny Hebridean island has inspired generations of artists, musicians and storytellers.

Staffa is perhaps best known for its dramatic geology, having been formed from ancient lava flows which cooled to produce its famous basalt columns. The name ‘Staffa’ is thought to come from an old Norse word describing these rock pillars, and is a reminder that people have marvelled at the sight for centuries. In places the columns are angled into beautiful curved shapes, clearly seen in Clamshell Cave beside the jetty. Millennia of wave action have created a series of spectacular sea caves around the coast, and visitors can access Fingal’s Cave, the largest, along a rocky walkway below the cliffs.

It’s hard to know for sure whether the island was ever permanently inhabited, but undulating ground shows evidence of ‘rig and furrow’ agriculture, and certainly stock were grazed here up until the 1990s. However, the island has had its fair share of notable visitors, from legends of warring giants to the botanist Joseph Banks, who visited in 1772 and scratched his initials onto the rockface. Banks’ enthusiasm brought Staffa to the attention of the wider world and many other travellers came to experience and communicate the magic of this place in their own ways.

Among them were John Keats, Sir Walter Scott, Joseph Turner, Queen Victoria, Robert Louis Stevenson and Felix Mendelssohn, whose Hebrides Overture has its origins in the sound of the sea inside Fingal’s Cave (appropriately called An Uamh Bhinn in Gaelic, meaning musical or melodious cave).

Visit today and you can still see traces of the Gothic folly built as a shelter for these early tourists, although the island is now populated only by birds and marine creatures. Along with the clown-like puffins, there are important colonies of fulmar and shag. Black guillemots, storm petrels and gulls also nest here, along with a pair of predatory great skua and the occasional corncrake. Keep a look out for seals during the boat journey, and if you’re lucky enough, the breathtaking sight of a minke whale or basking shark.

EMILY WILKINS, RANGER, STAFFA NNR

Getting there Staffa, located about 7 miles west of the Isle of Mull, is a National Nature Reserve in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. From April to October, several boat operators run tours from the neighbouring islands of Mull and Iona (www.staffatours.com; www.turusmara.com; www.staffatrips.co.uk). Caledonian MacBrayne, in conjunction with local operators, also offer combined day packages from Oban in the summer. www.bit.ly/staffa

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BIG PICTURE •

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2020 VISION • PEATLANDS

More than just… bogs TREELESS, REMOTE AND WET, PEAT BOGS ARE A HARD SELL TO THE PUBLIC IN COMPARISON TO LUSH FORESTS AND FLOWERRICH MEADOWS. BUT WE NEGLECT THEM AT OUR PERIL, ARGUES NIALL BENVIE PHOTOGRAPHY: MARK HAMBLIN; PETER CAIRNS; LORNE GILL/SNH

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wo stories in the 1980s brought peat bogs to the front pages. On Islay, celebrity botanist Dr David Bellamy was humiliated when he waded into a public debate about the exploitation of Duich Moss, winter home to internationally-rare Greenland white-fronted geese. Local people were in no doubt that the peat was needed more by their distilleries than the geese. And a number of other famous names, most notably Terry Wogan, were pilloried for exploiting a tax loophole that allowed them to plant non-native conifers on the “blankety” bogs of Sutherland – one of the worst places in Britain to grow timber. What was clear in both cases was that the public was more interested in the personalities involved rather than the bogs themselves – and that a great opportunity to tell the people why bogs mattered was missed.

The current preoccupation with carbon emissions has focused attention on peatlands once again. They tie up enormous quantities of carbon (in the decaying plants that compose the peat) and methane (itself, an even more potent greenhouse gas). Scotland’s peatlands

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alone are estimated to sequester, or lock in, about three billion tonnes of these gases.

Disturbing them (or in the case of west Siberia, thawing permafrost) releases these agents into the atmosphere, exacerbating problems caused by our industrial emissions. One objection to the giant wind farm proposed for Lewis a few years ago was that the amount of carbon from peat released during its construction would take ten years to be offset by the ‘clean’ energy produced by the turbines, thereby greatly reducing the farm’s effective life. Clearly, if the UK is to meet its international emission obligations, we need to take better care of our bogs and peatlands – and restore those that are already damaged. Releasing even 5% of the carbon and methane they contain equates to the UK’s annual industrial greenhouse gas emissions. Given that the UK hosts about 15% of the world’s blanket bogs – sequestering more carbon than all the forests at home and in France combined – Britain clearly has an important role to play.

We’ve done a great deal of harm already. A combination of overgrazing, burning, drainage

(and in the Peak District, acid rain) have taken a heavy toll over the years. As soon as peat formation ceases and the top protective layer disappears, the peat accumulated below (sometimes to a depth of several metres) tends to erode, sometimes right down to the underlying rock. It is easy to dismiss this as a problem that affects only unpopulated, impoverished areas, but without that absorbent layer of peat, settled areas downhill are more at risk of flash flooding after heavy rainfall and likely to suffer poorer water quality as the eroded peat finds its way into the water supply. When peat dries out it is very hard to wet again and is highly combustible. If fire takes hold, it can burn for weeks, ruining the very landscapes that attract the visitors who drive many local economies.

Of course, degraded peatlands and bogs are bad not only for people. A range of specialist species including greenshank, hen harrier, dunlin and black-throated diver can claim rights to these places based on occupancy over several thousand generations; the case for denying them continuity of their lines has yet to be

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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argued convincingly by the forces of ‘development’, be that peat extraction, tree planting, drainage or agriculture. Putting the interests of humans first is as short-sighted as it is simplistic.

Work has begun in several places to restore peatlands to good heart. On the RSPB’s Forsinard reserve in the heart of the Flow Country in Sutherland, EU LIFE funding has allowed conifers to be cut down (using a special hydraulic shear mounted on a low ground pressure vehicle) then ‘trodden’ into the drainage ditches between the trees. In a bid to increase the waterlogging that is vital to peat formation, over 10,000 small dams made of peat have been built across drainage ditches. All this encourages the reformation of peat and recreation of the impenetrable, wet and wild places needed by their ancient inhabitants... and us. But it is a slow process: peat in this part of the world accumulates at the rate of only about 4cm a century, and it will be a long time before all traces of these ill-judged plantings have vanished.

In the Peak District, peat erosion is so severe on Kinder Scout that a £2.5 million scheme is now underway which involves, in the first instance, fencing sheep out of the worst affected areas. Within this exclusion zone, actively eroding gullies are blocked to raise the water table – this recreates waterlogged conditions and encourages sphagnum mosses. A mulch formed from chopped heather helps to reduce erosion and the surface is further stabilised with localised planting of cottongrass and other moorland species. Bare peat is a pretty

www.scotoutdoors.com

Bog beauty (clockwise from facing page): peatland vista at Forsinard Flows in Sutherland; round-leaved sundew; red-throated diver; cottongrass; sphagnum moss

unwelcoming medium for plants to colonise but by applying lime from the air to increase its pH, followed by fertiliser, aerially-sown heather and grass seeds have a better chance of establishing.

All this work is costly, labour intensive and long term... and avoidable if the moors had been better managed in the past. Whether the political will to see it through will hold – and prevent the same mistakes being made again – remains to be seen. However, what is certain is that the costs of doing nothing, will, in the long term, be much, much higher. g

About 2020VISION Martin, have been documenting the urban woodlands and community involvement of Scotland's Central Green Network.

This is the fourth in a series of articles following photographers on assignment for 2020VISION – an ambitious communication project that aims to demonstrate what a wilder Britain could look like and how people could benefit from it.

Back in October, Peter Cairns, Lorne Gill and Mark Hamblin captured the autumn colours of the Caledonian pinewoods of Glen Affric and Abernethy as well as Perthshire’s ‘commercial’ forests. Meanwhile, Niall Benvie, along with his Young Champion Katrina

Winter is a busy time for wildlife in Scotland, with red squirrels visiting feeding stations in many areas; Mark Hamblin and Peter Cairns spent a few weeks in January capturing various aspects of these enigmatic animals’ behaviour. Chris Gomersall’s visit to the North Sea proved eventful, eventually taking him to Norway, but he did enjoy several sightings of orcas trying to capitalise on any spills from the mackerel fishing nets – see the blog for more. As the photographic assignments draw to a close in April, the 2020VISION team will be busy capturing those final images for the forthcoming exhibition and book – details to come.

For more on the project, including how to get involved, visit www.2020V.org

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OUTDOOR • NEWS

Caley Challenge goes halves

THE ANNUAL Caledonian Challenge, one of the country’s top endurance and fundraising events, is diversifying this year, offering participants a half-route trek and a marathon option. This year’s Challenge takes place on 16 to 17 June and entries are now open to teams.

The original Caley Challenge is a strenuous 54-mile trek in 24 hours from Gairlochy, north of Fort William, to Auchtertyre, south of Tyndrum. It follows the West Highland Way for much of the route, taking in the rugged and remote terrain of Glen Nevis, Glencoe and Rannoch Moor. This year, however, there are two more options – a 26-mile hike

from Glen Nevis to Glencoe that entrants will have 12 hours to complete, and a 26-mile marathon course for endurance runners.

The Caley Challenge is open to teams of four to six people who must pledge a minimum of £400 each for charity. The event is a major fundraiser in Scotland – this year, more than 1,000 entrants are expected to raise over £1 million for charity. A new range of fundraising options for this year means that entrants can now choose a recipient charity for a portion of their funds raised. www.caledonianchallenge.com

My cover shot, Alex Ulivi PADDLING ALONG THE COAST OF ARRAN

Having entered the 2011 Scotland Coast to Coast – which involves a 100-mile trip across the country by bike, kayak and on foot – a couple of my friends and I (Graeme Mcleod is pictured here) thought it might be an idea to actually try kayaking before the race! With some instruction from Calum McNicol of the Arran Adventure Company, we set out on a coastal journey from Brodick on the Isle of Arran.

We paddled a distance of around 10 miles (stopping briefly for refreshment at the Corrie Hotel) in warm sunshine but a slight headwind to a spot near North Sannox, where we camped for the night. The following morning we paddled another 10 miles or so north, around the Cock of Arran and into Lochranza, where the Arran Adventure van met us at Lochranza Castle to take us back to base in Brodick. It was a fantastic trip and an experience we will definitely be repeating soon, although hopefully the next trip will be longer still.

For more images from Alex’s trip, see http://on.fb.me/alexulivi www.alexulivi.co.uk

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Handa calling THE SCOTTISH Wildlife Trust (SWT) is appealing for volunteers to work and stay on Handa island, located off the west coast of Sutherland.

Managed as a wildlife reserve by SWT, Handa is the summer breeding ground for an estimated 100,000 seabirds, including internationally important numbers of guillemot, razorbill (right) and great skua.

Handa has no permanent inhabitants and SWT relies on volunteers to meet and greet visitors – who come for day trips by boat from Tarbet, north of Scourie – and brief them on responsibly exploring Handa’s fragile habitat. Volunteers also have the chance to get involved in conservation projects on the island, including the ongoing skua monitoring scheme. Volunteer positions are for a week, or for longer term stays of between one and three months, and accommodation is in a basic, mixedsex bothy with minimal electricity. www.bit.ly/handavolunteer

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Pick of the pics IN FEBRUARY, the Scottish Seabird Centre in East Lothian crowned the winners of its sixth annual Nature Photography Awards. A ladybird taking off (pictured), a pine cone close-up and a charming red squirrel portrait are among the winning photos in seven categories. This year’s 278 entries, including 40 junior entries, were judged by well-known professional nature photographers Laurie Campbell and Graham Riddell, and the 105 shortlisted images were on display at the Seabird Centre for a couple of months.

The final winners were decided by a 50/50 combination of judges’ and public votes. They are: Ladybird taking off by Douglas Gregor from Worcester (Worldwide wildlife); The duellists by the same photographer (Scottish wildlife); Moss shoots in low sunlight by Stuart Scott from Galashiels (Creative visions of nature); Cone with clover by Anne Jeffray from Gifford (World flora); City air by Malcolm Davidson from Dirleton (Environmental impact); Spider in web by Inga Zurhelle from Germany (Junior) and Red squirrel on stump by Neil MacGregor (People’s choice). The exhibition will now be touring. www.seabird.org

Big spring clean LAST SPRING, around 100,000 people took part in the National Spring Clean, picking up litter from parks, green spaces and beaches among other places. Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB), the environmental charity behind the initiative, has set an ambitious target of 200,000 participants for this year’s National Spring Clean, which takes place between 1 April and 31 May. Schools, businesses, community and youth groups and even individuals are welcome to register an event or join a litter pick already arranged. A clean-up kit – including protective tabards, stickers and a poster – is provided by KSB, while local authorities can supply essential equipment such as litter pickers and gloves.

Register an event or browse those already planned on the KSB website at www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org

PHOTOGRAPH: SCOTTISH WILDLIFE TRUST

Gongs for natural heroes

www.scotoutdoors.com

WINNERS OF the first annual RSPB Nature of Scotland Awards – celebrating excellence and innovation in nature conservation – were announced at the start of March. The Marine Award went to the Dolphin Space Programme, which offers sustainable, educational dolphin watching in the Moray Firth. Local Energy Action Plan (LEAP), Lochwinnoch’s climate change initiative, won the Sustainable Development Award, while the Innovation Award went to Forestry Commission Scotland’s Branching Out, which gives people using mental health services the chance to take part in conservation and greenspace activities.

Politician of the Year went to Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, and renowned mycologist Roy Watling took home the Outstanding Contribution to Nature Award for a lifetime’s work highlighting the importance of fungi. Finally, Stirlingshire farmer Alistair Robb was named Species Champion for his efforts to help breeding lapwings on his farm. www.bit.ly/rspbnosa

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OUTDOOR • NEWS

Gold in them thar hills THE CONTROVERSIAL re-opening of the Cononish gold mine near Tyndrum was given the final go-ahead recently following detailed negotiation between Scotgold, the Australian company behind the mine, and Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park.

In mid-February, the Park Authority declared that the development could proceed this summer, as planned, after Scotgold agreed to legal and financial conditions designed to protect the mine’s sensitive surroundings. Outline planning permission for the ten-year underground mining operation had already been granted in October last year, having been previously rejected in 2010.

Though local residents have largely supported the mining plans, they drew opposition from outdoor and hillwalking groups concerned about the impact on the glen, which is dominated by the imposing munro Ben Lui.

Scotgold has agreed to provide a £2 million financial package, which includes lodging three bonds, totaling £1.3 million, that will allow the National Park to restore the area should the operator fail in its obligations or abandon the site.

In addition, a 30-year management plan for the wider Glen Cononish was agreed. This will see ongoing access for walkers, better signage and waymarking and the planting of native woodland.

Gordon Watson, the Park’s Director of Planning and Rural Development, commented: “We have negotiated with Scotgold to make sure there are wider benefits for the surrounding communities. At the same time, we have established funding and guarantees that will deliver successful restoration and conservation of the landscape during and after the life of the mine.” Once operational later this year, Cononish will be Scotland’s only working gold mine. www.bit.ly/cononish

Glenlivet MTB centre is go PLANS FOR a new mountain bike centre on the Glenlivet Estate near Tomintoul have received the green light from Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) planners, and £500,000 in funding. The plans are for two purpose-built trails of 10km and 19km respectively through forests and on existing forest tracks, including what would be the longest single track descent in Scotland from the summit of Carn Daimh.

The plans, led by landowner The Crown Estate, also include a small mountain bikers’ hub with cafe, toilets, information area and parking. The Crown Estate, CNPA and local residents alike are hopeful that the new centre will attract mountain bikers from far and wide to the Tomintoul area, creating employment and opportunities for local business.

CNPA Planning Officer Mary Grier commented: “Interesting and challenging trails will be created from the existing land form rather than being man-made and will involve limited construction and minimal tree felling.”

Funding for the £500,000 project is being provided by The Crown Estate, European Regional Development Fund, CNPA and Moray Council. Construction begins this spring and the trails and hub will open in spring or summer next year. www.glenlivetestate.co.uk

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PHOTOGRAPH: THE CROWN ESTATE

Wilderness mapped IN FEBRUARY, a new map of Scotland’s wild land was published by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). The map, a first for the UK, takes into account all land, not just known wild places within, for example, national parks and or national scenic areas (such as Assynt-Coigach, above).

Using a method developed by the Wildland Research Institute (WRi) at the University of Leeds, the map shows the relative wildness of all of Scotland’s landscapes, taking into account four attributes: perceived naturalness of the landscape, ruggedness of the terrain, remoteness from roads, ferries etc. and lack of buildings, pylons and other man-made objects.

Simon Brooks, SNH Policy and Advice Manager, said: “These new maps will give valuable, detailed information to local authorities to inform decisions. Scotland is famous for its wild landscapes; these maps tell us where the wildest areas are and will help everyone when considering changes in these places.” Following publication of the new wild land map, SNH has invited public comments, which are being taken into account as it prepares more detailed, precise maps in the course of this spring. www.bit.ly/wildlandmap

CAMPAs get together

Cash for Orkney wildlife

WITH CAMPERVAN rental proving an ever more popular way of exploring Scotland, several rental businesses have come together to launch CAMPA, the Campervan & Motorhome Professional Association. Its founder members – Big Tree Campervans, Deeside Motorhomes, Highland Campervans and Open Road Scotland – aim to work together to create a sustainable future for their growing industry. Simon Yearsley of Big Tree Campervans said: “We’re communicating with customers on things like wild camping principles, safe driving practices and environmental awareness. We’re also setting a series of simple and pragmatic quality standards, which we hope other campervan rental companies will adhere to, on important aspects like vehicle safety and maintenance, insurance provision and customer complaints.” www.campa.org.uk

ENJOY WILD Orkney, RSPB Scotland’s new initiative to promote Orkney as a wildlife tourism destination, received a £300,000 cash boost from Europe at the end of last year. The new project aims to improve the nature tourism experience on the islands and attract wildlife enthusiasts, thereby also creating employment and business opportunities for locals.

The grant from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is the first tranche of money for the proposed project to create new wildlife-related events and facilities – field teaching sessions with specialist educational staff, an annual nature festival, wildlife viewing hides, CCTV wildlife viewing and updated interpretation, including mobile phone apps. A new inter-island ranger will be recruited to work with communities and existing ranger services on the outer islands

www.scotoutdoors.com

(such as Hoy, above) to lure visitors to the more remote parts of Orkney.

Andy Knight, RSPB Scotland’s Orkney Reserve Manager, said: “We’re delighted that this first part of the grant application has been successful. The ERDF funding is a major milestone along the way to achieving the funding we need to make Enjoy Wild Orkney a reality.” The hope is that match funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund will be awarded later this spring. The total value of the project is more than £800,000 over three years. www.bit.ly/rspborkney

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TOP FIVE • WALKERS’ GARDENS

Sitting pretty THESE WILDER, WOODLAND-STYLE GARDENS ARE SET IN DRAMATIC SURROUNDINGS, OFFERING WALKERS A GOOD STOMP OR SERVING AS JUMPING-OFF POINTS FOR WALKS IN THE HILLS AROUND PHOTOGRAPHY: ARDKINGLAS ESTATE; ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN EDINBURGH; ABRIACHAN GARDEN; CRAIGIEBURN GARDEN; NATIONAL TRUST FOR SCOTLAND

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Towering conifers and lush exotics thrive in Argyll’s damp conditions at this woodland garden, part of the Ardkinglas Estate at the northern tip of Loch Fyne. The lower garden is home to some impressive champion trees – the tallest of their kind in Britain.

Several circular walking routes meander among the plantings, while beyond its southern end lies a network of paths exploring the rest of the estate policies and woodlands, with views over Loch Fyne. For a more strenuous hike, a number of paths head up into Glen Fyne from the nearby walkers’ car park at the head of the loch, a little along the A83 towards Inveraray. This is also the starting point for bagging the 948m Beinn Bhuidhe.

Moffat is Scotland’s first ‘Walkers Welcome’ town and home to an annual walking festival in October – no wonder, its setting in the Southern Uplands is a magnet for walkers. Near the town, in the lea of Hunterheck Hill, lies a small, low-key gem, a relatively new garden surrounded by ancient woodland. Craigieburn combines formal plantings with wilder woodland landscaping inspired by the birthplace, in the Himalayan foothills, of its Nepali co-gardener.

Above and around the garden, the forest-clad Craigieburn and Hunterheck hills can be explored by a network of tracks and waymarked trails, punctuated by views over the Moffatdale. The atmospheric Grey Mare’s Tail is just a few miles along the A708.

Ardkinglas Woodland Garden, Loch Fyne, Argyll

GETTING THERE Open all year from dawn to dusk.

Located off the A83 just outside Cairndow. Buses serve Cairndow from Glasgow, and from train stations at Arrochar and Tarbet. www.ardkinglas.com

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GETTING THERE Open April to October, Tuesday to Sunday, 10.30am to 6.30pm. Two miles from Moffat on the A708. www.craigieburngarden.com

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Benmore Botanic Garden, near Dunoon, Argyll

Set in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, this hillside outpost of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is undoubtedly located in spectacular walking territory. With its mountainside setting and over seven miles of meandering hillside paths to explore, the garden itself gives plenty of scope for a satisfying stomp with super views of the surrounding hills. It also serves as a jumping-off point for longer hikes up Glen Massan and the 741m Graham, Beinn Mhor. Along with its magnificent avenue of 150-yearold redwoods, Benmore’s wilder plantings offer slices of montane forest from around the world, including the Himalayas, Chile and Tasmania. To best appreciate its renowned collection of rhododendrons in bloom, visit in spring and early summer.

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GETTING THERE Open daily from March to October, 10am to 5/6pm. On the A815 north of Dunoon, from where there is a bus service. www.rbge.org.uk/benmore

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Abriachan Woodland Garden, Loch Ness-side

Perched on the shore of Scotland’s most famous loch, this hillside garden has a myriad of winding paths following the natural contours of the landscape, exploring its informal plantings of species from as far afield as New Zealand and the Falklands, and offering vistas over Loch Ness.

The garden blends seamlessly

with the native woodlands around it – footpaths link it to neighbouring Abriachan Wood (Woodland Trust) and a large network of waymarked tracks in the community-owned Abriachan Forest further up the hill. From here, the Great Glen Way may be reached. And of course it goes without saying that the Great Glen and surrounds offer countless fine opportunities for hillwalking.

GETTING THERE Open February to November, 9am to dusk/7pm. Situated nine miles from Inverness on the main A82 Loch Ness Road. Bus services connect Abriachan settlement to Inverness and Fort Augustus. www.lochnessgarden.com

Craigieburn Garden,

by Moffat, Dumfriesshire

Inverewe Garden, Poolewe, Wester Ross

Inverewe is world renowned for its array of colourful exotics that flourish so far north. Perched on a promontory overlooking Loch Ewe, the garden itself is vast and varied, with walks through country-style gardens and undulating woodland, and viewpoints overlooking the loch. The garden forms part of Inverewe Estate, some 2,000 acres in the care of the National Trust for Scotland harbouring hidden hill lochs, patterned bogs, coastline and abundant wildlife. A number of walks on the estate explore this remote and rugged terrain, including the Pine Wood trail and the Kernsary circular path. Both offer tempting views towards the Torridon and Fisherfield mountains.

GETTING THERE Opens daily 10am, closing times vary. Just outside Poolewe, reached by bus from Inverness. www.bit.ly/inverewe

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

spring ads_Layout 2 copy 4 28/02/2012 14:33 Page 15

PINE TREES HOTEL PITLOCHRY Enjoy the peace and quiet of this former Victorian mansion. Pine Trees has 19 comfortable, well appointed rooms and one luxury suite, all non-smoking. The hotel is located five minutes walk from the centre of Pitlochry, but is secluded in its own garden and woodland.

Ample private parking within the grounds.

The garden restaurant serves fine food and wines and you may wish to savour a dram from the wide range of malt whiskies available from the bar lounge.

Special theatre breaks available during the season.

Special midweek and weekend break rates available throughout the year.

Roaring log fire to give you a warm welcome in the winter months.

Pine Trees is an ideal base from which to explore the many attractions around the Pitlochry area.

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16-17_EVENTS_SPR12_Layout 2 copy 5 27/02/2012 15:00 Page 16

OUTDOOR • EVENTS

Inspirations - what’s caught our eye for the months ahead • With thousands of puffins, seals, groundnesting eiders and cliffs jam-packed with a variety of other seabirds, budding photographers will jump at the chance to join a series of guided photography trips to the Isle of May National Nature Reserve – a tiny island in the outer Firth of Forth. The trips, arranged by the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick in conjunction with Scottish Natural Heritage, begin in April and run until September. www.seabird.org • Wildlife enthusiasts, or just those with a special interest in native red squirrels, are being given the chance to win a fantastic wildlife trip in Aberdeenshire – one of Scotland’s red squirrel hotspots. The prize, courtesy of VisitScotland, Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) and National Trust for Scotland, is for two people and includes three nights self-catering at the Royal Deeside Woodland Lodges, a guided tour of Crathes Castle, Gardens and Estate, a wildlife walk with your very own SWT expert, a one-to-one PHOTOGRAPH: VISITSCOTLAND

outdoors, promoting a variety of sports, events, holidays, adventures and associated outdoor equipment. www.scotlandsbestoutdoors.com

March and April Trees for Life Millionth Tree lecture tour, UK-wide Join Alan Watson Featherstone (pictured), founder and executive director of Trees for Life, as he delivers a UK-wide tour of lectures to celebrate the planting of the charity’s millionth tree as part of its work to restore the Caledonian Forest on its 10,000-acre Dundreggan Estate, west of Loch Ness. The tour includes several Scottish dates throughout March. www.treesforlife.org.uk

18–21 May Isle of Arran Mountain Festival

PHOTOGRAPH: THE SCOTTISH BIKE SHOW

Usually held in September but now switched to May, this excellent four-day event is already booking up fast by all accounts. The Festival offers a chance to

Bike Show is back with more exhibits, bigger test tracks, plus a special sportive – a new long-distance mass participation cycling event with two routes through the countryside around Loch Lomond. www.thescottishbikeshow.com

21–22 April Outdoor Pursuits Scotland, Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh

PHOTOGRAPH: TREES FOR LIFE

Another show that debuted in 2011 with considerable success – we’ll be there again this year! – Outdoor Pursuits Scotland returns for another blast of outdoors inspiration, including many more activities outside the main exhibit hall. www.scottishoutdoorpursuits.com

13–15 April

28–29 April

The Scottish Bike Show SECC, Glasgow

Scotland’s Best Outdoors, Aberdeen Exhibition & Conference Centre

Following a successful inaugural event that saw more than 5,000 cycle enthusiasts descend on the SECC in 2011, the Scottish

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Scotland has gone outdoor show crazy with yet another catch-all event, this time in Aberdeen, launching in April. The event is billed as a celebration of Scotland’s great

PHOTOGRAPH: ANN GIBBS-JORDAN

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

16-17_EVENTS_SPR12_Layout 2 copy 5 27/02/2012 15:00 Page 17

nature and wildlife photography experience, plus £200 spending money. Enter now at

www.visitscotland.com/redsquirrel • Join Macs Adventure for one of their new trips for 2012. Choose from an 11-day coast to coast walk from Perth to Fort William – linking with the West Highland Way at Kingshouse – plus a two- or four-day jaunt along the Speyside Whisky Trail.

www.macsadventure.com • Wilderness Scotland is another adventure travel operator with new trips to tempt and tease this year. Families can enjoy an Ultimate Scottish Highlands break – a week-long adventure holiday based in the Cairngorms – while keen paddlers can sample the Scottish Sea Kayak Trail: South (pictured), a journey between the Isle of Gigha and Oban, staying in comfortable waterside hotels along the way.

Also on offer is a five-day wilderness walking expedition in Applecross and Ardnamurchan.

www.wildernessscotland.com PHOTOGRAPH: WILDERNESS SCOTLAND

explore the wild ridges of one of Scotland’s most accessible islands, as well as plenty of lower level and special interest walks, including wildlife and geology. www.arranmountainfestival.co.uk

19–20 May Scottish Birdfair, Hopetoun House, near Edinburgh Held over two days on the west lawn of Hopetoun House near Edinburgh, the

RSPB’s Scottish Birdfair is a brand new event for 2012. Aimed at general wildlife enthusiasts in addition to serious birders, the fair will offer a range of wildliferelated trade stands, talks, workshops, children’s activities, guided walks and live music – plus some famous faces. www.scottishbirdfair.org.uk

16–20 May Keswick Mountain Festival Hop over to Cumbria for this year’s event which will again be drawing the big names – including mountaineers Sir Chris Bonington and Mick Fowler – and offering another great choice of hikes, runs, climbs, cycles, paddles and family events in the heart of the Lake District. www.keswickmountainfestival.co.uk

Billed as 10 days of bike riding and good times, this is your chance to fall in love with cycling in the Tweed Valley (our home patch). Combining a variety of brilliant bike events – including a new enduro-style race at Glentress – live music, bike films and an all-round happy feeling, this festival of mountain and road bike riding reaches out to riders of all ages, skills and disciplines. www.tweedlove.com

23 June Martin Currie Rob Roy Challenge, Trossachs

26 May–5 June TweedLove Bike Festival

PHOTOGRAPH: ROB ROY CHALLENGE

PHOTOGRAPH: TWEEDLOVE

www.scotoutdoors.com

Covering 55 miles of the spectacular Rob Roy Way, teams or individuals walk 16 miles from Loch Lomond through the Trossachs to Callander, where they switch to bikes for a 39-mile cycle to Kenmore – all in 8-12 hours. There is also a post-event party in Kenmore for those with any juice left in the tank. This year’s event will raise money for the Martin Currie Charitable Foundation as well as charity partners Wateraid, NSPCC and Alzheimer Scotland. www.robroychallenge.com

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19_COMP_SPR12_Layout 2 copy 5 28/02/2012 14:35 Page 18

WIN the Isle of Arran

PHOTOGRAPHY:

SCOTLAND OUTDOORS SPRING COMPETITION Just a hop, skip and jump away from the mainland, the Isle of Arran is often called ‘Scotland in miniature’ – a visit to this island in the Firth of Clyde offers highlights of the whole of Scotland in a nutshell, making it ideal for a short break.

Scotland Outdoors is offering readers the chance to win a two-night stay for two at the island’s new luxury hotel, plus a day’s ridge walk or mountain hike in the spectacular Goatfell range.

The mountains of Arran are some of the most dramatic and beautiful in Scotland, and home to iconic species such as red deer and golden eagles. The island is home to more than 100 bird species, while otters and seals are often spotted along the coast, which is graced by sandy beaches and dotted with pretty villages.

Local mountain leader and wildlife guide Lucy Wallace (www.arranwildwalks.co.uk) will help the winner and a companion discover the island’s wild beauty with an itinerary designed to suit the weather and their level of experience.

Our lucky winner will enjoy two nights’ dinner, bed and breakfast at the four-star Douglas Hotel (www.thedouglashotel.co.uk).

Situated on the seafront a few hundred metres from the ferry terminal at Brodick, this luxurious 21-bedroom hotel opened last summer after a £7 million conversion and can rightly be described as the gateway to Arran.

The distinctive red sandstone building is

HOW TO ENTER To win this great prize, just answer the following question: What is the name of the highest peak on Arran?

C-listed and dates back to 1782. Its bistro restaurant has a fine reputation for food and drink, and is one of the main hubs of the island’s community. The 2012 edition of top travel guide Scotland the Best describes it as “the new place to go on this or any other island”.

To savour another aspect of the island, the winner will also have a courtesy tour of the Isle of Arran whisky distillery. Also included in the prize are complimentary return tickets for the 55-minute ferry crossing between Ardrossan, Ayrshire, and Brodick, Arran, courtesy of Caledonian McBrayne (www.calmac.co.uk).

Please send the answer, together with your name, address and phone number in an email headed ‘Scotland Outdoors competition’ to competition@scotoutdoors.com or complete the online form at www.scotoutdoors.com/competition

PRIZE DETAILS The prize is for a two-night break for two on the Isle of Arran for the winner and a companion. The prize comprises two nights’ dinner, bed and breakfast at the Douglas Hotel, a day’s ridge walk or mountain hike in the spectacular Goatfell range with local mountain guide Lucy Wallace, a complimentary tour of the Isle of Arran distillery, and CalMac ferry crossings between Ardrossan and Brodick for one car and two adults.

The closing date for this competition is 31 May 2012, with the winner notified shortly afterwards by email. The prize must be taken by 30 October 2012.

Accommodation at the Douglas Hotel and the outdoor excursion with Lucy Wallace are subject to availability, while the excursion and ferry crossings are also weather-dependent.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS: The draw will be made on 31 May and the winner notified directly. There is no cash alternative. The contact details you provide may be used for reservation and marketing purposes only by the providers of this competition (Scotland Outdoors, Lucy Wallace/Arran Wild Walks, Douglas Hotel, Caledonian McBrayne) but will not be shared with any other third parties, except when disclosure is required by law.

18

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

spring ads_Layout 2 copy 4 27/02/2012 16:03 Page 19

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20_BOARD&LODGING_SPR12_Layout 2 copy 4 27/02/2012 14:58 Page 20

BOARD & LODGING • COMRIE CROFT, PERTHSHIRE

Welcoming glow (clockwise from left): lanterns guide the way to the kåta; a burn tumbles through the woodland campsite; mountain biking the Croft’s trails; cosy kåta interior

Snug as a bug CAMPING WITH YOUNG KIDS IN THE DEPTH OF WINTER? WHY NOT, SAYS ANDY ROSS AS HE SAMPLES A CIVILISED SWEDISH-STYLE TENT COMPLETE WITH WOODBURNING STOVE AND SHEEPSKIN RUGS

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AMPING has always been one of life’s great pleasures for my partner Emma and me. We have had some great experiences over the years both at home and abroad – from camping on the banks of Loch Lomond dressed in our finery after attending a wedding in a salubrious hotel, to lazing outside our tent enjoying the scent of the pinewoods in northern Portugal, plus some memorable spots well into the Arctic Circle in Norway. When our daughter came along in 2010, we worried that her mini-demands might cramp our style, but luckily she seems to have inherited the camping gene.

Having gained a bit of confidence over the past 21 months in the whole ‘camping with baby’ thing, we decided it was high time to push the boundaries a little further and try ‘camping with baby in winter’. With comfort in sub-zero temperatures as our goal, we booked one of the five Swedish kåtas (a kåta seems to be a Scandinavian version of a tipi) at Comrie Croft in early February, but went with a car-load of spare blankets just in case.

Comrie Croft is located part-way between Crieff and Comrie in rural Perthshire, just where the hills start to replace rolling farmland and the uplands begin. The Croft aims to offer a more relaxed yet wilder camping experience than is usually found at standard campsites.

This means that there are just 34 well-spaced camping pitches (plus the kåtas), campfires are encouraged and you can choose between camping in a mature birch wood or a high meadow. Here you’ll never be inches from your neighbour, pitched in rows like a canvas version of Coronation Street. If you prefer a slate roof over your head, there is also an inviting 56-bed hostel with a good view of the free-range hens as well as the Perthshire hills from the kitchen.

Our kåta was a couple of minutes’ walk up into the birch woods from the toilet and shower facilities, and was accessed over its

20

PHOTOGRAPHY: GEORGE SLOAN/COMRIE CROFT

own small footbridge. We arrived after dark, so the details of our surroundings were to remain a mystery until morning, but oil lamps guiding us to the kåta entrance and the sound of a rushing burn created a great first impression.

Inside, the tent felt pretty spacious – six metres in diameter and divided into equal halves by a proper wood-burning stove which was crackling away and giving out a great heat (but no smoke thanks to the full chimney that poked through the roof). The kåta was erected on a larch platform, which meant it was flat and dry. One half of the space had kitchen facilities and a home-made table and chairs, while the other was given over to a large semi-circular sleeping platform insulated with covered sheep-wool and scattered with sheepskin cushions and throws.

The sleeping platform is designed for four, so there was plenty of room for two adults and one travel-cot. After a flurry of toddler-led excitement, the atmosphere calmed down inside. We spent a very chilled – but toasty – evening reading books by the fire, interspersed by bouts of listening to the rushing of the burn outside and our daughter’s deep-sleep breathing from the other side of the kåta.

In the morning, there were some important questions to be answered: how cold had it been outside, had we slept well, had we been warm enough and had it snowed in the night? The answers (-1°C; yes we did; yes we were, and the surrounding hills looked pretty white) were reached over morning coffee, snuggled under covers, feeling pretty content.

While there are plenty of options around for high-end ‘glamping’, what is on offer at Comrie Croft is a little bit special. Our kåta stay had provided an interesting camping experience in a beautiful and private woodland setting. It was also practical, comfortable and reasonably priced. Crucially, it allowed us to enjoy sleeping in the great outdoors in darkest February. g

Comrie Croft Swedish kåtas from £7.50 per person per night (pp/n) equivalent; hostel from £15 pp/n; eco camping from £7 pp/n. Under 16s are half-price and under 5s go free. www.comriecroft.com

Getting there On the A85, 4.5 miles from Crieff and 2 miles from Comrie. Regular bus connection with Perth, where the nearest train station is located.

In the area Mountain biking Located on-site, Comrie Croft Bikes offers mountain bike hire, spares and repairs, and information about trails in the area. www.comriecroftbikes.co.uk

Walking This area has walks for all abilities – trails on the Croft, a stroll through a lovely wooded gorge to the Deil’s Cauldron waterfall (up Glen Lednock, just north of Comrie), or for something more ambitious, tackle Ben Chonzie, a solitary Munro approached from the head of Glen Lednock.

Fishing and watersports Nearby Loch Earn is a splendid stretch of inland water with wooded shores. Bank and boat fishing for trout – permits available from St Fillans village shop. At the western end of the loch, Lochearnhead Watersports Centre offers a range of aqua activities. www.lochearnhead-watersports-centre.com

Auchingarrich Wildlife Centre Located just outside Comrie, Auchingarrich makes for a brilliant family day out – wild and farm animals, coffee shop, play areas and fly fishing ponds. www.auchingarrich.co.uk

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

spring ads_Layout 2 copy 4 27/02/2012 16:03 Page 21

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22_DITL_SPR12_Layout 2 copy 4 27/02/2012 14:55 Page 22

PHOTOGRAPHY:

OUTDOOR • PEOPLE

Day inthe life of...

Ben Starkie Canyoning instructor and Director of Vertical Descents Saying that no two days are ever the same in a job sounds like a bit of a cliché, but when you live on the west coast of Scotland, the weather alone means that no two hours are the same. It really does set the scene for the day and with the sun streaming down through last night’s rain clouds, it looks like the promise of a good day. Still, I suppose when you’re standing in a canyon with the full force of a waterfall hammering down your back, it doesn’t really matter what the weather decides.

On arrival at our base at Inchree near Fort William, it’s a case of getting the kit ready for the latest British Canyoning Association (BCA) course... and putting the kettle on. When we set up the BCA two years ago, we invited Rich Carlson from the American Canyoneering Association to come over and assist us, so that we could benefit from his wealth of experience and knowledge. He lives in arid Utah, and true to form the Scottish weather showed him the meaning of the word torrential. It did not stop raining from the minute he touched down to the minute he left Scotland. He didn’t take his body warmer off for one second and admitted he’d never seen anything like it!

Canyoning is a relatively new sport in this country, but believe it or not, the UK (and

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Scotland in particular) has some fantastic canyons in some incredible locations, with many still waiting to be discovered. With interest in the sport increasing, we formed the BCA in 2010 to provide resources and training for recreational canyoners and professional guides alike.

This is the eleventh BCA course we have run and going from previous experience, I know I’ll meet like-minded, enthusiastic people, and that we are all going to have a thoughtprovoking and informative weekend as well as a lot of fun. Although I am always scouting out new canyons to explore and racing colleagues to be the first to descend them, I still love the Inchree canyon – the big jumps here still get my heart racing!

However, the BCA is not all about first descents anymore though; our ethos is to set a high industry standard and educate best practice. People come to the courses with different backgrounds and interests, from kayaking to mountaineering (some have no outdoor experience and just want to learn a new sport), however they all have a common goal – to improve their skills and learn best practices while hopefully making some new friends and getting the craic.

The courses are a combination of indoor and outdoor learning, so those who can’t bear being in a lecture room for more than a couple of hours (I’m at the top of that list!) don’t need to worry. We start with a ‘needs must’ overview discussion on personal and group equipment, rigging, anchors, abseiling and moving around in a canyon – jumping, sliding, swimming. We then head out and put these theories into practice.

Canyons are amazing places to be, but when it comes to teaching a group on a BCA course, a canyon can be one of the most challenging environments to teach in. Canyons are noisy,

Wet and wild: canyoning at Ben Starkie’s home patch, Inchree Falls

can be cramped, are often slippery and certainly in winter they’re very, very cold. This all makes my task of choosing the best venue on the day a real challenge.

Throughout the day we concentrate on technical canyon rope work and flash flood awareness, promoting best practice with releasable safety systems. In the evening we are back indoors for a risk management lecture (nowhere near as boring as it sounds!).

As I drive home from work I reflect on the enthusiasm of those on the course. Their feedback, and that of the thousands of people who participate in activities with Vertical Descents each year, always inspires and motivates me to continue with new projects which open up opportunities for folks to experience the beauty and excitement of the Scottish wilderness.

The launch in May of our new via ferrata at Kinlochleven will mean that there’s so much more variation to the day. It also means much more work for me. But when your office is situated in one of the most beautiful places in the world, complaints about the amount of work don’t often come into it! g

Further details Ben Starkie is the founder and Director of the British Canyoning Association (www.canyonguides.org) and Director of Vertical Descents, an outdoor adventure activity provider with bases in Onich near Fort William and in Cornwall, offering canyoning, gorge walking, kayaking, rafting, climbing, abseiling and more. www.verticaldescents.com

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

spring ads_Layout 2 copy 4 27/02/2012 16:03 Page 23

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24-25_PRODUCTS_SPR12_Innovations Spread v2 copy 27/02/2012 14:53 Page 24

OUTDOOR • INNOVATIONS

HERE IS OUR SELECTION OF THE SEASON’S NEW PRODUCTS – FROM SANDALS TO PUT A SPRING IN YOUR STEP, TO CLEVER TENTS FOR COMFY CAMPING AND GADGETS TO KEEP YOU ON TRACK If you would like to submit details of innovative new products or send samples for testing, please contact the Outdoor Innovations editor, Ida Maspero, at ida@scotoutdoors.com For more gear reviews, go to our website www.scotoutdoors.com

Stretchy waterproof trousers, Craghoppers One of the most well-worn items in my repertoire of outdoor wear is a trusty pair of black Craghoppers Kiwi stretch trousers. I love them because they’re lightweight, quick-drying and – being stretchy – supremely comfortable. Their flattering fit means they’re decentlooking enough to wear on the city streets too, making them a versatile essential when travelling. And they’re sensibly priced.

All these features I’ve found echoed in the Craghoppers Aira Stretch, the brand’s new dedicated waterproof trousers. Made from Aquadry, Craghoppers’ acclaimed breathable, waterproof fabric, they are well-styled and flattering to the female form, just like my favourite Kiwis. The snug fleece lining means they are essentially winter wear, but equally ideal for cold-weather use yearround... and yes, they’re stretchy, so supercomfortable. I’ve spent a fair few long, active winter’s days outdoors in them, nicely cosseted from the elements but enjoying supreme freedom of movement.

Visitor guide mobile app, Landmark Press

At the end of last year, Landmark Press launched a mobile app spin-off of its popular website www.welcometoscotland.com. Hailed as the “most technologically advanced tourism app in Europe”, the Welcome to Scotland app uses GPS, augmented reality, pointing technology and interactive maps to give visitors comprehensive information on what they can see and do nearby, and to help them identify landmarks and natural features around them – including all of Scotland’s Munros and Corbetts. The app also allows visitors to search for and book accommodation by destination, and gives access to special offers from attractions, activity operators, accommodation providers and restaurants. Cleverly, the main map and all content are preloaded, meaning navigation and information can be accessed without an internet connection – very useful in remote areas with little or no mobile data coverage. The app was developed for Landmark Press by Irish developer GeoGuides, and is currently available for iPhone, with the Android version to follow soon.

RRP: £60 www.craghoppers.com

Download price: £2.99 www.welcometoscotland.com/mobile-download

Women’s eco socks, Teko Now, how often do you stop to consider the green credentials of your favourite socks? Comfort and wicking ability are naturally key considerations when you’re buying socks for outdoor pursuits, and with the new eVapor8 range of socks from Teko, those are guaranteed. But this eco-conscious sock manufacturer, based in Boulder, Colorado, goes several steps further to provide the ultimate in green footwear.

Traditionally, Teko’s product ranges are mainly merino wool-based, but its new eVapor8 polyester fabric is made from 100% post-consumer recycled waste (plastic bottles etc.), using windpower and chlorine-free treatments.

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Mini-lamp, Mammut The fabric is soft to the touch, stretchy and wicks away moisture brilliantly, resulting in a very comfortable sock.

We tested the ultralight cushion minicrew and light cushion low styles for women, and found both to be neatly shaped (with seamless toe), comfy and ideal for running, cycling and light walking. Oh, and the packaging is made from recycled cardboard too. The range also includes unisex styles.

RRP: £8.95 to £12.95 www.tekosocks.com

Cute, versatile and extremely sensible is how we’re describing the new Burny minilight from Mammut. This is one affordable little piece of kit not to be without – it’s bound to help you out of a pickle on several occasions. It has three ultra-bright LEDs and three settings – white solid, red solid and red flashing (the latter visible for up to 500 metres), and a clip and elastic cord for attaching to just about anything – clothing, backpack, helmet, handle bars.

These features, along with being teeny-tiny, lightweight (just 20 grams) and waterproof, make it ideal for carrying in your pocket or backpack when walking, biking, skiing or boating, even on daylight excursions. You never know when you might get caught out by the failing light or might need to make yourself visible to others.

RRP: £15 www.mammut.ch

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

24-25_PRODUCTS_SPR12_Innovations Spread v2 copy 27/02/2012 14:53 Page 25

Home weather station, Oregon Scientific Brits love to talk about the fickle weather (which seems to become ever more fickle the further north you go). But it’s fair to say that most of us who love the outdoors take more than just the usual British interest in the weather – for practical reasons, if nothing else. And if, like our tester, your fascination with meteorology extends to guessing the wind speed, the amount of rainfall or what last night’s minimum temperature was, the Oregon Scientific Professional Weather Station is excellent fun, good value... and very useful too.

Our tester loved this gadget because, as he says, buying all the components – a decent thermometer, humidity meter, a rain gauge, barometer and anemometer – would set you back a fair few pounds. And here you have them all neatly presented as a package, with wireless transmission of data to a handy digital interface. All for £100. Weather data for the last 24 hours is at your fingertips, and what’s more, the system displays a basic local forecast and extreme weather warnings (based on air pressure, humidity etc). It also syncs to atomic clock time and tracks the moon phases too.

RRP: £99.99 www.oregonscientific.co.uk

Barefoot sports sandal and winter walking boot, Teva

Handheld GPS device, Magellan

Teva has a proud history, claiming to have created the world’s first sports sandal, and down the years it has produced many warmweather, active footwear favourites. Well, here’s a new one on our favourites list: the Zilch barefoot sandal. We tested the ladies’ model rigorously on an extended visit to South Africa, wearing it almost every day.

Whether walking distances, wading or boulder-hopping, the Zilch performed admirably, providing ample grip and remaining supremely comfortable. Its excellent flexibility, hardly-there weight (under 200 grams) and barefoot feel – just 10mm between foot and ground – keeps you in touch with the terrain beneath your feet.

And the super-sticky Spider-rubber outsole gives excellent grip. What’s more, the attractive styling and durable materials meant that, after muddy or dusty excursions, it scrubbed up nicely enough to be worn out on the town the next day. All in all, an effective, attractive and extremely comfy minimalist sports sandal.

Back in wintry Scotland, we also tested Teva’s new winter walking boot, the Forge Pro Winter Mid. According to Teva, it’s designed with the most slippery, icy conditions in mind – the Hypergrip Icelock technology uses fibreglass-infused pods along the length of the sole to provide superior grip. A good 200 grams of Thinsulate and a waterproof, breathable membrane are designed to keep the wet and cold at bay, while the clever neoprene ankle collar prevents rain, gravel and snow from creeping in the top. Our tester found the Forge Pro Winter Mid comfortable and tough, perfect for mid-winter hikes and rigorous outdoor work, yet stylish enough to wear out and about in town. Men’s and women’s styles are available for both this shoe and the Zilch.

The very first handheld GPS my other half and I acquired, back in 2004, was a Magellan. With a monochrome display screen and tiny memory it could only do the very basic – track a course, navigate to a waypoint. But it proved incredibly useful before it came to a watery end in a Malaysian river, having helped us trek our way through the jungle and back to camp just the day before.

How times have changed. Magellan’s latest model specially for outdoor enthusiasts is the eXplorist 310, a nifty, user-friendly little number that’s a far cry from the clunky ancestor we owned back then. It nestles snugly into the palm of your hand and looks good, but it’s also packed with friendly features – our tester was impressed by the superb quality of the colour screen, which is readable in direct sunlight, and the intuitive user interface. It features Magellan’s accurate, highly sensitive GPS but at a more affordable price than other models in the eXplorist range. All this is packed into a neat, waterproof and bump-resistant exterior, as befits a device designed primarily for geocaching, but also hiking, mountain biking, sailing and fishing expeditions.

The massive 500MB memory means you can store vast numbers of waypoints, tracks and routes, while USB connectability allows you to upload, download and share data easily. The 310 comes preloaded with a World Edition map, which includes a complete road network for the US, Canada, Western Europe and Australia, as well as water features, urban and rural land use, and a realistic shaded relief background. Summit series detailed topographical maps – with terrain detail, trails and contours – are available to buy separately.

All in all, we found the eXplorist 310 to be a neat and user-friendly device.

RRP: £70 (Zilch) and £120 (Forge Pro Winter) www.teva.com

RRP: £179.99 www.magellangps.com

Family tents with inflatable frame, Vango It’s a frustrating start to family camping weekends... desperately trying to jam the tent poles into their sheaths in the half-dark with tired kids wailing around you. Well, last year Scottish manufacturer Vango came to the rescue with the launch of its clever Airbeam system, which uses robust inflatable tubes instead of poles to offer rapid, fool-proof pitching. This year, the inflatable range is being extended to include the spacious Airbeam Kinetic in three sizes. With plenty of space and enough headroom to stand upright in, the Kinetic range is designed with families and groups in mind. Vango describes the Kinetic tents as “light and airy, with well proportioned living and sleeping spaces” – all models have two bedrooms and generous-sized porches with integral ground sheet and large windows. All models come with pumps, and have a total packed weight from 17.6kg for the four-sleeper to 21.5kg for the six-sleeper.

RRP: £550 to £650 www.vango.co.uk

www.scotoutdoors.com

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26_SUBS_SPR12_Layout 2 copy 5 28/02/2012 16:35 Page 26

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28-29_OUTDOOR_PASSIONS_SPR12_Lukasz Warzecha 27/02/2012 14:39 Page 28

OUTDOOR • PASSIONS

Lukasz Warzecha Adventure photographer POLISH-BORN AND NOW BASED IN EDINBURGH, LUKASZ WARZECHA IS A RISING STAR ON THE INTERNATIONAL CLIMBING PHOTOGRAPHY SCENE. HE IS ALSO A SPEAKER AND PRESENTS CLIMBING PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS PHOTOGRAPHY: LUKASZ WARZECHA

By all accounts you were an accomplished climber before taking up photography full-time. When did you make the switch and how did one discipline prepare you for the other?

I was a dedicated climber for about eight years. I obtained my first SLR camera soon after a climbing accident in 2004 and started shooting my portfolio during my recovery. Right from the start, composing climbing photographs came naturally to me, because I was taking images of what I love to do. Photography had always been a quiet passion of mine and I thought it would be a long transition to turn it into a profession. Though it may seem I’ve enjoyed overnight success, I guess my dedication and motivation as a climber have transmuted into my photography.

Could you produce the images that you do without having been a climber yourself?

I don’t think so, no... I believe that to capture any adventure sport well you need to be able to put yourself in the athlete’s shoes. Only when you think and feel like them are you able to build a bond, and to know how far you can push your creative vision. Photographers often ask “Can you do it again, one more time?” I think it’s good to know when the answer might simply be “no”. Having a good understanding of at least one extreme sport gives you an insight into the mind-set of the people you photograph.

It’s easy to forget when looking at climbing images just what the photographer has to do to get into position to take the shots. Presumably your climbing still comes in pretty handy?

First of all, without my climbing experience I simply wouldn’t be able to get to the positions I’m shooting from. And, more importantly, I wouldn’t feel comfortable enough to concentrate only on photography. My experience is especially handy in winter and in the higher mountain ranges. In the Alps I often need to climb to get to the positions I want to shoot from.

Your images have a freshness to them – they feel instinctive as well as creative. How would you describe your style and approach?

It may sound cliché, but I try to concentrate on shooting the light – it’s true that light is the backbone of every photograph. Subject matter and perfect timing are extremely important but serve only as secondary components. In the past my photography has been described both as ordinary and radical... I’m happy with both descriptions as I want my images to be evocative. As long as people have their opinions about my images I’m content. I don’t know if I have my own style yet – that takes time and it’s something for others to decide. I’m glad to be able to shoot images that both my clients and I are happy with.

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Did you take early inspiration from specific outdoor or climbing photographers?

Early on I was mostly inspired not necessarily by images, but by successful photography businesses. I looked at the work of professional photographers I aspire to and thought that, if I could put all their strong points together, I would hopefully build a strong business of my own. I’ve learnt to shoot competition climbing from the British Mountaineering Council photographer Alex Messenger, and to get clean frames from Simon Carter’s work. My commercial style and story-telling was mostly inspired by American photographers Keith Ladzinski and Tim Kemple.

What shoot to date are you most proud of?

Shooting on Hoy with Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner in June 2011 on an assignment for Mountain Equipment called The Long Hope. It was also a collaboration with film company HotAches Productions. I learnt loads and had a great time on a beautiful location. I’m particularly proud of the poster and DVD cover shot for the film The Long Hope. I am also proud of the seven magazine covers around the world that used my images of the Longhope Route.

With all your international travel, do you get to shoot in Scotland very much?

I spend on average 250 days a year on location, taking 30 to 40 flights, but each season I try to shoot something in Scotland. I find the Scottish landscape stunning and inspiring.

In 2011, I photographed a lot of winter stuff, had a very successful shoot in Torridon and spent over two weeks on Hoy with Dave and Andy. In that respect I’m very much inspired by the immaculate work of Dave ‘Cubby’ Cuthbertson; it’s fair to say that I’m in love with the Scottish landscape.

You obviously have a great love of mountain environments. What is it that mountains do for you?

It’s not just mountains; I love being outdoors in general.

Maybe that’s what makes Scotland so special... the connection between mountains and seascape.

What are your plans for 2012 – any big assignments on the horizon?

I’ve had a busy start this year... by the time you read this, I will already have done shoots in South Korea, Switzerland, Canada, France, Scotland and Russia (all by March 2012). Then, after some rest, I will quite possibly be packing my bags to shoot in the Himalayas. I’m incredibly grateful for the lifestyle and all the work I do.

In addition to commercial shoots, Lukasz runs a series of photography workshops for ‘advanced amateurs’ that use top professional athletes as models. Past workshops have offered the chance to shoot climbers Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner in action. http://blog.lwimages.co.uk/workshops For much more on Lukasz’s work, visit www.LWimages.co.uk

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

28-29_OUTDOOR_PASSIONS_SPR12_Lukasz Warzecha 27/02/2012 14:39 Page 29

Head for heights (clockwise from top left): Dan Walker climbs at Goat Crag, Wester Ross; self-portrait while scouting angles on St Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Head, Hoy; Old Man of Hoy; Dave MacLeod on the Mucklehouse Wall; and on the Longhope Route, both on Hoy, Orkney.

www.scotoutdoors.com

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30-36_COMMUNITY BUYOUTS_SPR12_Rona copy 1 28/02/2012 15:53 Page 30

LIVING • COMMUNITY BUY-OUTS

BUYING FUTURES

FROM BITS OF WOODLAND TO WHOLE ISLANDS, COMMUNITY BUY-OUTS HAVE BECOME INCREASINGLY COMMONPLACE IN RURAL SCOTLAND, PARTICULARLY IN THE HIGHLANDS AND WESTERN ISLES. BUT TO WHAT EXTENT DOES THIS NEW MODEL OF LAND OWNERSHIP BENEFIT LOCAL PEOPLE AND VISITORS? CATRIONA ROSS INVESTIGATES

A

SSYNT, KNOYDART, HARRIS, RUM – names that conjure up images of dramatic landscapes on Scotland’s far-flung fringes. Their allure is enhanced by the fact that some of the most radical social changes of recent times have taken root in places like these.

Community buy-outs have been hailed as a new dawn for the landless majority in Scotland. For centuries farmland, forests, mountains, moors and islands were snapped

PHOTOGRAPHY: LAURIE CAMPBELL/NORTH HARRIS TRUST; JIM MANTHORPE; GEORGINA MCMILLAN; VIKKI TRELFER; DOUGLAS ROBERTSON; ASSYNT FOUNDATION; THE ISLE OF GIGHA HERITAGE TRUST; JAMIE ARDAGH

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Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

30-36_COMMUNITY BUYOUTS_SPR12_Rona copy 1 28/02/2012 15:53 Page 31

up in vast swathes by wealthy individuals and corporations, often from south of the border and abroad, remote from the land and people who lived there.

Military defeat, the crushing of the Gaelic language and culture, hardship and famine are compounded in Scots’ collective memory by the notorious tragedy of the Highland clearances. Stripped of their historic right to live off the land, people lost hope as well as their livelihoods, and mass emigration ensued.

www.scotoutdoors.com

Lack of prospects, land, affordable housing, and opportunities for young people continue to dog rural communities to this day. But when a bold and determined group of crofters bought the land they lived on in Assynt in 1993, it seemed the tide might have finally started to turn.

In the years that followed, a steady stream of others followed suit. When Eigg was famously bought out by the locals in 1997, the islanders were backed by the

Community care (clockwise from left): new wildlife hide, North Harris; Rum ranger Mike Werndly monitoring island flora; Inverie, Knoydart; postie Tommy McManmon doing the rounds in Knoydart

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30-36_COMMUNITY BUYOUTS_SPR12_Rona copy 27/02/2012 14:40 Page 32

LIVING • COMMUNITY BUY-OUTS

incoming Labour government. Since then, the government development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise has assisted 150 community buy-outs, stretching from Sutherland to Kintyre. The majority of these are small areas of land and buildings, however the transfer into community ownership of a number of larger estates and islands brings the total area of land owned by Highlands and Islands communities to about 350,000 acres.

In the Western Isles, 70% of the population lives on community-owned land.

REVITALISED COMMUNITIES “There’s a huge variety of [community ownership] groups in places ranging from crofting settlements to large sporting estates, entire islands to former airbases,” says David Cameron, chair of Community Land Scotland, the body representing Scotland’s community landowners. According to Cameron, these communities have seen a resurgence in vitality that could only have been dreamed of when they were controlled from afar.

“All in all, community ownership of land is a good news story,” reckons Cameron. “In places where there have been community buy-outs, populations are increasing, school rolls are going up, houses are being built.

There are more opportunities for business and the quality of life is rising. Nobody would say it is easy, but what people in all these communities say is that none of them would want to go back to the way they were before.”

It’s a view firmly backed by Fliss Fraser, a director of the Isle of Rum Community Trust. “The biggest change is that we are now able to shape the future for ourselves, and that makes a vast difference to the dynamic of the community,” she says. Following a phased transfer of assets from the island’s former owner Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) in 2009 and 2010, the Isle of Rum Community Trust now owns around 86 acres of land and 11 homes in and around the village of Kinloch, on the east side of this spectacularly wild island.

“We really had to hit the ground running,” emphasises Fraser. “There was no cash jackpot or assets to sell. We have a lot of plans but need to raise the money. We had to get straight into dealing with rent and tenancy agreements, leaky drains, potholes in the road and fallen trees during the winter storms. It’s hard graft, but we no

“

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” longer have the rules and worries associated with being owned by a government body, and the people who live here finally have security.”

For the first time, youngsters from Rum attend the secondary school in Mallaig – previously, families didn’t tend to stay on the island long enough for children to move on from the island primary school. The community has plans to convert a steading into a larger shop and tearoom.

Three new crofts have been created. Faster broadband connections are allowing small businesses, such as Isle of Rum Crafts, to flourish online.

Your land, my land (clockwise from top left): Harris Bay on the remote west coast of Rum; ceilidh on the Isle of Eigg; Glencanisp Lodge, Assynt; Gigha's communityowned, grid-connected wind farm; Gigha gallery

INCOME FROM LODGINGS Rum’s rugged terrain and rich array of wildlife draws lovers of wild places, and visitors often return time and again. To cater for these visitors, the community campsite has been upgraded and two camping pods are due to arrive this year. And, once the hostel at Kinloch Castle closes, the Isle of Rum Community Trust will step into the breach by building a new eco-hostel to provide

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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modern, low impact accommodation for visitors to the island.

As well as being a major visitor attraction, Kinloch Castle, which remains in the ownership of SNH, has to date provided the main tourist accommodation on the island.

But the mounting costs of repairs and maintenance to the historic building mean the hostel will close its doors later this year. “Closure of the hostel will create muchneeded business opportunities both for private individuals and for the Community Trust to generate an income by providing visitor accommodation,” says the Trust’s development officer Vikki Trelfer.

Providing accommodation for visitors is a common source of income for landowning communities. The Assynt Foundation undertook a £1 million revamp of the former landowner’s mansion, Glencanisp Lodge, turning it into luxury accommodation for visitors. On Gigha, the community owns the hotel and manages a number of self-catering cottages on the island.

A Victorian farm steading converted into a communityowned bunkhouse is a key source of income for the Knoydart Foundation, which owns the 17,200 acre Knoydart Estate. The community also owns an ecocampsite at Long Beach, near Inverie, and there is a range of privately-owned accommodation on the peninsula.

www.scotoutdoors.com

REMOTE RURAL LIVING Accessible only by boat or foot and featuring spectacular mountains sweeping down to lonely sea lochs, Knoydart is a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts. Its reputation has grown greatly since the buy-out in 1999. As well as being popular with those seeking wilderness, Knoydart is renowned as a place to hear traditional and roots music and enjoy a good ceilidh. From jamming sessions in the Old Forge in Inverie – famed for being the UK’s most remote mainland pub – to performances by Knoydart’s unique ukelele orchestra and the popular Knoydart Music Festival, community ownership has helped place the peninsula firmly on the music lovers’ map.

Resident Tommy McManmon says Knoydart has been revitalised since he arrived there ten years ago. Originally from the Borders, Tommy pursued a media career in London before deciding to swap the big city life for remote rural living. He now works as a ranger for the Knoydart Foundation, and as the peninsula’s postman – as in many far-flung places, having several occupations is commonplace in Knoydart. “Without a doubt, the biggest change I’ve seen since coming here is to housing; having improved accommodation has helped the community go from strength to strength,” says McManmon.

Grant funding allowed three new affordable houses

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LIVING • COMMUNITY BUY-OUTS

for locals to be built in the main village, Inverie, and one at Airor, which McManmon lives in. “Housing is key to a thriving community,” he reckons. “When the housing stock is run down and in disrepair and folk can’t find a place to live, unsurprisingly they tend to leave.”

Preserving the unique wilderness of Knoydart is a top priority.

McManmon says the most dramatic recent changes are to be found in the woods, where Knoydart Forest Trust is working to plant and regenerate native woodlands and create a greater mix of species. The invasive scourge of Rhododendron ponticum has been tackled through a major eradication programme. New walking and mountain bike trails have been created and existing tracks improved.

A common characteristic among both those whose roots stretch back generations and more recent arrivals in the buy-out communities is a passion for the land.

Community ownership has increased opportunities for locals to become involved in habitat management. In North Harris, for example, residents have been trained in environmental monitoring and provide survey data for SNH. Recently a golden eagle viewing hide was set up by the community landowning trust. On Harris and elsewhere, community ownership has led to improved access and interpretation – wildlife hides and guided walks with community rangers are often available for visitors.

“

”

ADVENTURE AND CREATIVE INSPIRATION As gateways to swathes of remote wilderness, landowning communities are looking to the outdoor adventure market for sources of income, creating events such as the Isle of Harris Mountain Festival and launching new businesses like Eigg Adventures. Kayaking and mountain biking are among the activities on offer through the venture, run by 25-year-old renewable energy graduate Jamie Ardagh. The crystalline Hebridean waters around the Small Isles offer superb kayaking, and mountain bikes are a great way of exploring the island. Eigg Adven-

34

tures also offers explorations on foot, archery and family activities.

Originally from Brighton, Jamie came to Eigg after falling in love with an island girl he met at university. The couple moved to Eigg when they finished their studies, joining a growing number of young islanders returning to set up home and carve out a livelihood for themselves. “Eigg’s an amazing place; I really love it here,” he enthuses. “Although I haven’t lived here very long, I’ve really been helped to feel part of the community and had a lot of support from people. Folk help each other out – whatever happens, you always know there will be someone to give you a hand.

Wild assets (clockwise from What’s struck me most and what top left): kayaking around people here really value is the Eigg; guided walk in search of golden eagles, North fact we have a stake in our own Harris; walking on the future.”

Huisinis Machair, North Harris; new affordable Jamie has been quick to adapt housing, North Harris to the fact that versatility is key in remote communities. As well as running Eigg Adventures, he works for Eigg Electric, helping to maintain the island’s green energy grid, which is supplied from a combination of wind, solar and hydro power.

The landscapes, wildlife, history and indomitable spirit found in many of these communities also draws those of a creative bent. Workshops run by landscape photographer Bruce Percy in Assynt, Harris and Eigg invariably sell out, with participants smitten by the mountains, beaches, seas and lochs, and the unique light on the land.

“The tight-knit community and sense of space you get on islands – and the wilderness of places like Assynt – always make for a rewarding trip,” says Percy.

Exciting plans are afoot for a new initiative on Eigg which will enable people to make the most of the space and inspiration to be drawn from their surroundings. The Eigg Box will be a workspace for island-based artists and creative businesses to share with visiting artists from Scotland and beyond.

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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LIVING • COMMUNITY BUY-OUTS

A COMMITTED FEW Community ownership offers unprecedented freedoms and opportunities for people in places where vitality had been drained by neglect. It is tempting to cast stories of locals taking over from big powerful landlords in a romantic light, a kind of David and Goliath tale. This is a notion all involved in community buy-outs are quick to dispel; the reality is invariably complex and involves extremely hard work, with committed volunteers bearing a heavy burden.

“An awful lot can fall on the shoulders of a few,” says David Cameron. “These are ordinary people who are doing it for themselves and for future generations. It’s hard wherever you go, and in places people have had their tenacity stretched to the limit after embarking on the road to community ownership.”

The current Scottish Nationalist Government has faced criticism over a perceived loss of momentum on land reform, following an initial spate of community buy-outs.

The Land Reform (Scotland) Act was introduced by their Labour predecessors and passed by the Scotttish Parliament in 2003.

Communities have struggled with aspects of the legislation, sparking calls for its reform. In Pairc in Lewis, residents have been battling for years to exercise their right to buy and a bitter legal wrangle over the case is testing details of the Act. Environment Minister Stewart Stevenson says the administration continues to fully support community land buy-outs. “The Scottish Government is committed to providing opportunities for rural communities to acquire land,” he confirms. “Land ownership is key to building independent, resilient rural communities and creating a sense of real confidence in your community.

“While in recent years there have been fewer large-scale estate buy-outs by community groups, there has been a continued flow of smaller-scale projects. For community buy-outs to take place, it is necessary for land to come on the market, or for a landowner to indicate a willingness to sell. It is also for communities to grasp the opportunity of land ownership and take forward the buy-out. Land ownership does not suit all communities, and they may consider acquiring assets in other ways, such as long leases.”

Stevenson says the Scottish Government is committed to reviewing the Land Reform (Scotland) Act to ensure that its provisions continue to be appropriate and that communities do not need to go through unnecessary red tape.

He adds that details of a new Scottish Land Fund would also be announced soon.

There have been rumblings of dissatisfaction by locals in some areas about the slow pace of progress and continuing lack of jobs and affordable housing for locals.

David Cameron stresses that patience and perseverance are required. “It takes a long time for all the hard work to start to reap results. Many of us live in areas where the decline in employment opportunities, problems in housing, outward migration of youngsters, reduced services and school closures have been happening for decades. To reverse this overnight or even in ten years is asking a lot.

“New growth on old roots is apparent in the earlier community purchases like Gigha and North Harris, where

36

there are visible signs that community landownership releases energy, creates ambition and can succeed,” he adds.

The hard work and rewards being reaped deserve celebration and it is no coincidence that the ‘craic’, fun and entertainment are an integral part of life in these revitalised communities. Ceilidhs, music festivals and fèisean have helped boost a cultural rebirth and build social cohesion. You simply can’t avoid anyone at a ceilidh as locals and visitors birl gleefully together to jigs and reels played by some of the country’s finest musicians. This year’s big event is on Gigha, as it celebrates its tenth anniversary on 15 March with a day of celebrations and a mammoth ceilidh... locals and visitors alike are polishing their dancing shoes. g

Reflective mood: view of Suilven from Loch Druim Suardalain, Assynt

MORE INFORMATION Community Land Scotland is the body representing Scotland’s community landowners. www.communitylandscotland.org.uk

Examples of community-owned places Isle of Rum Isle of Gigha Isle of Eigg Knoydart peninsula Assynt North Harris South Uist Rhubodach Forest, Isle of Bute Kilfinan Forest, Argyll Sleat peninsula, Isle of Skye

www.isleofrum.com www.gigha.org.uk www.isleofeigg.net www.knoydart-foundation.com www.assyntfoundation.org www.north-harris.org www.storasuibhist.com www.buteforest.com www.kilfinancommunityforest.co.uk www.sleatcommunitytrust.co.uk

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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SECRET UNDERWORLD WITH SUCH MATCHLESS MOUNTAIN SCENERY TO BE FOUND IN THE

HIGHLANDS, IT MAY SEEM PERVERSE OF PEOPLE TO SEEK ADVENTURE BELOW GROUND. ALAN JEFFREYS EXPLAINS THE LURE OF CAVING PHOTOGRAPHY:

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ADVENTURE

W

HY, YOU MAY ASK, would anyone in their right mind choose to immerse themselves in cold water, suffer knocks and bruises from wriggling through unyielding rocky spaces and endure gruelling demands on mind and muscle, when they could be comfortably ensconced in front of the TV with spicy crisps and a cold beer? Quite simply, for the challenge.

Our domestic regime, cocooned in safety and hygiene, is stifling basic human drives: excitement, danger, curiosity and pure, escapist adventure. All are more than satisfied when going through a cave. Caving calls upon virtually all the skills used in other outdoor pursuits – climbing, orienteering, camping, diving, boating. Caving is an end in itself, the ultimate activity; it appeals to every sense, stimulating touch, taste, smell and hearing while providing a visual feast.

Underground scenery is quite unlike anything on the surface.

Untouched by frost or weather, rock forms fantastical shapes to delight the eye, minerals paint caves with subtle colours, while water provides symphonies of sounds ranging from the full-throated roar of a stream in lusty progress as it hurls itself down a vertical shaft, to the delicate ‘pings’ or ‘clops’ of single droplets painstakingly building up calcite formations to add even more beauty to this underworld playground. These are the lures for a caver, urging us on. And why not?

SQUIRMING, CRAWLING AND CLIMBING Traversing the hidden, spectacular world of a limestone cave system provides a host of gymnastic challenges – squirming through tight, sinuous passages or piles of boulders, crawling in cold water or semi-liquid mud, clambering down stinging waterfalls, and swinging on flexible ladders or single ropes in echoing, vertical shafts. All these activities add up to an unforgettable adventure experience, with the added bonus of perhaps finding somewhere completely unknown. Obstacles often cause completely flooded passages, called ‘sumps’, only accessible to cave divers using specialised aqualung sets.

Caving requires skills and know-how just like any sport, and the best way to learn is through a recognised club or outdoor pursuit centre with qualified cave instructors. Undeniably

there are hazards (although starting down from the top gives a safer margin than rock climbing), best dealt with by experience and common sense. Factors such as sudden flooding, loose boulders or light failure account for most incidents, with vertical falls and stumbles causing most injuries. Surprisingly though, ‘getting stuck’ is a very rare event. Reassuringly, the Scottish Cave Rescue Organisation is on call to retrieve casualties unable to get themselves out.

Going underground (clockwise from facing page): entrance canal of the new Applecross cave; in The Skyeway, Uamh an Claonaite, Sutherland; wet crawl, Trinafour Lower Cave, Perthshire; abseiling Popleton Pot, Uamh nan Claig-ionn, Argyll; preparing to descend on a single rope, Yordas Cave, Yorkshire

WHERE TO FIND SCOTLAND’S CAVES In Scotland, there are several cave systems worth exploring, and more are being found every year, providing excellent opportunities for sporting thrills.

Strictly speaking, cavers, or speleologists to give them their proper title, are only interested in inland limestone cave systems, where swallowed streams can be followed for substantial distances through the rock. Though Scotland is not endowed with large expanses of ‘karst’ relief (as found in the Pennines, Mendip Hills or the South Wales Coalfield), mountain limestone outcrops occur at a surprising number of places in the Highlands, where significant and interesting caves may be found. By far the most important are the ancient Cambrian dolostones found at Durness and Assynt, northwest Sutherland, reappearing again at Kishorn and southeast of Broadford on Skye. Scotland’s most prolific and fruitful cave groupings are located here.

Near Inchnadamph, for example, lie three systems each with over a kilometre of passage and one, Uamh an Claonaite (‘Cave of the Sloping Rock’) with more than three kilometres. This latter has yielded important data on stalagmite and sediment ages which, in turn, help to more accurately define ice age dates.

Caverns within Claonaite are nationally significant for housing the remains of Quaternary and Holoscene animals, including wild horse and brown bear. Specialist research on subjects as arcane as palaeoclimates and Mesolithic archaeology depends on the pristine underground environments explored by Scottish cavers.

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ADVENTURE Smaller outcrops of Jurassic-age limestone appear at Applecross and on Skye, housing a number of well-decorated cave systems, thanks to the specific chemical composition of the rock. Other key caving regions are Schiehallion in Perthshire and the Appin district of Argyll, where legions of sporting caves and shafts have been explored over the past 40 years. All these places have one factor in common: water, charged with carbonic acid from filtering through earth or peat, dissolves the limestone to the extent that coherent streams are channelled, so providing a scouring mechanism to enlarge voids still further.

Caving is much younger in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK. Caving clubs did not appear north of the Border until the late 1950s and only one, the Edinburgh-based Grampian Speleological Group (GSG), has stayed the course long enough to reach its 50-year jubilee in 2011. Before 1961, most cave discoveries were made by visiting English clubs.

Even today, there are very few caving clubs based in Scotland, with the GSG alone making new discoveries (see story below). g

HOW TO START CAVING Several outdoor pursuit centres in England and Wales provide tuition, however for long-term commitment it is best to join a caving club, which will provide guidance, support, equipment and teamwork. The British Caving Association provides general information (www.british-caving.org.uk). In Scotland, get in touch with Grampian Speleological Group (www.gsg.org.uk). Members will

be more than willing to share their passion. It is the perfect way of entering this other world beneath our feet.

To celebrate 50 years of Scottish caving, GSG recently published an illustrated book, Decades in the Dark, available from Alan Jeffreys at £20 plus postage.

Email goon90@hotmail.com or phone 0131 6611123

INTO UNKNOWN

E

NTERING A newly discovered cave provides the same excitement felt by astronauts walking on the moon – the first explorers will stand where no living person has ever been before. What makes it even more tantalising is not knowing what lies just around the next corner – a tight, low stream crawl, the black void of a huge chamber or simply a dead end? In 2011, just such a breakthrough occurred in Applecross, when local cavers found a series of new passages housing an incredible array of flowstone formations – quite the best in Scotland. Ritchie Simpson shares the thrill of exploring this new discovery.

“Splashing water echoed through the crouching-sized canal passage as the four of us waded along, tripping over the unseen rocks hidden in the silt-stirred water. Stopping

40

“ ” to allow Toby to take some pictures (which took some time to set up with flash guns), I was glad to be wearing my wetsuit, and my headlamp picked out the way ahead turning sharply through more water-filled passage. A new cave lay ahead!

Twenty minutes earlier, Toby Speight and I had been digging on the surface to open up another entrance to the cave while David Morrison and Jane Stewart-Bollen explored the main entrance some 20 metres away.

Subterranean explorers: Alan Jeffreys passes Creag nan Uamh Bone Caves, Assynt (top); Ritchie Simpson in Jane’s Cathedral, Uamh nam Fior Iongantais, Applecross (above)

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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ADVENTURE

This had been dug out the day before, when a decision was made to look for a potentially interesting feature which had been noted some 20 years earlier, but never explored further. The almost body-sized hole in the limestone had many large rocks around it and the ground had been scoured into channels by the great force of water which pours from the entrance when it is in flood. So, when our companions’ excited faces appeared at our dig site exclaiming that we had to join them, we downed tools and wriggled through the entrance.

The canal passage ended at a dry, sediment-banked chamber. As we clambered over in our wet clothing it became slippery but it soon took us to an area where we could easily stand up. There were many stalactites hanging from the ceiling – a great surprise – and so we stopped to take more pictures, again taking time as the waterproof cases housing camera, lighting and tripod had to be rigged up.

I was half expecting the cave to end before long: from previous experience of caving in our local areas of Skye, Applecross and Kishorn, most passages soon come to a halt either through collapse, becoming too tight or merely a natural finish. However, after a short, awkward climb followed by a brief but low crawl, we came to a very fine formation, known as a curtain, draped across half the passage. With its fragile, feathered edges just a few centimetres away we carefully manoeuvred around it as the passage became larger, allowing us to stand again. I can remember at this point hearing David and Jane’s echoing exclamations of “Oh, my God!” coming from a little way ahead and I took this as an announcement that something special was to come. Rounding a corner, my headlamp indeed lit upon magnificence. I passed the news to Toby, a little way behind me, by way of excited laughter mixed with monosyllabic expletives.

“ ” Stalactites hung down from the ceiling like a portcullis, some about six feet long and almost as thick as a leg. More could be seen in the distance, along with flowstone and thin, hollow ‘straw’ stalactites. At this point we knew we had discovered something significant – not just for the area but on a national level, as finds of this sort aren’t generally made in Scotland. We carried on into a smaller chamber which was covered in flowstone, with a grotto of stalactites high up to one side. A flat-out crawl with formations led to another chamber which had long ago seen a collapse and so had no way on. However, running water could be heard beyond.

Having penetrated around 180 metres of passage and with possible leads to explore, a return trip could not come quickly enough for us. The prospect of surveying and mapping it was a bit more daunting, but the celebratory pints tasted really good that evening.

Since then, many follow-up trips have been made and we have managed to extend the cave to a length of over 500 metres. We have excavated routes into more chambers, one of which sports formations very like the pods

42

Cave of wonders (top to bottom): Jane StewartBollen in Xenomorph Chamber; Ritchie Simpson in boulder choke, both Uamh nam Fior Iongantais, Applecross; Ritchie, lifelined by Jane, investigates Flake Pot, Applecross

from the movie Alien but attached to the ceiling. This was another of those “Oh my God!...&*#@!” moments. Not only that, but we have found a shell midden and charcoal within a remote part of the cave, suggesting an ancient site above with perhaps a hole used to dispose of waste – something for interested archaeologists to look at.

Because the cave is so well decorated with delicate formations, its precise whereabouts have not been publicised until a way of protecting the site can be found. Trips are dictated by the west coast weather – the cave is prone to flooding and it can take about a week of dry weather before it is accessible again.

For many months we called this new cave Flood Resurgence Number 2, ‘FRN2’ for short, but now it has been officially given the splendid title Uamh nam Fior Iongantais (‘Cave of True Wonders’). However, like a well-bred dog with a triple-barrelled kennel club name but which its owners call Spot, we still call this cave FRN2, not least because it’s easier to say. We still have expectations that, once the weather improves, we shall discover yet more wonders in this jewel amongst Scottish caverns.” g

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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Explore Arran and Ayrshire PHOTOGRAPHY: KEITH FERGUS; BRIAN KILLE; THE GLENARTNEY; CORINNA GOECKERITZ

In the stampede to explore the big hills and wilder scenery found further north, Ayrshire is one of those parts of Scotland that sometimes gets a little forgotten. It’s a shame as the area’s more subtle charms have much to offer.

Many will know the Ayrshire coast as an outstanding golfing destination, a base for sailing and cruising in the wider Firth of Clyde and of course for its cultural and historical links: Rabbie Burns was born in Alloway just outside Ayr, while the whole region has an important historical legacy. This Sea view (clockwise from is a point explored by Keith Fergus in a top): Largs at dusk; hill beautifully photographed journey along the walkers during last year's Ayrshire coast that explores ancient castles Arran Mountain Festival; standing stones at and old working ports in addition to an array Machrie Moor, Arran; the of hidden coves and island views.

Centre for World Peace Those looking for more rugged pursuits can and Health, Holy Isle head inland to enjoy the vast sprawl of Galloway Forest Park – a fantastic outdoor playground for residents of East and South Ayrshire as well as Dumfries & Galloway.

However, if it is best-in-class hill walking you are after, then the wonderful Isle of Arran – just a short hop on the ferry from Ardrossan – should satisfy most needs. Goatfell and its network of connecting ridges in the north of the island traditionally receive the bulk of the outdoor acclaim, but Arran is about much more than just its hills. The island’s range of wildlife is almost on a par with more celebrated destinations such as Mull and Skye, while its geological renown attracts academics, researchers and amateur enthusiasts in equal numbers.

And when it comes to outdoor activities, this industrious and easily accessible island is able to satisfy a vast array of interests both on land and on water. The food and drink’s not bad either. g

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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EXPLORE • ARRAN AND AYRSHIRE

All along the Ayrshire coast UNDERRATED BUT EXCEPTIONAL, THE AYRSHIRE COAST IS A DIVERSE LANDSCAPE WITH A WEALTH OF NATURAL FEATURES, GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS AND AN IMPORTANT HISTORICAL LEGACY. IT IS BEST EXPLORED ON FOOT, ARGUES KEITH FERGUS, WHOSE IMAGES CAPTURE THE SUBTLE BEAUTY OF THIS COASTLINE

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HE AYRSHIRE COASTAL PATH strikes its course for over 160 miles along an incredible landscape between Glenapp and Skelmorlie, utilising paths, old coach roads, farm tracks, beach, woodland and moorland. It harbours breathtaking scenery, renowned architecture, interesting geology, a range of flora and fauna, and a history equal to anything else Scotland has to offer.

The higher ground of The Heads of Ayr and The Knock, above Largs, provide vantage points over this fascinating stretch of coast. The route also visits parts of Ayrshire only accessible on foot. These reveal a remarkable sense of wildness and stark beauty – after all, this strip of

coastline is very much a part of Scotland’s wild and windswept western seaboard.

MOORLAND PANORAMA  Walking the wild moorland paths high above Glenapp is sure to banish any preconceived notions about the Ayrshire coastline. Many may associate Ayrshire with long, flat sandy beaches and busy seaside towns – indeed, in the days before cheap foreign travel it was an incredibly popular summer holiday destination – but exploring the coastline properly today means straying from the well-worn path.

A single track cuts its course across much of the eight lonely miles between Glenapp

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and Ballantrae, where skylark and swift flit amongst the heather and grasses and there is little evidence of man having tamed this bleak but beautiful slice of Ayrshire.

Exceptional views unfold as you gain height: Loch Ryan sits a little to the south guarded by the prominent marker of Corsewall Lighthouse, which grants a safer passage for ferries between Scotland and Ireland. On a clear day the northern coast of Ireland is visible, as is the long finger of the Kintyre Peninsula. And out in the Firth of Clyde the conspicuous outlines of both Arran and Ailsa Craig provide arresting focal points to this extraordinary panorama.

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

PHOTOGRAPHY: RICHARD ROWE; LORNE GILL/SNH; GLEN TANAR RANGER SERVICE

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DUNURE CASTLE 

“EXPLORING THIS COASTLINE PROPERLY MEANS STRAYING FROM THE WELL-WORN PATH” AILSA CRAIG FROM GIRVAN  Although there have been people living in the Girvan area for around 5,000 years, it wasn’t until 1668 – when King Charles II granted a charter giving rights for a harbour and fort to be built with added privileges such as fortnightly markets – that the town of Girvan developed.

Today, it still has a busy working harbour with trawlers leaving daily to fish the cold, choppy waters of the Firth of Clyde in the shadow of

www.scotoutdoors.com

Ailsa Craig’s distinctive profile. Sitting some 10 miles off the Ayrshire coast, Ailsa Craig rises sharply to over 1,100 feet in height and has a diameter of around one mile. The island is renowned worldwide for its quality of granite used in the production of curling stones, and quarrying took place on the island for many years. The island is also known as Paddy’s Milestone, as it lies approximately halfway along the sea passage between Belfast and Glasgow.

Dunure Castle’s dark past includes a gruesome 16th-century episode known as the Roasting of Allan Stewart. By 1560 the Reformation had markedly reduced the importance of nearby Crossraguel Abbey as a religious centre, but the buildings and lands were still of significant value. When Queen Mary appointed Allan Stewart as abbot, the surrounding lands, churches, farms, rents and profits came under his control. However, due to an older lease, Gilbert, the fourth Earl of Cassillis, also felt he should have control of Crossraguel. Gilbert was a nasty piece of work and, after much arguing with Stewart, he decided to take things into his own hands, capturing Stewart and taking him down into the ominously titled Black Vault of Dunure Castle. Stewart was stripped, bound and slowly cooked over an open fire until he signed over the lands of Crossraguel Abbey.

But the gruesome tale did not end there.

After a week it came to light that his first signature was invalid, and so Stewart was strung up again and roasted. He succumbed (under what must have been unbearable pain and suffering) and again signed the lands over to Gilbert.

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EXPLORE • ARRAN AND AYRSHIRE

AYR FROM THE HEADS OF AYR  Ayr is the county town of Ayrshire and was granted royal burgh status in 1205, eight years after King William the Lion founded a castle there. The town went on to play a major part in Scottish history, with the first Parliament of Scotland held there by Robert the Bruce in 1315. The trading of wool, linen and fish has been crucial in Ayr’s development; its harbour was, for centuries, one of the most important on Scotland’s west coast.

Today, Ayr has a population of around 50,000 and is an interesting and attractive place to visit. One of the finest views of the town is from the Heads of Ayr, a line of great cliffs rising sheer from Greenan Shore to around 200 feet in height. The vantage point overlooks the town and Greenan Castle, which balances perilously close to the cliffedge. The castle was built on the site of an ancient fort in the early 1600s by John Kennedy of Baltersan as a basic tower house with a courtyard and outbuildings – it is only the main structure that survives today.

ARRAN FROM ARDROSSAN HARBOUR  With its daily ferry service to Arran, Ardrossan is now best known as a jumping-off point for visits to this island. However, the town’s roots stretch back to 1140 with the building of Ardrossan Castle on Castle Hill (known locally as Cannon Hill). In 1292 the castle fell into English hands and they held it until 1296, when one

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William Wallace, the famous patriot and freedom fighter, tricked the English garrison by setting a decoy fire in the town. Around the mid-16th century, Ardrossan Castle fell to Oliver Cromwell, who destroyed it and used much of the stonework to build his fort at Ayr. In subsequent years, coal and fishing helped Ardrossan’s development. Passenger services began between Ardrossan and Brodick in 1834 and the route is now synonymous with the iconic, red-funnelled Caledonian MacBrayne ferries.

The view towards Arran’s celebrated, jagged outline from Ardrossan Harbour is superb.

ARRAN FROM SEAMILL  Seamill is a small village on the coast just a

few miles north of Ardrossan. The village was named after a seawater-driven grain mill, and it is probably best known for the renowned Seamill Hydro which was first opened in 1880 and became popular for its therapeutic qualities. Along the front of the village is a beautiful stretch of beach with a number of striking boulders and sumptuous views to Arran. The island’s unique profile owes much to the fact that it used to be part of a string of volcanoes running from Antrim to Skye.

Arran was only separated from the mainland during the last Ice Age and so the incredible geology along the coastline of Arran and the mainland is, not surprisingly, remarkably similar.

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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www.scotoutdoors.com

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EXPLORE • ARRAN AND AYRSHIRE

SUNSET OVER FAIRLIE  Scotland’s west coast has its fair share of wonderful light and huge skies, and the Ayrshire coast is no different. More often than not, when dusk approaches, beautiful cloud patterns appear in the sky and the Firth of Clyde begins to settle, reflecting the mellow colours and light of the sky. The picturesque village of Fairlie, a couple of miles south of Largs, is a great spot to photograph some of these spectacular skies – it sits on the banks of the Firth of Clyde and the village’s west-facing aspect means the hues of dusk can be captured on camera or simply committed to memory.

“SCOTLAND'S WEST COAST HAS ITS FAIR SHARE OF WONDERFUL LIGHT AND HUGE SKIES, AND THE AYRSHIRE COAST IS NO DIFFERENT” THE KNOCK Sitting above Largs and rising to 712 feet in height, The Knock is possibly the finest vantage point in southern Scotland – the Cumbraes, Arran, the Cowal Peninsula and many of the brawny peaks of the Southern Highlands are all visible from the top. The view will have changed little since a time when The Knock was used as an Iron Age fort some 3,000 years ago – its isolated position and 360-degree panorama would have made it an ideal location for such a structure. The remains of the ancient fort’s turf-covered wall are still visible with some parts rising to around a metre in height. Although the fort is prehistoric, the path leading to the summit is not, apparently being built in the 19th century by a local landowner so he could ride his horse to the top. This little hill is certainly a fitting finale when exploring the coastal path, which finishes a couple of miles north at Skelmorlie. g

Essentials The website of the Ayrshire Coastal Path offers route information and maps, as well as accommodation and travel links. www.ayrshirecoastalpath.org

TRANSPORT The length of the coastal path is well served by roads, providing excellent access by car. Regular buses serve all towns and villages on the route (www.stagecoachbus.com), while Scotrail train services from Glasgow to Stranraer (and for the northern section of the route, Wemyss Bay) cover most coastal towns. www.scotrail.co.uk Daily CalMac ferry services connect Arran with the mainland at Ardrossan. Ferries to the isle of Bute depart from Wemyss Bay. www.calmac.co.uk

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Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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52-54_ROUNDUP SPR12_Layout 2 copy 1 27/02/2012 14:49 Page 52

EXPLORE • ARRAN AND AYRSHIRE

Take your pick FROM LONG-DISTANCE WALKS TO CHECKING IN AT A BUDDHIST ISLAND RETREAT, HERE’S OUR PICK OF THE VERY BEST ACTIVITIES AND ADVENTURES TO ENJOY ACROSS ARRAN AND AYRSHIRE PHOTOGRAPHY: LUCY WALLACE; OCEAN BREEZE RIB TOURS; SCOTTISH WATERSPORTS CENTRE, CUMBRAE; ARRAN ADVENTURE; ANDY HAY/RSPB; RUSSELL CHESHIRE; STEVE FOY; ANGELA ELLIOTT-WALKER

Experience wild Arran THE ISLE OF ARRAN has long had a reputation for offering some of the best ridge walking in Scotland – the Goatfell range sees to that – but has more recently also become known for the range and quality of its wildlife. Visitors can enjoy both by joining mountain guide Lucy Wallace who offers a range of walk options depending on what takes your fancy. Ridge lovers will enjoy the chance to traverse a variety of airy tops – including the classic walk between Beinn Nuis, Beinn Tarsuinn and Beinn A’Chliabhain – while wildlife enthusiasts will want to join one of her

52

wildlife safaris in search of the island’s thriving populations of otter, golden eagle, hen harrier and more. Walks and safaris can be tailored according to interest and are suitable for groups or one to one.

FURTHER INFO Lucy Wallace also offers a series of outdoor workshops, including navigation skills and personal development through experiencing nature and wild places.

See our competition on page 19 for the chance to join Lucy on one of her Arran wild walks. www.arranwildwalks.co.uk

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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Explore outlying islands

Learn to sail

IF SAILING OR kayaking doesn’t quite cover enough ground for you, there are far speedier ways of exploring the waters around Arran. Departing from Lamlash Bay, Ocean Breeze RIB Tours provides a range of powerboat trips, albeit with an emphasis on learning about the wildlife, geology and history of the area rather than just blasting through the water.

On offer are trips to nearby Holy Isle, evening cruises as well as longer journeys out to Pladda, Ailsa Craig and the Sanda archipelago just south of the Kintyre peninsula. Skippers are WiSe accredited, so you’ll know they will do the right thing when encountering otters, seals, dolphins and any of the other marine life found in these waters.

Another operator, Brodick-based Arran Power and Sail, offers an array of high-octane trips often aimed at corporate team building groups, plus stag and hen parties, although it also runs scheduled trips that explore the history and wildlife of Arran and surrounding islands. Look out too for overnight journeys that include Cumbrae and the Kyles of Bute.

THE FIRTH OF CLYDE is one of Scotland’s major sailing grounds and a magnet for experienced sailors, with excellent marinas at Ardrossan, Largs and Troon. But those who have yet to fully learn the ropes or who just want to get their first taste of sailing can head to the Scottish Watersports Centre on the island of Cumbrae, a short hop by ferry from Largs, for expert tuition.

The centre runs a variety of RYA courses – both day and residential – that range from beginner dinghy sailing right up to an 18week Professional Yachtsman certification.

Youngsters are particularly well served with a strong junior (9–14) and youth (14+) line-up of courses covering not just dinghy sailing,

FURTHER INFO Ocean Breeze also offers water taxi services to and from a variety of mainland and island destinations. www.obrt.co.uk Arran Power and Sail, www.arranpowerandsail.com

www.scotoutdoors.com

but also windsurfing, kayaking, plus a fiveday multi-activity adventure course.

Meanwhile, the centre’s two yachts provide an ideal introduction to cruising – not to mention the social side of sailing. They offer the chance to live aboard, learning as you go and berthing somewhere different each night. Choose from weekends cruising the islands of the Firth of Clyde to longer journeys out to the Hebrides and beyond.

Some hop aboard for ‘sea miles’ towards gaining cruising qualifications, while others just come for the fun and fantastic scenery.

FURTHER INFO Scottish Watersports Centre, Cumbrae, ww.nationalcentrecumbrae.org.uk

Paddle power

LIKE SO MUCH of the West Coast, Arran offers wonderful opportunities for sea kayaking thanks to a winning mix of sheltered waters – ideal for beginners – a geologically-rich coastline and abundant marine life. And one of the best things about sea kayaking is that it is suitable for almost all ages and fitness levels – little wonder then that it is one of the fastest growing watersports in the UK.

Tapping into this growing interest is Brodickbased Arran Adventure, which offers an impressively broad range of sessions and trips aimed at everyone from children and teenagers taking their first paddle strokes to more experienced paddlers looking for challenging multi-day journeys. New for this year is a two-day clinic designed to guide paddlers through the fundamentals of sea kayaking – including rescue techniques and tidal awareness – and arm them with the technical ability and knowledge to head out onto the water with confidence.

FURTHER INFO In addition to sea kayaking, Arran Adventure offers a variety of other outdoor activities – from mountain biking to gorge scrambling – and this year has introduced full-day family activity packages. www.arranadventure.com

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EXPLORE • ARRAN AND AYRSHIRE

See puffins make a comeback

A GIANT, DOMED LUMP of granite in the Outer Firth of Clyde, nicknamed ‘Paddy’s Milestone’ for its location halfway between Glasgow and Belfast, and once best known as the source of granite for making top quality curling stones, Ailsa Craig has in recent years witnessed something of a conservation success story.

Once a west coast stronghold for puffins, the population was decimated by the arrival of brown rats, which were thought to have landed as stowaways on passing boats. However, following an eradication project led by Glasgow University, the island is now rat-free and puffins are gradually making a comeback. Although puffins are outnumbered by the 70,000 other seabirds on the island – including the UK’s third largest gannetry – RSPB Scotland, which manages the island as a nature reserve, believes there are now in the region of 80 pairs on Ailsa Craig.

Although the island appears close – particularly when viewed from Girvan on the Ayrshire coast – it can be difficult to access: its isolation and the changeable weather in the Firth of Clyde are both key factors. Although not encouraged by RSPB Scotland for safety reasons, it is possible to land on the island with care, although the seabirds that cling to its sheer sides are much better seen from the sea – particularly the gannets as they plunge dive into the sea all around.

FURTHER INFO In addition to trips from Arran (see p53), boat tours are available from Girvan (on the MFV Glorious, www.ailsacraig.org.uk and Kintyre Express, www.kintyreexpress.com), or from Campbeltown (Mull of Kintyre Seatours, www.mull-of-kintyre.co.uk).

If landing, great care should be taken not to disturb seabirds during the summer breeding season. www.rspb.org.uk/ailsacraig

Get centred on Holy Isle A PROMINENT LANDMARK just off Arran’s Lamlash Bay, the enigmatic Holy Isle is home to a rich array of wildlife, with Eriskay ponies, Soay sheep and Saanen goats all roaming its slopes, in addition to seabirds and seals around its coast. The mix of coastal scenery and wildlife make the island a wonderful place for walking.

For many, however, the most fascinating reason to cross the bay is to visit the Centre for World Peace and Health at the north end of the island. Run by a Tibetan Buddhist meditation master, the Centre offers an ongoing retreat and course programme from March to October, although it is possible to visit year round. Whether Buddhist or not, day and overnight visitors, course participants and volunteers on working holidays are all welcome, as long as they abide by the Centre’s Five Golden Rules (see website for more).

FURTHER INFO The Holy Isle Ferry runs daily from April to October, with an on-demand service out of season. It is usually met by one of the resident volunteers on arrival.

Accommodation is available at the Centre for those wishing to stay overnight or longer. www.holyisle.org

Forest adventures STRADDLING SOUTH AND EAST AYRSHIRE as well as Dumfries and Galloway, the sprawling Galloway Forest Park makes for a wonderful outdoor playground for many who live in this part of Scotland. Covering 300 square miles, it is the largest park of its kind in the UK. With outstanding walking – including scaling the Merrick, the highest point in southern Scotland – fantastic wildlife and some of the best mountain biking in Scotland, thanks to the 7Stanes trail centres at Glentrool and Kirroughtree, it has much to offer.

More recently, the area has become known for a much less frenetic activity following its establishment as the UK’s first Dark Sky Park in 2009. With so little light pollution, the Forest Park is one of the best places in Scotland for stargazing – with the Dark Sky moniker capturing the imagination of residents, visitors and local businesses alike, and a variety of events held during the peak autumn to winter stargazing season.

Work is now underway on building a Dark Sky Observatory at Dalmellington in East Ayrshire. Once complete, the new observatory aims to help visitors, as well as schools, colleges and universities, learn much more about the wonders of the night sky.

FURTHER INFO Galloway Forest Park’s visitor centres at Kirroughtree, Glentrool and Clatteringshaws are all good bases for exploring the area. There are plans to upgrade all three over the next two years. www.forestry.gov.uk/gallowayforestpark

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Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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Paths for All is a Scottish charity which promotes walking for health and the development of multi-use path networks Walking has been described as a ’near perfect form of exercise’ and over 50% of Scottish households agree. It’s free, accessible from your doorstep, easy to start and can be fitted into your daily routine. Paths for All, with funding from the Scottish Government, provides a range of opportunities to incorporate walking into your every-day life, for example, through joining a local walking for health group, helping you to start a walking group at work, or volunteering as a walk leader.

Through Local People: Local Paths, which is funded by Scottish Natural Heritage, Paths for All encourages the planning, construction, promotion and use of paths within and between communities. Path networks bring well understood and proven benefits in terms of increasing health and well-being, reducing our carbon footprint, growing community cohesion and bringing people closer to nature. Paths are good for people!

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Leading the way to a happier, healthier, greener, more active Scotland

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EXPLORE • ARRAN AND AYRSHIRE

Coastal meanderings SCOTLAND IS BLESSED with a growing number of official long-distance routes, with the Arran Coastal Way and the Ayrshire Coastal Path providing walkers with a fantastic taste of what this part of the country can offer.

Running for 100 miles from Glenapp to Skelmorlie, the Ayrshire Coastal Path provides a real showcase for this underrated part of Scotland (see the feature on page 46 for much more) and is now an important link in the Scottish ‘chapter’ of the newly-launched International Appalachian Trail (Europe). Still in development, this super-long-distance route will eventually link existing trails stretching from the south of Ireland up through Scotland as far as Shetland and then across to Norway.

The Arran Coastal Way (pictured), meanwhile, provides a very different way of enjoying an island more often experienced via the mountains at its craggy north end.

With stretches of forest track, a mix of gentle and quite challenging coastal sections, plus some more mountainous terrain, the Coastal Way provides a continuous, 60-mile route around the island. Some tackle it in sections, while others commit to the whole route – an undertaking not to be underestimated.

FURTHER INFO Both the Ayrshire Coastal Path and Arran Coastal Way websites include guides to each walk, plus detailed route information. www.ayrshirecoastalpath.org; www.coastalway.co.uk

ESSENTIALS GETTING THERE Running along the coast overlooking the Firth of Clyde, southwest of Glasgow, Ayrshire is easily reached by rail, road and air. There are mainline train stations at Ayr, Prestwick, Prestwick Airport and Kilmarnock, with regular connections to Glasgow.

Arran, meanwhile, is one of the most easily accessible of Scotland’s islands. Most visitors take the ferry from Ardrossan in North Ayrshire to Brodick (55 minutes), although summer services also run from Claonaig, Kintyre to Lochranza (30 minutes) in the north of the island. www.calmac.co.uk

ACCOMMODATION Good quality accommodation options are particularly plentiful on Arran. The revamped Douglas Hotel (www.thedouglashotel.co.uk, see page 19) on the waterfront at Brodick is the new kid on the block, while the Auchrannie Resort (www.auchrannie.co.uk) continues to impress with its range of spa, country house hotel and self-catering lodge options. Also in Brodick is the lovely – and outdoor-oriented – Glenartney guest house (www.glenartneyarran.co.uk), which offers elevated views over Brodick Bay and across to Goatfell.

Elsewhere, try the Best Western Kinloch Lodge (www.bw-kinlochhotel.co.uk) on the west side of the island, or the nearby Blackwaterfoot Lodge (www.blackwaterfoot-lodge.co.uk).

Those on a budget could do a lot worse than camp (www.arran-campsite.com) or bunk down in the newly refurbished SYHA hostel

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(www.syha.org.uk) in beautiful Lochranza in the north of the island.

Back on the mainland, those with deep pockets can treat themselves at luxurious Glenapp Castle (www.glenappcastle.com), while slightly less glamorous but equally good lodgings can be enjoyed at One Alloway Retreat (www.onealloway.co.uk) in Alloway, the Lochside House Hotel (www.lochsidehotel.com) in New Cumnock and the Woodland Bay Hotel (www.woodlandbayhotel.co.uk) in Girvan.

OUTDOOR SHOP Forgotten any outdoors essentials? Then head for Arran Active (www.arranactive.co.uk) in Brodick; it’s tucked away close to the Arran Brewery (www.arranbrewery.com) and at the foot of the main path to Goatfell. Beer or walking? Decisions, decisions.

EVENTS Arran Mountain Festival, 18–21 May Previously held in September but now switched to May, this excellent festival offers a chance to explore the island’s many wild places. See the website for this year’s programme. www.arranmountainfestival.co.uk

GEOLOGY Arran is a geologist’s dream and the island attracts a host of visiting researchers and enthusiasts each year. It is perhaps best known for Hutton’s Unconformity – a discovery by 18th-century geologist James Hutton that the earth was much older than previously thought. Check out the Cock of Arran walk to see what all the excitement was about, or just wander along almost any section of coast for a geological feast. (www.walkhighlands.co.uk).

COASTAL CASTLES

With its own whisky, beer, cheese, mustard, ice cream, chocolate and more, Arran has become quite the food and drink destination. Tickle your tastebuds at www.taste-of-arran-co.uk and plan a food tour of this industrious island.

If history is your thing, the area has some wonderful castles to visit. The magnificent Culzean Castle (www.bit.ly/w2WZcc) on the Ayrshire coast is one of the National Trust for Scotland’s flagship properties, while Brodick Castle (www.bit.ly/ysPQdV) on Arran is another must-visit.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

RABBIE BURNS

If you find yourself at Lochranza in the north of the island in the autumn, you won’t fail to notice that there are quite a lot of deer around.

And noisy too. This is one of the places in Scotland to enjoy the magical spectacle of the red deer rut – with some of the stags close enough to see their tonsils.

Birthplace of Scotland’s national bard, Ayrshire and Robert Burns go hand in hand. For all things Rabbie B, check out this year’s Burns an’ a’ that!

Festival, 30 May to 3 June. www.burnsfestival.com

FOODIE HEAVEN

For much more, see www.visitarran.com; www.ayrshire-arran.com

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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The new RANGER series base plate compasses are specially designed to simplify mapwork. With its 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 scales, luminous markings to enable night navigation, magnifiying lens and a ‘useanywhere’ declination scale inside the capsule, make the RANGER compasses ideal for UK hillwalking and hiking.

The RANGER series models also feature a unique DryFlexTM rubber grip for easy handling especially in the cold or wet and a detachable safety-release lanyard. The RANGER S model has the additional benefit of 45-degree angle assistance on the mirror sighting function.

Go anywhere tools for outdoor adventurers!

Read more about the Silva compass range at: www.silva.se

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For Family Adventures School and Youth Groups Hen and Stag Parties Adventure for Business visit: The Adventure Cabin at Auchrannie Spa Brodick, Isle of Arran online: arranadventure.com phone: 01770 302 244

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EXPERIENCE • PHOTOGRAPHY WALKING

FRAMING I SKYE

CREATING PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORIES WORTHY OF THE ISLAND’S RENOWNED BEAUTY AND DRAMA – THIS IS LORELLIE BOW’S GOAL AS SHE EXPLORES SKYE’S INCOMPARABLE LANDSCAPE ON FOOT, CAMERA IN HAND PHOTOGRAPHY:

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T’S RAINING on the Isle of Skye. Not the odd shower, no false hope we might see the sun in the afternoon, but a solid wall of horizontal rain; the kind that smacks into your face, pushes inside your collar, travels the length of your spine and settles companionably in your socks.

“Welcome to the Highlands,” grins master photographer Glen Campbell from under his hooded waterproof.

“You won’t give up on me, will you?” No indeed! Having devoted a third of my suitcase to wet weather gear and mountain boots, I’m not about to be put off by a bit of rain; so we battle to the top of Glen Brittle, invisible from the road in the heavy cloud and rain, and set about photographing half a dozen waterfalls where normally there is one. “Try to see through the rain to the intensity of the colours,” shouts Glen over the roar of the wind.

This walk has a purpose: to capture the environment

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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in pictures that truly represent the experience of being there. We’ve all shared our pictures from an especially wonderful trip, only to be disappointed when our friends didn’t catch the magic of being there. We excuse it glibly: “Well, the pictures don’t really do it justice.” The truth is, we’re disappointed they don’t communicate the magic.

We see our pictures overlaid with memories, but when viewed by someone who wasn’t there, they fail dismally to represent the beauty and atmosphere of the place.

But take heart, it is possible – with a little instruction, understanding and effort – to produce pictures that truly share your joy in the places you’ve visited. This is no by-the-way, pull-out-the-camera-and-fire activity. It’s a commitment to interacting with the landscape in a totally different way. It ties you down, makes you a slave and changes the way you see everything. It might even wreck your dinner.

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WHAT CAN YOU REALLY SEE? The beginning of this journey of discovery on Skye is to understand the difference between ‘looking’ and ‘seeing’.

Learning to move through the landscape at a slower pace and to see the world through eyes that understand rather than simply record. The subtleties of a place are heightened and you draw on the totality of the environment: its topography and scenery, its atmosphere, its various moods, the way the light interacts with the landscape, even its history and stories. From these you can build up layers of meaning in your photographs to help the viewer understand what it must be like to be there.

Even in the midst of the elements’ extreme assault on Glen Brittle, we find rich photographic material to reflect that sense of place.

The landscape can look quite different if you walk several feet off the path, climb a rock, or even just crouch

Capturing mood and memory: Lorellie's evocative photo of stream and meadow at Sligachan, looking toward the cloudcovered Cuillins

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EXPERIENCE • PHOTOGRAPHY WALKING

down lower. Having a camera in your hand encourages you to explore the environment in ways you would never consider doing if your primary goal was, for example, to walk from the car park to the Old Man of Storr and back again.

OLD MAN OF STORR, SUPERMODEL As many a walker will know, the rewards for the climb to the famed Old Man of Storr are immense: stunning views east across the Bay of Raasay and beyond to the Western Highlands, the glorious Trotternish Ridge wandering majestically north, the jagged Cuillins to the south, and of course the imposing Old Man himself. The expression ‘never a dull moment’ could have been made for the Old Man of Storr. Even dull light isn’t dull and boring here; it just draws the eye to different things.

Lightstalkers isn’t just a fancy name for his business, but a fundamental way of life for my guide, photographer and tutor Glen Campbell. In the dull light of an overcast sky, Glen happily points out interesting rock formations and tiny pools of water whose reflections come to life through the lens. He has a wide lens on the camera, a wonderful tool that seems to gather up a great armful of scenery and condense it into the frame. Converging lines are a magnet for the eye; they make sense of random rocks and clouds, giving them a joyful logic – a sense of the ‘rightness’ of the scene.

When a hailstorm looms we turn our attention to the wide canvas of this grand weather event. My attention is fixed on the dramatic storm cloud, but Glen points out the way the drama of the sky throws a different light and

60

atmosphere on the landscape. His photograph captures the subtleties of the land, and ‘organises’ the view by drawing the eye along strong converging lines.

In spite of the ferocity of the approaching storm, we keep our cameras out until the very last moment. Glen stands up to check a different view and is nearly blown off the ridge. I fall about laughing instead of helping him up. Clinging onto friendly rocks, we’re exhilarated to be riding out the drama of nature in our front row seat. Who cares about the odd flying ice-block (well, thousands of flying ice-blocks actually, but no one’s counting) when the land and sky join in such amazing theatre?

In 15 minutes it is all over and the sun shines from a bright blue sky. By concentrating on every aspect of the landscape and its interaction with the elements, we have been able to translate the storm’s light into images that tell a beautiful and memorable story.

SEE DIFFERENT Apple’s famous 1997 advertising campaign admonishes us to ‘Think Different’. Doing so requires us to change our well-worn mental pathways. Initially it’s hard work to think and see differently. Understanding the basics is important; then, as you become more familiar with your tools, the experience is enhanced.

The ‘see different’ experience is possible both with an inexpensive ‘point-and-shoot’ compact camera or a full digital SLR camera with a selection of lenses. It’s a good idea to have a camera with wide and long focal length.

The difference in the way the camera sees the landscape through these lenses is striking. A wide-angle lens seems

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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“

”

to lasso a great expanse of landscape, gathering it into the frame.

Objects very close to the lens appear larger, and the perspective of faraway objects changes. Diagonal lines are accentuated. A lens with a very wide angle on an SLR camera (say 20mm full-frame digital SLR, or wider) is able to distort the perspective of the scene. This forces you to see it in a different way.

On the other hand, using a long focal length lens does more than just bring far-away objects closer to you; the entire scene is dramatically foreshortened. This has the effect of reducing the space between objects, as if you could skip lightly from one mountaintop to the next.

Brooding silhouette (clockwise from facing page): first light over the Old Man of Storr; rocky shore at Elgol; photographing the Quiraing; Glen frames a view from the middle of a stream

POWER OF THE MIND’S EYE Composition is the first question a photographer deals with. “What must I include in and exclude from my picture?” Glen prompts me with supplementary questions to help me answer that most important one. “What is it about this scene that makes me want to reach for my camera?” “What will I remember when someone says the words ‘Fairy Pools’?” “How can I describe my emotions about this place?” While this last question seems very vague, it actually helps identify the physical aspects of the scene that most appeal to you. Having really looked into the scene in front of you and understood your feelings about it, you will be better able to use the camera lens to find a view that reflects those emotions. It may sound as if the scene will have come and gone while you get

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through this thought process. But don’t worry – it becomes instinctive with practice.

Cameras are nowhere near as capable as human sight.

Like our eyes, they are simply machines that do not understand what they capture. The mind interprets a scene, filtering out what is not important, and concentrating the attention on the parts of the scene that are meaningful. But cameras don’t have minds. Thus, when looking at printed photographs, you might sometimes be surprised to see objects, for example road signs or telephone poles, in the background of the scene. You might not have noticed them at the time of shooting, because your mind, absorbed in the key components of the scene, helpfully filtered them out. Once you’ve experienced this, you find yourself scanning the landscape carefully to appreciate fully what you have framed. This is highly beneficial, not just to remove bits of rubbish or unwanted objects from the picture, but also to make sure that everything in the frame contributes to a unified, appealing scene that truly reflects the experience of being there.

This touches on one of the key aspects of photography: when you’re walking through a landscape, the experience is constantly being edited by your mind, keeping memories of the views and emotions while you were there. To me, photography is about capturing images that reflect these memory pictures and emotions.

With a tripod, the wonderful world of the time exposure opens to you. Time exposures give a beautiful, silky appearance to moving water, akin to the effect of de-focusing the eyes and just gazing at the water. This can send you into a trance-like state of relaxation and

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peace, and viewing a well-made time exposure photograph of moving water can help recreate that experience.

ROCKY STEPS AT SLIGACHAN It’s hard to leave the car park at Sligachan without feeling a photo coming on. When we arrive, cloud obscures Sgurr na Gillean, one of the toughest scrambles of the Black Cuillins, so we pick our way carefully over lichen-mottled river stones, observing the patterns they create. The scenery is as drinkable as the icy, sparkling water, but we’re happy to be immersed in only one of them.

Sure enough, we’re still within sight of the car park when the clouds begin to lift, and lovely sunlight streams across the varied colours of the meadow. This is it, then: pause walk, start photo shoot. Balancing a tripod on an uneven rock and attaching expensive camera gear is a little daunting, but then, so is the possibility of not capturing this wonderful scene. Under Glen’s supervision, concentration pays off. I’m pleased with the result, but Glen suggests that I have a ‘dead’ area in the picture that doesn’t contribute to the story of being there. He points out the lovely meadow bank on the right.

I swing the camera no more than an inch on the tripod, and am astonished at the difference. The picture now reflects the emotion of being there: those wonderful mountains, the dancing stream, and the exquisite meadow bank. This location, so close to civilisation, is wonderful because the stunning shape of the mountains is matched by the foreground interest in the stream. Photographers love this combination, and can spend hours exploring it.

Every rock is potentially a ‘foreground hero’ that can lead the eye further up the stream to the mountains beyond.

IMMERSION Serious photography and serious walking coexist reluctantly, because serious walking is about moving at a steady pace through the countryside, whereas serious photography is about making sure you represent the view and emotion of the place you are photographing. It’s very rare that a photographer, even an experienced one, arrives at a point, says “aha”, snaps a masterpiece and moves on.

Even though you can feel an immediate emotional response to a particular view or situation, you should not assume you have immediately found the one best picture.

Walk around, experience the place, and get to know it from many angles.

There’s no better part of the world than the Scottish Highlands to discover the joy of photographic walking. Glen

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photographs in some of the world’s most spectacular locations, but has chosen to call the Scottish Highlands home. As I watch him at work, he keeps up a descriptive monologue, calling my attention to the fall of light here, the beautiful colours there, the texture in the landscape elsewhere, the history and stories of the place and his thought processes as he frames a picture. The wonderful thing is that I do begin to see the landscape differently: my mind and camera seem to establish a more understanding dialogue.

Photography helps create an extra dimension of connection with the landscape. You see differently, you interact differently, and inevitably come to a more intimate understanding of the environment. The resulting pictures are neither trophies, nor mere memories: they articulate a unique marriage of art, people and place.

Does our adventure wreck our dinner? Well, happily, not quite. Tired but satisfied, we trudge into Portree long after the last light of day has disappeared. The restaurants are full.

The pubs are full. But thankfully we coincide with the early diners sipping the last of their coffee. We persuade the restaurant to accommodate a second sitting, and settle down to a well-earned dinner. g

Skye, earth and sky: Lorellie's photo captures light and shadow in the moments before a hailstorm dumps its load

ESSENTIALS Kitting out for photography walking Good walking gear: You need all the same walking gear you would for a normal walk, with one proviso. On a normal walk, moving at a constant pace helps to keep you warm.

On a photography walk you will be spending longer periods relatively immobile, so plan your protective clothing accordingly. Glomitts – fingerless gloves/mittens – are a great accessory: you don’t have to remove them (and drop and lose them) every time you use the camera.

Camera protection: A waterproof camera bag and rain hood or large, reliable plastic bag to cover the camera while you are preparing a shot are both mandatory. Pack lots of tissues (not infused with any oils) for wiping your gear. An umbrella is useless unless you have a servant to hold it.

Camera and lenses: Get professional advice when buying one. A good compact camera can give good results, but a digital SLR camera allows much more flexibility. Whether buying a compact or an SLR camera, choose one with the best quality sensor (quality is more important than megapixels). One or more good zoom lenses give more creative flexibility (aim for a minimum range of 28mm–200mm SLR equivalent). For an SLR camera, a graduated neutral density filter and a cable release are important accessories.

Tripod: Your tripod needs to be the best combination of lightweight (for ease of carrying) and sturdy (for stability). Once again it’s important to seek professional advice.

Photo tours Lorellie Bow travelled to the Isle of Skye with Lightstalkers Scotland, based in Inverness.

The company offers year-round photography tours and tuition to beginner and advanced photographers all over the Scottish Highlands. www.lightstalkersscotland.com

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

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PHOTOGRAPHY:

TRAVELLER’S TALE • NEW ZEALAND

Home truths RICHARD ROWE RECENTLY SPENT A MONTH TRAVELLING AROUND NEW ZEALAND AND COULDN’T HELP BUT DRAW COMPARISONS WITH BACK HOME

I

T’S THE trees that do it for me. I didn’t expect to see anything quite like it; a seemingly impenetrable thicket of trunks and branches – a proper rainforest, the famous Kiwi ‘bush’ – that spills down to the coast, occupying every last inch of ground. Someone told me that I’d find New Zealand a bit like Scotland, only bigger. Well, this part isn’t.

Unsurprisingly, the bush is at its thickest along the west coast of the South Island. This is the wettest part of New Zealand, with an annual rainfall of more than five metres – much of it falling during our stay, it seemed. Higher up, the rain falls as snow, feeding glaciers that steamroll their way, improbably, down to the tree-line.

On the lower slopes of the Southern Alps, it is temperate rainforest. Further north, at Abel Tasman National Park and in parts of the North Island, such as the Waitakere Ranges just half an hour from downtown Auckland, it is more sub-tropical, with distinctive nikau palms joining an assortment of ferns, red-flowered pohutukawa, soaring kauri and other native trees. For someone more used to the closelycropped, sheep-bitten hills of Scotland, it felt like a lush paradise.

What also struck me time and again was just how much Kiwis value their natural environment and how connected they are to it.

It’s special and they know it. New Zealand may be one of the world’s outdoor lifestyle and

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Natural wonders (clockwise from above): the Franz Josef glacier is a major pull for tourists; coastal rainforest; water taxis, Abel Tasman National Park

adventure capitals, but it’s no free-for-all. There are strict rules. Even with all the jet-boating, bungee-jumping and the rest, there seems a healthy balance between enjoying the outdoors for recreation and conserving its natural wonders.

New Zealand’s isolated geography ensures that it has more endemic species than most, and the Department of Conservation (DOC) – the Kiwi equivalent of Scottish Natural Heritage – is committed to maintaining the health of native flora and fauna. Things aren’t perfect, of course: forest cover has been reduced greatly down the centuries, with much of the country’s land area now given over to the production of food and (non-native) commercial forestry.

But what remains of the native bush – and the life within – is fiercely protected. Large areas of outstanding natural beauty have been set aside as National Parks, while hundreds of other land and marine reserves have been created, each with the regeneration of native species as a chief aim.

Walkers on tracks are accustomed to seeing traps set to catch stoats, rats and other predators that threaten native wildlife not evolved to escape such intruders from other shores. The most ire is reserved for the

introduced Australian brushtail possum – an animal that now numbers in the millions and munches through thousands of tonnes of native bush every year, threatening its very existence.

It may be a case of rose-tinted tourist glasses, but the natural world not only appears to come first in New Zealand, but is also the accepted order of things. I like the fact that on beaches used by nesting penguins, there are discreet signs informing visitors when to head home to give the birds space, while woe betide anyone caught fishing in any of the country’s 30 or so ‘no-take’ marine reserves.

Efforts have also been made to reduce the negative impact of irresponsible ‘freedom’ (or wild) campers with new laws that restrict camping in specific areas depending on whether campervans have their own toilet facilities. It’s a response to the actions of some of the many, mainly overseas, tourists who rent campervans and seem to care little for the mess they leave behind – an increasingly familiar problem in Scotland, too.

It is easy to see why millions of visitors are attracted to New Zealand each year. And boy are they well served. The tourism infrastructure is slick, comprehensive and hugely impressive.

Go into any one of the country’s iSite or DOC information centres and you cannot help but be impressed not just by the endless number of things to do, but also the knowledge and can-do attitude of the staff who work there.

It’s telling of experiences back home that this human aspect left such an impression.

Scotland has similar designs on becoming a world-class outdoor destination and certainly has all the attributes to excel when it comes to adventure travel, wildlife tourism and outdoor sports. We have a wonderful country, with many similar challenges to New Zealand, but I can’t help feeling we have much to learn both when it comes to valuing our natural environment and showing it off at its best. g

Scotland Outdoors Spring 2012

spring ads_cover ads 27/02/2012 16:07 Page 3

r o f w r n o w E A L onn SA n ets o cke Tiic t s l e i e t s v i l s l e ’ n d otlan s Sco evventt!!

Royal Highlan d Centre, Edin burgh 21st - 22nd Ap ril

2012

TICKET PRICE: FAMILY TICKETS £21 (£17 online) * ADULTS £10 (£8 online) * KIDS £1 & UNDER 5’s FREE Following the success of last year’s show, we’re delighted to bring you Outdoor Pursuits 2012! If you’re interested in anything to do with the outdoors - cycling, water sports, snow activities, walking, camping or the latest adrenaline rush - then this event is for you.

Feedback from last year’s show: • “Range of activities, shows and presentations were well run” • “It was awesome!”

• “Lots of stuff for the kids” • “Lots of info about Scottish outdoor activities in 1 place” • “Good local event”

Organised by The Scot sman

With six distinct zones, the show will be a hit with anyone of any age and includes many activities for you to enjoy such as: • Climbing Wall, Sailing and Snowboard Simulators, Bushcraft & Survival Skills, Segways, BMX Skills Course • New for 2012 - food market - the best of Scottish produce on sale for all visitors.

There will also be a host of presentations, demonstrations & prize draws across the weekend including: • Savage Skills - back for the 2nd year by popular demand! Prepare to be blown away by these amazing mountain bike stunts! Witness some of the most spectacular jumps, tricks and back flips imaginable!

• Come and see Chainsaw Creations carving all kinds of "creations" from wood!

• Learn survival tips - tracking, fire lighting and wood lore - from Bushcraft Magazine

All the interaction and entertainment is included FREE as part of the entry price.

SAVE money by booking your ticket online in advance Don’t miss out on Scotland’s liveliest event!

Book tickets & find out more at www.scottishoutdoorpursuits.co.uk

Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh 21st - 22nd April 2012 For regular show updates follow us on

@OPScotland Like us on

@OutdoorPursuitsScotland

SCAN ME

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