The one issue with RSS is discoverability. There are some directories out there, but as I am building up my own curated content using RSS, what I am finding more useful are other folk’s published blogrolls (most recently notably that by Manu Moreale), and I thought I should do likewise for the benefit of others. So from time to time, I am going to do a post with notes on some blogs I read, under the #blogroll tag.

I am going to limit the blogroll post to sites that publish RSS feeds, there are some good blogs out there that do not, which is a shame, but I don’t have the time to go around manually checking scores of websites (and no, I don’t want to subscribe to your mailing list).

For the inaugural blogroll post, I’ll start with a handful of blogs from the outdoor and related space:

  • AlexRoddie: Alex is one of the best critical thinkers in the entire contemporary UK outdoor space, as well as one of the few people professionally involved that is prepared to publicly ask questions about practices that cross the industry’s carefully maintained walled garden boundary, particularly the kowtowing to Big Tech.

  • Lucy Wallace: Lucy is an outdoor guide on Arran. I first came across her long time ago on Twitter, and over the years have come to consider her one of the most positive voices in Scottish outdoors. The blog doesn’t get many updates, but you can also follow her on Mastodon.

  • Chris Townsend: Chris hardly needs an introduction to most people engaged in outdoor pursuits in the UK. I think of Chris as probably the person with the biggest wealth of broad first hand outdoor experience in the UK, and he is perhaps the only person who’s views on equipment I am prepared to take at face value. His blog is also useful for keeping an eye on day to day conditions in the Cairngorms.

  • Fiona Russell: Fiona’s page contains a wealth of information around travel and various outdoor activities and events in Scotland, including running. Often in a list form.

  • Raptor Persecution UK: a single issue blog, as hinted by the name, that I find very useful for understanding the dynamics of landownership in the UK. Not a feel-good read for sure.

  • parkswatchscotland: a blog that tracks the happenings in Scotland’s national parks, particularly issues around land management. Also very useful for understanding the dynamic of landownership in Scotland, as well as the realities beyond carbon trading and the associated sequestration through tree planting.