The disillusionment with the M&S curry aside, the biggest factor that forced me to rethink camping food was running. While Scotland’s hills provide superb playground from short jogs to long days, it is the linking of multiple days together that opens up, literally, whole new horizons. Alas, none of my previous approaches to cooking was suited to self-supported multiday runs.

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I have always liked my food; perhaps it’s because I come from a place that obsesses over wholesome home cooking. I also like my food now more than I once used to; perhaps it’s because my adoptive homeland doesn’t do food particularly well (doesn’t really ‘get’ food).

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There is no end of acquiring them, the search for the perfect camera bag seems endless. Here are some of mine, and some thoughts on them.

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If, like me, you thought we saw the last of the heavy machinery on Dumyat, you were wrong. In the last few days diggers have arrived again to (at the expense of SP Energy Networks) graciously bestow upon us a new path from the Sheriff Muir road car park to the very summit.

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It’s been a busy summer for UK’s MRTs. Not a week has gone by without someone getting lost in our hills, without yet another call to learn how to use a map and compass and not to rely on phone apps. This in turn elicits other comments that the problem is not in the use of digital tools per se, but in not being able to navigate. True as this is, the calls for learning traditional navigation should not be dismissed as Luddite, for not being able to navigate competently and the use of digital technologies are intrinsically linked.

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I have a confession to make: I find great, some might think perverse, pleasure at times in bypassing Munro summits. It is the source of profound liberation – once the need to ‘bag’ is overcome, a whole new world opens up in the hills, endless possibilities for exploring, leading to all kinds of interesting and unexpected places. Plans laid out in advance become mere sketches, to be refined and adjusted on the go and on a whim.

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The Mamores offer some exceptionally good running. The landscape is stunning, the natural lines are first rate, and the surface is generally runner-friendly. The famed (and now even raced) Ring of Steal provides an obvious half day outing, but I dare to say the Mamores have a lot more to offer! On the western end it is well worth venturing all the way to Meall a’Chaorain for the remarkable change in geology and the unique views of Ben Nevis, but it is the dramatic ‘loch and mountain’ type of scenery (of a quality rare this far south) of the eastern end that is the Mamore’s true crown jewel.

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My gran married young, and was widowed young, my current age. I have a very few regrets in life, but not getting to know grandpa is one of them. He was a great lover of nature, a working man with little spare time, escaping into the woods with binoculars and a camera whenever he could. A passion borne out by countless strips of film left behind. As I am getting older I too am drawn into the woods, increasingly not for ‘adventure’, but for the tranquility and the sense of awe it invariably brings. I sense we were kindred spirits, but I can only imagine, he died before my third birthday and I have no memories of him at all.

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I agree with David Lintern that we (urgently) need a debate about the making of fires in our wild spaces, and I am grateful that he took the plunge and voiced that need. But while I think David’s is, by far, the most sensible take on the matter among some of the other advice dished out recently, I want to argue that we, the anonymous multitude of outdoor folk, need to go a step further and make the use of open fire in UK wild places socially unacceptable. Not making a fire is the only responsible option available to us. Not convinced? Here is my case.

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The south ridge of Ben More Assynt has been on my mind for a while, ever since I laid eyes on it a few years back from the summit. It’s a fine line. Today is perhaps not the ideal day for it, it’s fairly windy and likely to rain for a bit, but at least for now the cloud base is, just, above the Conival summit. I dither whether to take the waterproof jacket, it will definitely rain, but it’s not looking very threatening just now, and it’s not so cold. In the end common sense prevails and I add it to the bag, then set off from Inchnadamph up along Traligill river.

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Today I walked through one of my favourite Assynt places, off the path well trodden, just me, birds, deer … and ash from a recent wild fire. I couldn’t but think of MacCaig’s frogs and toads, always abundant around here, yet today conspicuous by their absence.

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The hills on the west side of Glen Creran will be particularly appreciated by those searching for some peace and quiet. None of them reach the magic 3,000ft mark, and so are of no interest to the Munroist, while the relatively small numbers of Corbettistas follow the advice of the SMC guidebook and approach their target from Ballachuilish. Yet, the lower part of Glen Creran, with its lovely deciduous woodland, deserves a visit, and the east ridge of Fraochaidh offers excellent running.

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TL;DR: ~440 hours of running, 3,000km travelled, 118km ascended, an FKT set on the Assynt Traverse. Yet, the numbers don’t even begin to tell the story …

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It’s that time of the year again when the white stuff is covering the hills. This year it’s come early and without a warning, one day still running in shorts, next day rummaging for the winter gear (and, typically, by the time I have finished writing this, much of the snow is gone again). Winter hill running is bit of an acquired taste, but taking on the extra challenges is, often, worth it.

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The mountain bike is a great iteration in the evolution of the bicycle, opening a whole new world of possibilities as well as challenges. There are places where this is undoubtedly more true than others, and Scotland is, unquestionably, such a place. Not simply because of our long standing tradition of access, but because much of our spectacular landscape lends itself well to what the mountain bike has to offer.

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The Lochness Marathon is approaching fast, and with it my turn to be the support crew. Because of the race logistics there is a fair bit of hanging around … but Glen Affric being just down the road, I know the perfect way to ‘kill’ the time – the Carn Eighe loop is just the right length to be back at the finish line in a good time! A run along a great natural line, without any significant technical or navigational challenges, yet offering stunning views, on the edge of one of the more remote feeling parts of Scotland.

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