Bothies are, in my mind at least, a national treasure, capturing something of the very essence of the Scottish character and generous attitude to strangers. They are more than shelters, they provide for chance encounters of likeminded folk, to share stories (and drams) the old fashioned way, their logbooks testimony to whatever it is that drives us out of our sterile urban existences. And for the runner, they are an excellent resource for multi day trips, cutting on the amount of kit required, as well as extending the window of opportunity beyond the summer months.

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I have a thing about hills. It goes back a long way. Aged five, my granny took me on a holiday in the mountains, and I have been drawn back ever since. Forty-plus years later, out there on the high ground, the inner child comes out just as wide-eyed as when during those two weeks I listened to tales of mountain creatures, real and mythical alike, and imagined the fairies and elfs coming out after dark.

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The Coigach hills provide perhaps the single best short run in the entire Coigach / Assynt area. The running is easy on excellent ground (if at places exposed – not recommended on a windy day!), the views are magnificent in all directions, and the caffe in the Achiltibuie Piping School provides excellent post-run cakes!

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It’s 2:55am and the day, which is supposed to be a culmination of a three year long dream, is being (un)ceremonially drummed in by rain on a skylight window in Inchnadamph Lodge Hostel.

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Every time I pass through the grassy bowl north of Beinn an Fhurain, a shiver runs down my spine. Here a temporal singularity is created by the intersection of the merciless nature of these ‘wee hills’ of ours with the brokenness of the world we have created for ourselves on the one hand, and the cruelty of fate on the other.

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The InReach SE is a location tracker and two way (SMS-like) messaging device utilising the Iridium satellite network (which means it has a genuinely 100% global coverage). I have been using it for about 2.5 years, so I thought it might be worth saying something about it. </p>

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It seems that the GPS is now considered to be a part of the essential outdoor kit, and most of the people I meet ‘out there’ seem to have one (the other day I saw someone ‘navigating’ the towpath along the Forth and Clyde Canal using one). The experts even assure me that it is possible to program in hazards to keep me safe!</p>

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Sustainability is a nice filler word. It sounds good without sounding overtly posh, it can be moulded to mean almost anything, and, in the absence of a definition, it creates the impression of righteousness without any real commitment to anything at all. Like the childish act of repeating a single word ad nauseum to see it loose all meaning, sustainability, alongside climate change, has become one of the great vacuous cliches of our day. Yet, sustainability is a concept far too important to leave at that! It’s time to claim it back, for unsustainable means the forming of an irreversible rift between past and future, while sustainability holds the promise of being in control of our collective destiny.

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The ridges formed by the seven Crianlarich Munros provide for excellent running thanks to the tracks hammered out of the mica schist by myriads of boots. However, tackling the whole group of seven together presents a much bigger chalenge than one might expect in the light of its compact nature. Although the as a crow flies distance between the outlying Ben More and Beinn Chabhair is just 9km, the four ridges these hills form are separated by fairly deep bealachs, and the transitions between them are hard going due to rough ground, steep gradients, and no paths or tracks (not even sheep tracks).

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The Beinn a’Ghlo group near Blair Athol, while easy enough to access from the Central Belt, provides some very fine running on excellent ground, with entertaining terrain around the summits, and only small amount of heather bashing on the final descent. The views are excellent – these hills have far more character than one might expect looking at them from the glens below.

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ABC watches are great. Mine is Suunto X-Lander, and I love it. I find an accurate altimeter to be a very useful navigation tool in the hills at poor visibility, and the X-Lander barometric altimeter is just that. Plus, it allows me to get realistic ascent and descent values for my runs, unlike the grossly overestimated values one gets from a GPS.

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When it came to the outdoor activities of my childhood, my mother and my gran were resolute followers of the MTFU philosophy (though they are both far too well brought up to put it in such crude terms!). Rain was never an adequate excuse to just sit home and feel sorry for ourselves, indeed rain meant wild mushrooms would grow in abundance, and, let’s face it, what Slav could resist that? Our family’s invariable response to rain was two-fold: there was the plastic rain coat, and the morale boosting Song.

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Among Scottish hills, Ben A’an is one of the leading contenders for the least-effort big-views prize (only closely beaten by Stac Pollaidh in Assynt, I reckon). It also offers a fun, if somewhat short, run on a (mostly) rocky path. If only there was some way to incorporate this fine wee hill into a bigger run …

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Alongside Ben Lomond, Ben Vorlich and Stuc a’Chroin are perhaps the two Munros easiest accessible from the central belt, which makes them very popular. While the usual way up is from Loch Earn to the north, a southern approach is, in my view, much to be preferred – not only it takes one away from the crowds into a more remote feeling country, frequented mostly only by deer and birds of prey, but there is some exceptionally good running to be had on the south side of these hills.

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In terms of scenery, the Tarmachan ridge is right out there with Scotland’s other iconic ridges, such as the famous Aonach Eagach in Glencoe. But from a hill runner’s perspective it also provides first class steady running along its entire length, save a short scramble on the western side of Meall Garbh. An outing of a good length can be had by taking in Beinn Ghlas, Ben Lawers, and Meall Corranaich, before ascending the Tarmachan along its northern ridge by the magical Lochan an Tairbh-uisge.

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Glen Canisp provides the easiest off road gateway into the heart of Assynt’s hill country, including the iconic Suilven. The rough and undulating landy track that runs from the Canisp Lodge to Loch na Gainimh provides for excellent running, and access to both Suilven and Canisp.

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