My ScoTtish Winter Hiking Adventure

Scottish Winter Adventure – The Plan High level plan for walking the Hebridean Way, the Great Glen Way and the West Highland Way Track Me I’m scared! As I write this, a few days before my departure date, I’m nervous. I’m looking out of the window, and…

I suppose I thought, because there had already been a few issues in even getting up to Scotland and with my health, that once I started my walk everything would fall nicely into place and things would go smoothly. I was slightly disappointed when the weather forecast…

Based on the conditions yesterday I was fairly confident I would be taking a different route up through the islands. I didn’t think it would be any longer or shorter, I imagined roughly the same, but would cut out some of the climbs where the paths had become water…

When I was young I used to go to the cubs. It was like scouts but for the younger kids. Beavers – for the even younger kids – hadn’t been invented yet. Yes, I’m that old. Anyway, there are two main things I remember from my time at cubs. The first was that…

I’m not sure when it happened exactly, but I do know it was around the time that I’d been defeated by another boggy path. This one had shown so much promise as well. It was really well made, very solid under foot, incredible views. It was like a special corridor…

I was nearing the end of my walking day – which, by the way is preferable to a working day – and I saw on the map that the path went one way around a hill, and the road went around the other. Now, I’ve been caught out a number of times by the ‘paths’ that…

I had to look up the literal translation of eau de toilette. It basically means ‘water of the toilet’, or ‘toilet water’. I wanted to check if my joke worked. And it sort of does. I don’t think anyone would buy sock water. Not if it was made from my socks anyway….

It’s funny how things turn out. How certain events can shape your future, and normally not in a way you expect. I’m not sure I believe in fate although some of the things that have happened to me do make me wonder. But, having a science background, I sort of know that…

I’ve had to deal with a lot of different smells on this trip. Most of them are not great. I think the worst, so far, was back on North Uist where my left hand a wrist smelt like sheep poo for most of a day. It didn’t matter what I did, washing multiple times, I could…

It’s funny how the smallest of things can have the biggest impact. Certainly to our minds anyway. When I was at university I had a friend. I can’t even remember his name now. Which makes this worse. He was really clever, now that I do remember – certainly more…

I don’t think I’ve ever done that before. Finishing one trail and then immediately starting another. Normally I like to hang around a bit to celebrate. Maybe treat myself to some chicken nuggets or even a glass of wine. After going without for a few days it’s always…

I’m really glad that I write about my walks. Sometimes, when I’m tired at the end of the day, and all I want to do is rest and do nothing, it’s a bit of a pain. But I do like looking back on what I’ve written and I feel very lucky that I’ve got a record of what I’ve…

The human body is incredible. It’s just absolutely mind boggling what it’s capable of. The last couple of weeks my diet has mainly consisted of, noodles, supermarket sandwiches, crisps, nutty bar type things, and chocolate. Oh, and that toastie I had yesterday and…

Many years ago I used to go to school. More specifically, at the age of 11, I went to Brookvale High School. It’s funny because in those days we used to call it year one, or being a first year. This was because you’d now arrived at high school and it was your first…

It’s amazing how a little gesture by someone can make someone else’s day. It doesn’t have to be something big. Just a small act of kindness, can make all the difference. When I was walking on a lot of roads on the Outer Hebrides, it always made me feel happy if a…

When I got into this walking lark I was really worried about it. Going back to my first hike, when I walked from St Bees to Robin Hood’s Bay, I thought that people would judge me as I turned up at the beach. They’d be thinking, ‘oh, there goes another one of those…