"Ceud Mìle Fàilte"  

('One hundred thousand welcomes' in Scottish Gaelic).

​

Welcome, folks.

Thank you kindly for stopping by.

 

In this wee website and my YouTube channel I hope to share with you my love of Scotland, and in particular, the Western & Central Highlands and Islands. I will share photographs and videos of the landscapes, wildlife, and some info on where to find them, and also some of my favourite places to visit, including campsites, some  easily accessible for the average camping tourist, and some a bit more rugged and wild for those like-minded lovers of more adventurous treks and wild campsites in the middle of nowhere, or up a mountain. 

 

I hail from Oban in the Western Highlands, and love to hike and wild camp as much as possible, and enjoy taking photographs, sketching and painting, or just to climbing another hill, and have been lucky enough to have seen the summits of many a Munro.

 

In the past have walked and wild-camped in the Cullins on Skye, two of the Three Sisters in Glencoe, the Five Sisters in Kintail, 'Buachaille Etive Mor' and climbed 'Ben Nevis' four times up the North Face, including once up Tower Ridge (nearly shit myself on that), three times on the CMD ridge onto 'Nevis' itself, and about 27 times on the Pony Trail. In Sept 3rd 2021 I reached the summit for the 30th time on my first accent since they changed the route due to landslides on the original track. I have wild-camped by 'Loch Meall an t-Suidhe' and at the summit in the snow. I've also managed to walk through 'Rannoch Moor' three times, including once in a blizzard, and reached the summits of 44 Munro's in total, and almost always I have travelled, trekked and hiked wearing the kilt (Feileadh-beag). Here is a 'link' to www.walkhighlands.com  listing of all 282 Munros from the 'highest' down in size for all you fellow baggers out there, so you can 'tick off' the ones you've done and plan your next one. I aim to get to the top of more very soon.

 

I have a huge passion for bushcraft when wild camping, and have learned a few good useful skills and techniques over the 30 plus years, so I'll try to include some traditional bushcraft skills from fire techniques, fire types, various shelters, wild edibles and useful plants that I have used and learned about while walking the hills. I'll try, where possible, to cover their Gaelic names and meanings, along with Gaelic place names. Although I have forgotten most of my Gaelic language and can no longer hold a proper conversation, I was once a Gaelic speaker. I am now trying to re-learn again, so anything that helps me with that is a bonus.

 

Sadly, Go-Pro's and good video technology wasn't available to me when I done everything in the past, and I only have a few photographs to show where I've been and what I've done. Mostly, I just have a mind full of wonderful memories. This website and YouTube channel is my way of re-discovering my old haunts and campsites, including wild ones, and also to pass on old bushcraft knowledge and skills, and capturing them all on film to give me proof of what I do now at this time in my life. Now in my mid-50's, I know that the full length of the 'Cullins' are probably never going to happen again, but I aim to do what I can, and to capture my wee expeditions and experiences on video for me to sit back one day, show the kids and the Grand-kids and be able to say to them: "Look what I did !".

 

A keen Genealogist, for many years I have been looking into our Family History. I have also been keenly interested in the Jacobite period for many years, including hiking in the kilt with ghillie shirts and waistcoats etc, without really understanding why wearing these clothes feels so natural to me, or why I feel more 'me' dressed like that than I ever do in trousers?. This has only been enhanced since finding out that one of my ancestors was a Jacobite volunteer and would appear to have been arrested following 'Prestonpans' and was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh Toll-house and sentenced to death at Carlisle before being "invited" (forced) to join the Government forces because of his surgical skills, and was later pardoned. He was incarcerated during the battle of Culloden, this and his surgical knowledge is probably why I, and many of my family and ancestors since are here. There are other possible Jacobite links for me to follow up. There might be something in the theory of 'Genetic Memory' and this may be why I feel 'normal' hiking wearing the kilt and Great Kilt?.

 

I may also look into some of the history of the Jacobite's, including clothes, weapons, and as a keen bushcraft lover and wild camper for many years myself, I'd like to explore how my ancestors might have camped and travelled through the lands, and what techniques they might have used to avoid the redcoats hot on their trail after Culloden.  

 

In the early days in my 20's some of my knowledge came from books, but then once I started putting that into practice, and building knowledge into skills, most of which has come from personal experiences while wild camping, and learning out in the field. In addition, In the years since the internet has been available I have used this as a 'tool' to help me gain further knowledge into all of the above and have tried to adapt some of those on-line 'tips', together with my previously gained knowledge, to further my skills in the field. I still search the internet on subjects that interest me and for possible new ways of doing things, or for new places to visit and ideas, and if I find anything useful of helpful in any way, I'll post a 'link' on my at the bottom of any YouTube videos I upload to help try pass that knowledge on as well as stuff I've learned for myself. 

 

I hope that you enjoy my wee site and hope you find it useful. "Stay safe, folks and Happy Hiking !!"

 

Tapadh leibh.