We’ve stopped blogging and started Tweeting… for the latest (bite-size) news from the Scotland Outdoors team, please follow us on Twitter.

Bah, the festive fun couldn’t last forever. I’m almost certainly not the only one who struggles to adjust when returning to work after Christmas. It’s that nagging sense that the party’s over and it’s time to get serious again. 

But before getting bogged down in the January blues, how about that for a snowy Christmas? I can’t remember having so much white stuff around at this time of year. And it has hung about for ages, too. Here in Peebles, we’ve had about a foot of snow in the back garden for a fortnight. And with clear blue skies, icicles dangling from cars and roofs, plus deep snow clinging to every tree and hillside, it’s been more like Norway than Scotland. Absolutely magical. I’ll take a hard, snowy winter over grey skies and dreary rain any day.

We hope the return to work isn’t too much of a shock and wish all our readers a happy, healthy 2010. It’s going to be a good year. I can feel it.

Bye for now
Richard

Well, that was quite an end to a week. Having gone to press on our winter issue on Thursday, we had just enough time to get dressed up in our finery and hot-foot it over to the PPA Scottish Magazine Awards at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh.  And having wrestled around in the back of the cupboard to find something suitable to wear, it seems we didn’t get all dressed up for nothing … Scotland Outdoors scooped the Best Small Publishing Company Magazine 2009 and was also short-listed in the Best Consumer Magazine Design category.

Suffice to say we are extremely chuffed to be recognised in this way. Winning such a coveted national award so early in the magazine’s development means a huge amount to us. A big thank you again to the whole team – and all our external contributors – for their passion and dedication over the past year or so. Onwards and upwards!

Bye for now
Richard

The Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival has been and gone for another year. We were there for much of the w/end and had a brilliant time. It shot by in a blur of high-speed action with a host of slightly crazed mountain bikers, climbers, base-jumpers, slack-liners, kayakers and others strutting their stuff in gorgeous locations around the world.In between the extreme films, many featuring rather intense, unblinking types who always seem to be staring at something a thousand yards or so away, were some more whimsical offerings. They included a film about over-wintering on a scientific research station in the Antarctic; a location report on the conservation status of two of the world’s threatened species of bear; plus a brilliant piece from a Canadian ski-bum who voiced all the random thoughts that pinball around his head while killing time on a chairlift. Inspired!

Thanks to the many people who dropped by at the Scotland Outdoors stand to pick up a copy and enter our competition to win a year’s subscription to the magazine. Good luck – the draw will be made tomorrow. We are hoping for more of the same this coming w/end when we head to Perth for the Scottish Canoe Association’s Paddle 09 event. Maybe we will see a few of you there.

Bye for now
Richard

ps. Talking of competitions, readers have until 30 October to enter the competition in our Autumn issue to win a luxury weekend for two at the Fortingall Hotel in Highland Perthshire. It’s a brilliant prize, so get cracking if you fancy it. See the competition page for more details

After a shameful three-month absence, the blog is back. And maybe even on a weekly basis. We shall see – after previous lapses, I’m promising nothing.Anyway, lots going on at Scotland Outdoors HQ. Two of us have just returned from a w/end of learning how to stay upright in sea and river kayaks in Wester Ross. We stayed at The Torridon, a rather special place right on the lochside, and were taken out by the in-house instructor to sample some of the very different kinds of paddling available in the area. There were thrills, spills and a little bit of swearing. Look out for the article on the trip in our spring issue next year.

In the meantime, we are busy preparing for the start of what could be called the outdoor festival season with events in Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee all on the horizon. First up is the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival this w/end. Now in something like its seventh or eighth year, the event has cemented its position as one of the very best festivals of its kind combining inspiring talks with jaw-dropping films from people with little or no regard for their own personal safety.

Scotland Outdoors will be there giving away free copies of the magazine. We are also proud to be one of the sponsors of the event this year. Do drop by and say hi if you are attending any of the sessions. You can even enter our competition to win a subscription to the magazine. Prizes just don’t get any better than that.

Bye for now
Richard

Lots going on here, hence the lack of action on the blog. Sorry about that. There just doesn’t seem enough time in the day sometimes, but that’s a good thing. The warm weather – well, mostly – has seen the team out gathering material for the next issue and ‘banking’ stories for next year. 

Last weekend was spent camping with friends at the Lazy Duck Hostel, set in the middle of the forest at Nethy Bridge. I’d stayed at this particularly bijou hostel a couple of time before, but had never camped there. I will definitely be back. This is what good sites are all about. It’s small, mostly easy-going and packed with nice little touches, from a chimenea for evening campfires to a wet weather shelter, complete with chairs and table. Waking up to the sound of red squirrels clambering up the trunks of nearby Scots pines and the gentle quacking of the eponymous lazy ducks was a good way to start the day. Just watch out for the geese that also roam around. One of them has an evil streak.

Although the heavens opened on the Sunday, we had a brilliant Saturday with the sun a constant companion as we cycled through the pinewoods of Abernethy Forest, heading for Ryvoan Bothy. The views out over the heather to the high plateau of the Cairngorms, snow banks still glinting on northern slopes, emphasised that this is truly Scotland’s big country. A place to savour.

The only downer came when I decided to follow my friend, Iain, up the trail to Meall a’ Bhuachaille that snakes steeply from the bothy. It looked tough going, but we convinced ourselves that the descent would be worth it. After slogging a third or so of the way up, Iain turned around and demonstrated a textbook descent, coping with the tricky stone steps and drainage ditches along the steep trail with apparent ease. I was less fortunate, smacking my back tyre against one particularly sharp rock, resulting in an equally textbook ‘pinch flat’. We stood by the bothy congratulating ourselves on our safe descent to the unmistakeable sound of air leaving my back tyre.

Of course, for the well-prepared backcountry rider, this is no more than a minor inconvenience. We thought likewise, until it dawned on us that the puncture repair kit we had so dutifully included in our packs was not accompanied by tyre levers or any proper tools whatsoever. We had to use sturdy sticks, flat stones, key rings and even the edge of the fire shovel from inside the bothy to prise the tyre from the rim to patch up the tube. We got there in the end after much sweating and cursing, and were on our way. Such ineptitude. Honestly, for the editor of an outdoors magazine, it’s not good. But at least we remembered the pump.

This weekend, it’s off to Perthshire to explore Glen Lyon – a long, lonely and quite beautiful glen tucked away from the rest of the area’s many honeypots. Tyre levers have already been packed.

I hope you are also enjoying the summer and having lots of outdoor adventures of your own. And if you have pictures, please do send them in – we’d love to feature you in the Reader Adventurers column of our autumn issue, published in early September.

 
Bye for now
Richard

Well, after the usual last-minute scrambles and one or two late nights, the summer issue of the magazine has now gone to press. We got the call from the printer today to say that copies are ready and will be on their way to stockists and subscribers early next week.

I’m actually down south until Monday and have not seen the finished product as yet, so will have to keep my powder dry for a few days yet. I can’t wait to see it though. We have made a few design tweaks that we think have smoothed out one or two rough edges and also enabled the pages to do better justice to some incredibly strong images. Look out for Bruce Percy’s wonderfully atmospheric cover image from Sandwood Bay, a shot of Gary Williamson literally ‘stepping’ on Ben Nevis from the (relative) safety of his paramotor, plus a bottlenose dolphin adult and calf caught breaching together in perfect harmony.

We hope you enjoy the issue – and do let us have any feedback (whether good, bad or otherwise!). And for those who have not yet seen the magazine, why not request a free trial issue to check us out? Just click on the subscriptions page for details.

Bye for now
Richard

After a blog-less Friday last week, I will try to make up for it today with a sneak preview of the brilliant competition that will run in our summer issue (out 10 June). We saw such huge interest in the Arran sea kayaking adventure break competition in our last issue – thank you again to Arran Adventure - that we have decided to take to the water again.

This time Wilderness Scotland has stepped up to offer two lucky readers the chance to win a five-day ‘introduction to sea kayaking’ course based in the northwest Highlands – an offer that ties in nicely with a major editorial focus on the area in our summer issue.

The winners will spend five days learning and refining the basics before heading out to explore the sea lochs and coastal waters around Torridon and Applecross. Scotland is blessed with a variety of world-class sea kayaking locations and this area is right up amongst them. What a prize. I have half a mind to adopt a pseudonym and enter myself!

In addition to being in the magazine, full competition details will also be available on the Scotland Outdoors and Wilderness Scotland websites from early June. Good luck to all those entering.

Speaking of Wilderness Scotland, one of its directors – Stevie Christie – is practicing what the company preaches and arranging a wild journey of his own this summer. Stevie and pals are attempting to become the first to climb the highest hills in each of the Small Isles (Rum, Eigg, Canna and Muck) in a single day in what is being billed as the Big Small Isles Challenge!

The day will involve a total ascent of around 1,700m and almost 40km of walking, so will be no mean feat. A RIB will zip the team between each island to speed things along. The adventure aims to raise money for Sightsavers International and donations can be made though the fundraising page.

Wilderness Scotland is also happy to help arrange the challenge – or ones like it – for others who might be interested. Again, just get in touch via their website.

Bye for now
Richard

Bit of a speedy blog this morning – more of a blogette – as just back from a soggy few days over in Ardnamurchan and need to crack on with writing up the trip notes. Our summer issue goes to press at the end of the month and time is marching on. (I can almost hear the sound of our designer’s fingers drumming on his desk as he waits for me to feed him copy.)

The Ardnamurchan visit was part of research for an article looking at Scotland’s Atlantic oakwoods – our very own temperate rainforest. To emphasise the point, it rained solidly for the whole time I was there. Well, I guess it’s green and lush for a reason.

I’m hoping this grim spell of wind and rain is not an indication of what to expect this summer. We have been promised a ‘barbeque summer’ and that’s what we are going to have, darn it (unless Ida put the kiss of death on it in last week’s blog).

Anyway, hopefully things will improve ahead of the start of two big festivals that open this week: The Original Bicycle Festival mentioned in an earlier post below and the Mull and Iona Wildlife Week which starts tomorrow. The latter has been running for several years now and offers a real showcase of the area’s rich diversity of life. You want otters, sea eagles, golden eagles and incredible marine life? You’ve got it. Have fun if you’re going. Right, back to those notes …

Well, yesterday a little ray of good news slipped past the usual bleak headlines, the never-ending talk of recession, the impending swine flu catastrophe and the increasingly comic events in the House of Commons… we are, says the Met Office, in for a dry and warm summer, a good few months of barbeque weather.

Now, whether this actually materialises not remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure – forget about that exotic beach holiday in Mexico; the way to holiday this summer is to go local and keep it cheap.

My own recipe for ultimate relaxation involves the simplest of pleasures: pitch a tent a stone’s throw from a glittering white beach on the West Coast, while away a few hours fishing and shooting the breeze, then light a barbeque and fling on whole, freshly-caught mackerel and a few limpets or mussels collected at low tide. And, as the last of summer’s late evening light fades to green on the horizon, drain a glass or two of red and snuggle up in a sleeping bag for a good night’s sleep ahead of a nice long bike ride or a day’s hill-walking.

This summer, hubby and I will become parents for the first time, and we reckon it’ll bring a new perspective to our adventures (it certainly won’t stop us!). We’re looking forward to rediscovering the magic of the outdoors through a child’s eyes, watching little one get dirty and explore nature’s beauty and bounty.

Part of this is showing them where our food comes from, and how much of it we can grow and gather for ourselves, with plenty of muddy fun to be had along the way. Instead of leaving our veggy patch fallow this summer in favour of nurturing a newborn, we’re expanding it.

I’m inspired by Seaweed and Eat It by Edinburgh-based mums Fiona Houston and Xa Milne. Subtitled ‘A family foraging and cooking adventure’, it’s a joyful celebration of Scotland’s wild bounty as well as a practical guide. Foraging, gathering and fishing as a family help our kids to connect with the landscape and how it feeds them, while keeping little hands occupied and providing plenty of laughs.

The wave of interest in sustainable living continues to grow rapidly and has become virtually mainstream. It’s not exclusively about thrift and isn’t necessarily driven by the recent economic squeeze or the threat of climate change. I reckon it’s more personal than that – after a good few decades of being consumers, folk are looking for something more real to share with, and pass on to, their children.