Many thanks! I had pictured people lying in wait rather than temp camps/shelters, which maybe should have been obvious!
I have helped at a Mesolithic dig in the Cairngorms not beside boulders, so didn't really think it through. Fascinating though, and sort of exciting too.
Speaking from a huge well of ignorance here, but... why should they be hunting sites? What would you expect/hope to find?
‘The biggest, baddest, saltiest chick you would ever see’: why no one sang the blues like Big Mama Thornton
New post Parkswatchscotland: The LLTNPA’s war against visitors at Loch Lubnaig and the Falls of Falloch https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/?p=32802
Spring in the Cairngorms: redding up a bothy toilet and enjoying both blizzard and sunshine.
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2026/04/08/w...
Heavy wet snow falling thickly on heather and melting onto a landrover track in the #Cairngorms
A cold sky over snow-covered moorland and mountains in Glen Dee
A wall of Cairngorm mountains, still snowy, looking down on a thawing glen floor.
A warm spring day in the lower slopes of the mountains, looking up to wintry, snow-covered hills beyond.
When spring does come to the hills it can seem very sudden: there's two days and about ten degrees between the first picture and the last. More see-sawing to come before summer, but it's on its way.
Ben and the team do indeed do a great job, just such a shame that their friendly approach isn't enough when it comes to some folk. There's no doubt at all the ban is justified.
It's sad that there's a need for the ban at all. Most places in the CNP are covered by the existing access code, so people are being banned from something which - in the most part - they are already prohibited from. So no surprise at the need for signs and patrols.
They look a good size for firewood, Ben. 😬
New post Parkswatchscotland: Why the Cairngorms National Park targeting outdoor recreation won’t save the capercaillie https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/?p=32690
It was indeed there a fortnight later, when I had another go and reached the top with no tears or tantrums.
The new fire byelaw for the Cairngorms National Park is about to begin, banning fires and barbecues between 1 April and 30 September each year 🔥 Read our FAQs for everything you need to know ➡️ bit.ly/4m2ew95
One of my favourite viewpoints. Lookingup Luibeg into Coire Sputan Dearg... ❤️
But not hard to believe that thousands of years ago it was home to a great loch behind the Derry Dam.
Sad to see him go. A great writer and creator.
Och that's sad news. Such a lovely voice.
The trqack itself isn't the most exciting, but I love that high level walk from Carn Bhac to Carn Liath. If there are clear views anyway.
To be fair, I had little and diminishing respect for him even before this failed balancing act of appeasement. To call him "not Truss, Johnson, May etc" is really damning with faint praise.
That Glen Christie track is the best argument I've seen for an electric bike. Carn Bhac by that ridge is always a good choice if there's clear views.
My favourite ptarmigan fact is that they'll fly full tilt into snowdrifts to make a wee kypie to roost overnight in. One winter when all the snow was solid for weeks I discovered a line of deepish boot prints and from the piles of poo in many, ptarmigan had been using them as ready-made roosts.
Snow covered mountains: Looking towards Ben McDui from above a frozen Loch Etchachan
Exhausted mountaineer descending from Ben McDui
A missed summit. Sometimes it hurts, but can still be a glorious day.
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2026/02/16/a...
Something's wrong with your camera. Bits of that sky look blue!
It's @walkhighlands.co.uk time! And in my latest column I'm taking a closer look at the weirdness that is Fata Morgana. I've only seen this bizarre mirage a couple of times, and this particular sighting was on 27th December on Carn na Drochaide. My brain hurts after writing it though! 😆
A snowy walk in to Corrour Bothy for a toilet maintenance visit. Smiley face drawn in the snow covering a rucksack.
A roaring bothy fire. #CorrourBothy #Cairngorms
Happy figure in deep snow in the #Cairngorms. Nic Cheyne, joint maintenance organiser for Corrour Bothy
Reflected figure in a pair of snow goggles. Nic Cheyne wearing the goggles and fellow Corrour Bothy maintenance organiser Neil Reid in the reflection.
Another toilet change at Corrour Bothy in the #Cairngorms. Heavy going in the snow, especially with one MO jet-lagged and one just old, but, hey, you take the good with the not so good.
New post Parkswatchscotland: Recent research, Scots Pine and the montane woodland planting in Coire na Ciste at Cairn Gorm https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/?p=32229
Can you no get this sorted out? Between the weather and the roads (okay, and some family commitments) I'm suffering severe cabin fever down here.
I'm afraid it's no mystery to me. Even when Blair first appeared in the public eye I resolved never to buy a second-hand car off him, and events since have strengthened rather than weakened that resolve.
Amazing shapes revealed when the landscape is reduced to winter's black and white. #Cairngorms
Loathe to give the woman any credit for anything - hateful; creature - but thought her response was excellent: a traitor and liar is no loss; and now he's Farage's problem.
Stayed there once or twice. A drier walk-in now that they've extended the causeway.