In the last ten days I have travelled up and back down the A82 and, as usual, stopped off in a few popular visitor destinations to see how they are being managed. Toilet provision At Tarbet it was good to see that mobile toilets had been provided by the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park…
[Update: I had a phone call from Jahama Estates on 5th August to say all three signs referred to in this post and subsequent update have now been removed. I thanked them for this though my view remains the signs should never have been erected] I have just come back from a week in Lochaber,…
It’s a well documented fact that the CairnGorm Mountain Business Strategy which has the Funicular Railway at its centre has been a demonstrable failure. The principle source of income has been the sale of tickets, summer and winter, to use the funicular. The number of passengers carried has never been anywhere near the forecast levels…
A number of developments have taken place since I covered the unlawful felling of trees and the creation of a new entrance to Ben Cruach Lodge at Tarbet, on the western shore of Loch Lomond, in May (see here). Coverage in the Helensburgh Advertiser (see here) appears to confirm that Ben Cruach Lodge is owned…
On 13th July Highlands and Islands Enterprise announced that Cairngorm Mountain was re-opening today (see here). While the Scottish Government had been advising people they could travel unlimited distances by car since the weekend of 4th July, HIE decided to keep the Coire Cas car park, the most popular access point to the northern side…
The Ciste building is a derelict eyesore and should be removed. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) own the land and building and it is therefore their responsibility to take the necessary action. Complete demolition and landscaping of the ground might seem like the most obvious and easiest answer but it isn’t quite that simple. The…
“It is always a great crime to deprive a people of its liberty on the pretext that it is using it wrongly” (Alexis de Tocqueville) The latest government guidance on release of the lockdown treated informal camping in exactly the same way as formal campsites (see here): “Those who want to camp in tents in…
Audit Scotland’s report into HIE’s management of Cairn Gorm since 2008 was published two weeks ago (see here). The first two parts, on the outsourcing of Cairngorm Mountain Ltd to Natural Retreats and subsequent management of the contract, are a disappointment but not a surprise They completely exonerate HIE. Effectively Audit Scotland’s message is that…
Having argued last week (see here) that the Scottish Government could lift the shutdown of self-catering accommodation and its advice not to travel further than 5 miles, its announcement on Wednesday (see here) that this would now happen on 3rd July was a step in the right direction. Neither restriction has been necessary for weeks…
Two weekends ago Police Scotland charged the same number of people for breaching the camping byelaws in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park than had been charged over the whole of the previous three years. Stirling Council’s response to people traveling into the National Park after the first phase of lifting of lockdown was…
From an Outdoor Recreation and tourism standpoint, the one good thing about the Scottish Government’s latest announcements about how to manage the on-going risks from Covid-19 is that: “Evidence now shows the risk of outdoor infection is very low if people stay two metres apart”. The “now” is misleading. SAGE, the Scientific Advisory Group for…
While Parkswatch has been critical of the Cairngorms National Park Authority’s failure to control Highlands and Islands Enterprise at Cairn Gorm, it has been doing far better in Glen Clova. The two most recent meetings of the Planning Committee have been rightly criticised for approving the planning applications to repair the funicular and install car…
My post last week on the Scottish Government’s guidance on travel for Outdoor Recreation .(see here) was re-posted, with my permission, on the UK Climbing and Hillwalking Forums and shared elsewhere. It received lots of comments and a fair amount of abuse. The abuse appears to have been founded on the view that anyone deciding…
The Scottish Government’s route map out of lockdown (see here) needs the whole mainland road network open as soon as possible. At present this is unlikely to happen until 15 July when the majority of tourism facilities are expected to re-open. Progress in disease control suggests that a more staged approach is now justified to…
Back in February I blogged about the Hunter Foundation’s proposals to develop a “Global Leadership Centre” on the shore of Loch Lomond near Ross Priory in partnership with Strathclyde University (see here). A Planning Application was submitted at the beginning of March (see here for planning papers) and has been slowly progressed during the Covid-19…
Today, Friday 12th June, the Cairngorms National Park Authority will consider HIE’s latest ill-conceived plans for Cairn Gorm. You can view the deliberations live at 14.30 here [now on YouTube (see here)]. Two reports to the Planning Committee (see here for Committee papers), just two weeks after their last meeting, predictably recommend approval of HIE’s…
Toilets, or rather the risk of Covid-19 being transmitted in toilets, appear to be a major factor why the Scottish Government’s advice to people has been to stay local (see here): “Because of the high chance of the virus living on hard surfaces, we don’t want people using public toilets or going into someone’s home…
On Saturday, I once again ignored Scottish Government guidance and drove 50 miles south from Glasgow to go walking in the Lowther Hills. I was doing nothing illegal and, unlike on Durisdeer last week (see here) where we saw two people, this time we saw nobody at all. These hills could have had a thousand…
I have liaised with Nick Kempe on matters relating to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park for several years now but, in his recent blog (see here) on the recent planning approval for the RSPB path in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Nature Reserve, I think he has underplayed the importance of nature. …
Earlier this week one of parkswatch’s critical readers – a good thing! – posted a link to a BBC news piece (see here) about two hillwalkers who had been charged by the Police with “Culpable and Reckless Conduct” after being rescued on Beinn a Chroin near Crianlarich. Since then, there have been a number of…
In late 2018 the RSPB submitted a planning application to construct a new footpath at Ward’s Farm, part of the National Nature Reserve (NNR) at the south east corner of Loch Lomond (see here for the planning papers that remain public). Over 18 months later, on 25th May, the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park…
When I heard that the First Minister was going to permit golf courses to open last weekend, without also opening up the rest of the countryside at the same time, I thought she had taken leave of her senses. Or had received some extremely bad advice. Surely it was absolutely obvious that this would create…
What do we, the public, have to look forward to when our Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park eventually re-opens? Excerpts from Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park (LLTNPA) ‘NEWS’ “Following a successful bid to Visit Scotland’s Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority is investing £135,000 to upgrade visitor…
On Saturday, my partner and I drove 50 miles from Glasgow to go walking in the hills east of Durisdeer, off the A702 south of Abington. The decision to ignore the Scottish Government’s guidance to stay local and to go south was quite deliberate. I knew there would be far fewer people in the countryside…
Yesterday the Scottish Government formally announced its proposals for Phase 1 of its Route Map out of the Covid-19 lockdown. The proposals involve relaxing controls over activities that take place in the outdoors so long as people stay apart: working outdoors, meeting people outdoors and outdoor recreation. While parts of the guidance are excellent and…