Storms and construction work While my own walk round Cairn Gorm on my week in Speyside was affected by a heavy shower (see here) , I hate to think what might have happened had the torrential downpours which occurred in Grantown and Glen Banchor a few days before before (see here) had hit the mountain….
Tag: hill tracks
Late last Friday afternoon I went for a walk up Glen Banchor and over Creag Liath, via the track by the Allt Fionndrigh. The track featured on Parkswatch 18 months ago due to the Glen Banchor and Pitmain estate’s plans to extend it for the purposes of grouse moor management (see here). All the ground…
Following my post on the failed restoration of the Beauly Denny powerline access tracks (see here), someone asked on twitter “how would you have done this differently”? The answer lies just over the hill on the southern face of Carn Dearg Mor above Glen Feshie. There, Wild Land Ltd is in the process of removing…
On Sunday evening I went up to take a look at Cairn Gorm, the first time since the repair of the funicular started. I got a photo of the construction (see here) of the tube slides before the rain started. The steel support structure for the slides, referred to in the planning application, appear to…
This post examines the need to elect politicians to the next Scottish Parliament who are committed to land reform legislation. It notes the loss of experienced land reformers and the need to replace them with others who have equal enthusiasm for land reform. It provides examples of recent difficulties including serious misunderstandings within VisitScotland of…
Last week, in my first visit to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park for months, I went for a walk over the hills to the west of Lochgoilhead. The scenery above 2000ft is fantastic, wild and unspoilt and there are places where you feel you are in a landscape worthy of a National Park…
In August 2019 the Glen Ample Estate submitted a Prior Notification to widen a section of the core path through the glen for forestry purposes. The core path forms part of the popular walking route from Loch Lubnaig to Beinn Each and the Munro, Stuc a Chroin. The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority…
Following my second post (see here) on the Inverardran forest road near Crianlarch, Mary Jack sent me a list of all the prior notifications for forest roads considered by Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) last year and their decision in each case. This post considers what that list (see here) tells us…
Snow enhances the beauty of our hills but it can also highlight the destructive impact that human developments have on the natural landscape. The hydro path, picked out by the snow, has disfigured Gleann Casaig and destroyed the sense of wildness in the Ben More and Ben Ledi wild land area. Once, from viewpoints on…
On 6th September, a couple of days before my post More forestry shenanigans – the recently constructed road in upper Glen Falloch, I had written to the Director of Planning at the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority asking him to clarify when the track was built and out of what materials. I received…
The problem with the Scottish Government’s response to the Werritty Review (see here), which I blogged about almost a year ago (see here), is that fails to tackle the central issue, the intensification of moorland management in order to produce more grouse for shooting. The conversion of Scotland’s moors into vast farms for grouse is…
On 3rd November Highlands and Islands Enterprise announced that work to repair the funicular had started (see here). A large number of planning documents were published on the Cairngorms National Park Authority Planning portal the week before (see here). Among these is a timetable for the works: It would appear work has commenced two months late. …
In October I went for a walk over Brown Cow Hill on the Delnadamph Estate, which was bought by the Queen in 1978 and gifted to Prince Charles on his marriage to Diana. I had not been for many years but was keen to see how the estate was being managed given Prince Charles’ role…
It is hard to know whether to be inspired or depressed by the battle over vehicular use of “green lanes” which I touched on a year ago in post comparing what was going on in the Lake District National Park and the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park (see here) The latest newsletter of…
On Saturday I walked up the Strone road as part of a round of the Monadliath. It is almost three years since I first blogged about the “improvements” that were being carried out on this road and considered the implications for the planning system (see here). The Cairngorms National Park Authority, to their credit, then…
When I went up upper Glen Falloch on 8th August to look at the hydro intake (see here), I spotted a new forestry road on the far side of the river. This appears to be in the exact same location as a road which was notified to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority…
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…
Following the planning application to repair the funicular (see here), Highlands and Island Enterprise have submitted another two Planning Applications at Cairn Gorm. These indicate that HIE intend to submit no less than six further applications in the short-term. This post explains what is going on and takes a critical look at the new applications…
This post takes a look at the scope of Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s planning application (see here for papers) to repair the funicular, its proposals for accessing the areas where they say work is required and the impact that this will have on the natural environment. The scope of the Planning Application Graham Garfoot’s post (see…
Yesterday, I enjoyed a ski tour up Sgairneach Mhor in the Drumochter Hills, accessed by the track up Coire Dhomhain and a bridge over the river. Unlike many tracks in the Drumochter Hills, this one is old and appears on the 1981 OS Second Series 1:50,000 map. The steeper sections, however, have been badly eroded…
Following yesterday’s post Spreading misinformation about Glen Feshie and access in the Cairngorms National Park I have been sent two photos. The first (above), was sent from Roy Turnbull of the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group to illustrate his comment on my post: “Not only is there now (of course) no restriction of access in…
Preparatory work for the seven hydro schemes which Highland Council approved with conditions last March has now started. There are two separate pieces of work, one to upgrade the powerline in the glen, the other to upgrade the road so that construction traffic can use it without blocking visitors from the glen. Meantime the revised…
It seems that the Cairngorms National Park Authority Enforcement Notice against the Glen Clova hotel hill road (see here) has had some effect because at the end of November the Estate notified Angus Council of their intention to construct a new forestry road (see here for planning papers). Not only that, but the Prior Notification papers…
In December the LINK hill tracks group revealed that the owner of the Glen Clova estate, Mr Hugh Niven, has appealed to the Scottish Government against the enforcement notice which the Cairngorms National Park Authority issued against the new hill road by the Clova hotel (see here) and (here): “It is deeply frustrating that a…
I was pleased to get this letter on Scottish Power’s plans to cover land around their windfarms with solar panels into the Herald the weekend before last . While our two National Parks may have no windfarms within their boundaries, the broader issue, the impact of renewable energy developments on the carbon held in soils,…