The predictable happened yesterday, the strong south east winds blowing across Cairn Gorm deposited large quantities of snow in the lee of the entrance to the tunnel at the top of the funicular blocking it. It took considerable efforts on the part of at least four CairnGorm Mountain staff working with shovels (see here) to…
Tag: outdoor recreation
I had intended to include two more photos in my recent post on Coire Coire Chuilc (see here) to illustrate just how daft some managers who claim to be conservationists are when it comes to managing access. While walking through Coille Coire Chuilc, having ignored the exhortation from the Auchreoch Estate’s ” Pines and Wildlife…
On 24th June the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) launched an “informal” consultation on its initial proposals to amend the core path plan it agreed ten years ago, in 2015 (see here). The consultation, which closes on 31st August, consists (see here) of an interactive map, showing existing core paths with proposed additions and removals, and…
I have not blogged for almost a month because I have been away in Italy walking the northern half of the Grande Traversata delle Alpi, the Italian equivalent of the GR5 in France – which I wrote about a couple of year ago (see here), (here), and (here) – but longer. Apart from my partner who joined…
It is over six months since I blogged about how the crisis facing commercial forestry interests at Stobo Hope in the Borders (see here). Since then a successful judicial review by the Stobo Residents Action Group has forced Scottish Forestry, the public agency responsible for regulating forestry and distributing grants, to cancel the £2m grant…
[Ed’s note. My apologies to Felicity Martin who wrote this briefing on the Glen Lednock windfarm application for Parkswatch 10 days ago but which I managed to miss while away. (I have added the illustrations from the planning application). Felicity wrote a piece on Oxygen Conservation and Glen Lednock in April which complements what she has written…
Before the start of the 2023/24 ski season “loyal customers”, i.e. skiers and boarders, were sent an email by Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE)’s subsidiary Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) offering season passes with early bird discounts and the additional benefit of funicular access until November 2024 – an extended ski season perhaps! Susan Smith, then CEO…
I spotted this sign on my return from walking over Ben Ledi last week (see here). While we walked round the locked gate easily enough and most cyclists could too, it would be a different matter for anyone in a wheelchair or riding a horse who wants to enjoy the extensive network of forest tracks in…
On Tuesday I went with friends who were staying for a walk over Ben Ledi, a chance to consider further how Forest and Land Scotland (FLS) are managing the land they own in Strathyre (see here) from a recreational perspective. Ben Ledi is one of the most accessible and popular hills and people were…
Had this appeared three days earlier I might have thought this was an April fool except the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) doesn’t do humour. There were lots of comments like the one above (see here) on this announcement but such feedback, which shows what the public really think, is never publicly…
On Wednesday the Helensburgh Advertiser ran a story stating that Kirsty Young’s proposal to build a luxury lodge on Inchconnachan, the island on Loch Lomond best known for its wallabies, had been approved (see here). While technically correct this was misleading as the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA)’s planning committee approved…
A parkswatch reader recently sent me this photo of an unattractive development on the bonnie banks The two new lodges were originally granted planning permission by Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) planning staff in April 2018 with work required to commence within three years (see here for planning papers). The planning deadline…
[This post was updated 21.00hrs 2nd December after a reader clarified FLS owns the bridge] Following my post on the replacement bridges at Bracklinn Falls and the West Highland Way (see here) Alannah Maurer sent me some photos of a path and bridge over the Croe Water at Ardgartan which has been blocked off since…
What is sustainable development in Scotland’s National Parks? The case of the Bracklinn Falls bridge
This week the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) announced (see here) it had won international award for the replacement bridge over the Bracklinn Falls above Callander, a story which was widely covered in the media. The news release claimed that “a bridge has existed here since at least the early 18th century”…
After the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 was passed the days of sporting estate landowners trying to impose blanket restrictions on access across swathes of the countryside in the name of deer stalking should have ended. Unfortunately this sign shows that that practice, now unlawful, continues 20 years on. The red and green colours say…
This is the view that the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) planners didn’t want people to enjoy. In August 2021 LLTNPA planning officers recommended a planning application from the Sir Walter Scott Steamship Trust to erect a viewing tower accessed by 188m of path throught the oakwoods above Trossachs Pier be refused….
This is a fuller version of a story in Scottish Mountaineer this autumn, which takes its cue from the long-running “New Twists for Old Hills” series there. The literal ‘shafting’ is the driving of miles of tunnels through the Ardverikie Munros, linking hugely enlarged lochs for a Pumped Storage Hydro (PSH) scheme known simply and…
Despite a huge budget, hubris threatens to make the Shared Rural Network (SRN) a wasted opportunity for rural communities with inadequate mobile coverage. Without bothering to ask communities what was needed, the SRN set itself this target: To bring 4G coverage, from at least one operator, to 95%of UK land area. To achieve this area…
It occurred to me that those of us who speak out against phone masts in Wild Land areas [Ed. see previous posts in this series] need to get out the fact that there are alternatives to mobile phones – not just coming alternatives, but here-and-now alternatives, some of which have been around for decades. The…
After a number of FOI requests, Rob Edwards revealed in an excellent article in the Ferret on 18th January (see here) that officials at Historic and Environment Scotland (HES) had been considering trying to close the Radical Rd below Salisbury Crags in Edinburgh permanently. While shocking, that was hardly surprising. Having fenced off access for…
On 25th January, Network Rail announced it was extending the platforms on eight stations along the West Highland Line by 15m at a cost of £1.7m to allow trains to run with an extra carriage (see here). The purpose of this investment is to help meet increasing passenger demand and enable the trains to carry…
By happy timing, John Urquhart’s agenda article for the Herald on the end of funding for the A82/A83 litter bins and loos (which might be easier to read here) appeared two days before the meeting on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) on Monday. There is nothing in the papers for…
Rather like with telecommunications masts (see here), a number of organisations have come together to try and persuade Historic and Environment Scotland (HES) to re-open the Radical Road in Edinburgh which was closed after rockfall in September 2018. After a series of meetings with HES in 2022, the organisations were given the impression that the…
Yet another planning application for a telecommunication mast has appeared (see here), this time in the heart of Torridon on land owned by the National Trust for Scotland. This is a National Scenic Area, a Wild Land Area and the walk through from Glen Torridon to Loch Torridon one of the finest in Scotland. One…
The UK Government, landowners and telecommunications masts – the landscape and environmental impacts
Who benefits from the telecommunication masts? The spate of new telecommunications masts which, as George Allan from the North East Mountain Trust explained on Monday (see here), threaten some of Scotland’s finest landscapes are intended to eliminate “total not spots”. They form part of the Shared Rural Network programme and are being funded by…