through the day and carry a spare warm layer and a bivvy bag or group shelter for unforeseen stationary periods.
River crossing
Runoff from large areas of high ground may channel into a single water course lower down. As the hills drain during thaws or heavy rainfall, the level of burns and rivers can rise dramatically. After a rainy day’s walk a trickle that was crossed with a simple hop from rock to rock that morning might have risen to a torrent. On meeting a swollen river, a long tiring detour to a safer crossing point is preferable to an accident.
Treat fast-flowing water greater than knee depth with circumspection. If you’re intent on crossing, never do so immediately upstream of waterfalls or boulders into which you might be swept. Ensure that spare dry clothes and other essentials are sealed in a waterproof bag; undo hip and chest straps so that your rucksack doesn’t drag you under. Wear boots or shoes to protect feet from rolling rocks (a pair of ‘Crocs’ or lightweight trainers can be carried for this purpose). Crossing tactics vary, from linking arms in a mutually supportive team shuffle (largest body upstream) to a no-holds-barred diagonal downstream dash (not recommended). A rope can in theory be used, although done badly it’s a sure way to drown your friends. If things have got to this stage, it’s probably better to think again.
Crossing the Abhainn Gleann na Muice below An Teallach (Walks 9 and 10) – the following day this was waist deep and impassable
Biting beasties
Midges (midgies) are the bane of the Highlands. In season these blood-sucking pests swarm wherever there are bogs and lush vegetation (in other words, most places), their tininess more than compensated for by strength in inconceivable numbers. Some people react worse than others to their bites, which can itch for days, but nobody reacts well to the maddening onslaught, the skin-crawling torment of being relentlessly feasted upon en masse. Who could stand still and stoic in the face of a midge cloud? Perhaps this explains the origin of the Highland fling.
Summer is midge high season, with a spike in July and August, but it is the weather that really dictates their numbers. Warm wet conditions suit them best, while strong sunlight or a slight breeze both tend to keep them at bay. Sheltered hollows in the hours around dawn and dusk are to be avoided at all costs. Lotions and potions may have a placebo effect on the wearer, but nothing short of napalm can really quell a midge’s fervour. Invest in a head net, tuck trousers into socks, and think twice before camping in the glens in summer.
Horse flies (clegs) may be less numerous, but they inflict more painful bites. On balance these vicious delinquents are perhaps preferable to the midge hordes, but only just.
When walking through vegetation, particularly in steamy summer glens in areas with high sheep or deer numbers, consider the tick. These tiny crab-like blood suckers are hard to spot, and their bites painless. They latch onto a human or animal host by burrowing into the skin and may remain attached for many days slowly feeding and expanding.
While their parasitic tendencies are a cause of squeamishness, the major concern is that ticks can carry and transmit Lyme Disease, among other nasties. This debilitating condition may go unrecognised and untreated, although it is thought that cases are increasing in the UK. Early symptoms that may develop within weeks include tiredness, fever, muscle or joint pain and a characteristic bull’s-eye rash at the site of the bite. Long-term effects are nastier still – recurrent arthritis, nervous system disorders, memory problems, meningitis and heart arrhythmia.
Lyme Disease can be treated, but only if identified early. But here’s the catch. Knowledge of tick-borne diseases is not generally good in medical circles, so if there’s reason to suspect a case you may have to be proactive about getting tested and treated.
Avoidance is the best cure. Try not to loll about in thick vegetation; walk in the middle of paths to avoid brushing past bushes; tuck trousers into socks or wear gaiters; consider treating your clothing with insect repellent. After a day out it’s worth having a rummage through clothing (ticks show up best against light colours), and thoroughly examining yourself – particularly armpits, neck, head and groin. Once engorged with blood their presence is more likely to be felt, but removing a well-established tick takes some deftness (see Lyme Disease Action, Appendix 4).
Access – the legal situation
Scotland enjoys some of the most liberal access legislation in the world. Since the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 a principle of unfettered public access to the countryside has been enshrined in law, but that right comes bound up with responsibility. The Scottish Outdoor Access Code provides guidance both for those exercising their rights and for land managers. Provided walkers behave responsibly they are free to roam at will over all open ground, forests, rivers and lochs, at any time of day or night, while pre-established public rights of way continue to exist as before.
However walkers cannot just trample absolutely everywhere. While the grounds or ‘policies’ of large estate houses are generally accessible, the garden immediately adjacent to any private house is quite reasonably deemed off limits; so too are farmyards, industrial sites, paying visitor attractions and fields planted with crops. ‘Responsible behaviour’ means, among other things, treating the environment and wildlife with care, leaving no litter, respecting the needs and privacy of those who live and work on the land, taking pains not to obstruct activities such as farming and stalking, damaging no fences or walls, abiding by reasonable detours suggested by those felling trees or shooting things, and keeping dogs under strict control near livestock or ground-nesting birds.
The Skye Cuillin (Walk 47) from Loch Scresort, Rum (Walk 46) – Rum’s midges are renowned for their ferocity
Left to right – Beinn Eighe (Walk 11) and Spidean a’ Choire Leith from Mullach an Rathain (Walk 12). Torridon has not (yet) been deemed worthy of National Park status.
If carried out in the spirit of the law wild camping is permitted more or less everywhere, except one small area beside Loch Lomond, where at the time of going to print local seasonal bylaws are in force. There are no rights to hunt, fish or use motorised vehicles under access legislation. In other words, common sense and courtesy go a long way.
The annual red deer stag stalking season runs from 1 July to 20 October, generally increasing in intensity as the season progresses. Stalking activities rarely if ever encompass an entire range at once, and estates should be able to suggest alternative routes that avoid areas of activity. In many cases estates post details of their movements at popular access points to the hills, while the most enlightened are members of the Hillphones scheme, which provides daily pre-recorded telephone messages (see Appendix 4). Often, however, it is necessary to phone an individual estate in person (the Hillphones service is the best source for contact numbers) – either that or take pot luck on the day.
The hill environment
The big issues
Scotland’s uplands are a priceless resource that few European countries are fortunate to match – places of great symbolic, recreational and (dare I say it) spiritual significance that can be enjoyed by all. But the industrialisation of this environment continues apace. The preservation of wild places lies further down the political agenda than the rush to renewables, a policy imbalance that can have regrettable results. According to Scottish Natural Heritage the area in Scotland unaffected by visual intrusion from built development decreased from 41 to 31 per cent between 2002 and 2008, an ongoing trend for which wind farm development is largely
