for walking in Scotland – it can be great during any season. Generally speaking, mid-winter (January to March) will give very hard conditions with most routes snow-bound – but snow-holing instead of camping can be fun. April to June is a really good time to be in the Highlands, as the weather is often at its best then, and there are few midges, whereas July and August can be very hot and wet, and the midges are at their peak. September to December is also a very good time for a backpacking trip, and most of the midges will have gone to ground by then, but remember that you will have fewer hours of daylight in which to walk, and more time will be spent brewing up tea in tents or bothies!
Each route in the guide begins with an information box. This give details of the number of days needed, distances, height gain, and where to start and finish the walk. The Ordnance Survey Landranger maps you will need along the way are also included in this box. (Explorer maps are not necessary for backpacking in Scotland, as the extra detail given on them often doesn’t apply up here.)
For each route there is also an Area Summary and a Route Summary, followed by a box giving details of Tourist Information, Transport, Getting Around, Accommodation and Supplies and Escape Routes.
Note The sketch maps that illustrate each route are intended only as a rough guide – it is essential to take with you the relevant map.
Throughout the book incidental descriptive text is distinguished from the route directions, and place names from the sketch maps are highlighted in bold type to aid orientation.
Getting Around and Accommodation
The Scottish Tourist Board is a mine of information when it comes to planning trips into the hills – I really couldn’t have done without their help! Their website is useful for booking accommodation, as well as giving transport information – www.visitscotland.com (see Appendix 1, Useful Addresses).
Accommodation needs to be planned, and often booked, ahead. You will find anything from a simple campsite, to hostels, bed and breakfasts, guest houses, hotels, self-catering cottages and even castles, by contacting the Scottish Tourist Board. Accommodation is plentiful for most of the year, but be aware that many providers close for the winter season – from October to March – and checking ahead is essential during this time.
For most of the routes in this book it is definitely easier if you have your own car, but public transport is possible for many of them – details are given in the Route Information box at the start of each walk, and the Scottish Tourist Board can also give details of individual bus, ferry and flight companies.
Safety in the Hills
Great tomes have been written on this subject, and readers are referred to the specialist books suggested in the bibliography in Appendix 2, but for the most part, common sense is the main requirement. By this I simply mean going into the hills well equipped for the task in hand, both in terms of taking the right gear with you, and having the necessary navigation skills to accurately find your way in all weathers.
Many people stress the importance of leaving written word with a responsible party before heading off into the hills, and this is very good advice for those new to hillwalking, but for me, one of the real joys of hillwalking, and backpacking in particular, is the freedom it gives, including the liberty to change plans if, for instance, you have found the going easier than expected, or the weather has improved and you find yourself wanting to extend your stay in the mountains. This is not possible, and should certainly never be considered, if written word of your intentions has been left. The choice is up to the individual, and generally the best advice is to leave a route card, but if you do this you must stick to it rigidly. Obviously, if you choose not to leave a route card, you will be very much on your own should an accident occur.
A backpacker crosses a river on the way to Suilven (Walk 10)
Some of the hazards that you need to be aware of in the Scottish mountains are:
river crossings
cliffs
snow fields at certain times of year.
Rivers can rise and fall quickly in the Highlands, and people do die trying to cross them when in spate. Not all river crossings are by bridge – shallow water can be crossed quite easily by keeping your boots on (to avoid your feet being crushed by moving boulders or cut on sharp rocks) and facing upstream. However, if in any doubt at all, either find a way around, or camp and wait for the water level to go down.
Many of the routes in this book take you along narrow ridges and the tops of cliffs. The dangers here are obvious, but be aware that carrying a large backpack means that you will not be as agile as normal.
Any scrambles on rock included in the routes can be avoided by using the alternative route that is always given.
In spring there are often large areas of snow to cross, and carrying an ice axe and crampons is the sensible way to travel safely at this time (and it is of course essential that you know how to use them properly).
In an emergency, mark the position of the injured person on your map, then get to the nearest landline phone and call 999. Ask for the police and tell them you need a mountain rescue. The rescue team will come to the phone you are at and use your map to locate the injured person.
Hillwalkers on Mealaisbhal (Walk 5)
There’s some superb ridge walking above Glen Affric (Walk 20)
Mobile phone coverage is poor in Northern Scotland. If you do have a signal, emergency services can be contacted on 999, or you can use the international emergency code 112. It is also possible to call the nearest police station direct, if you key in the phone number beforehand.
Navigation
This is a subject that gets many people very flummoxed, and even some hillgoers who claim to have mastered it would struggle, should push come to shove. It is beyond the scope of this book to go into detail on this fascinating art, and it is hoped that anyone without navigation skills who is planning to head off into the hills would first book themselves onto a navigation course organised by professionals, or at least read a good book on the subject (see Appendix 2). Having said that, a few very general pointers are as follows.
The main skill to master is that of setting the map. To oversimplify things, it is perhaps best to point out that the top of all OS maps is grid north, and the red directional needle (the one that turns in the compass housing) points to magnetic north. It is an easy matter to place the compass on the map and turn the map around until this needle is pointing to the top of the map. This will then set the map in line with all the features on the ground – walls, fences, streams, hills – so that everything on the map is then in line with its corresponding ground feature. This is actually slightly flawed, as grid north and magnetic north are not exactly the same. Basically, the compass currently points slightly west of grid north. To correct you should add the difference as shown on the key on the edge of the map, but be aware that this magnetic variation changes slightly each year, and also varies according to whereabouts you are.
To measure distances on the map you need to know the scale – usually either 1:50,000 (OS Landranger maps) or 1:25,000 (OS Explorer, Outdoor Leisure and Pathfinder maps, and Harvey’s Superwalker
