Highland Wild Walks

05/08/2025

Beinn Eighe....Monday 11th August....winds permitting!!!

3 places remaining

21/07/2025

Navigation training....learn how to get the most out of the information on your maps, take a compass bearing, find out about contours.......find out how to not get lost!

Do you want to free yourself from following someone else's route line on your phone? Plan your own adventures?

Next block of 3 sessions Navigation Training runs in August, 12th, 20th and 26th, 16.30-19.30.
£100

Get in touch if you are interested.

20/07/2025

Upcoming walk....Ben More Assynt and Conival, Sunday 27/7/25
3 places remaining, £50 per person

I'm really hoping the winds stay calm for this walk!

23/06/2025

Another cold, and very windy one today...and only one photo! The winds were far too strong to head up onto Cairngorm which was my client's original request, so we went for another challenge - a circuit through the Chalamain Gap, which is a short but tricky boulder field for the uninitiated. My client has a visual impairment but is very fit and strong on the hill, and she absolutely aced the CG.
We were very entertained by a dog who said he would rather be home on the sofa than doing this hillwalking malarkey, and enjoyed meeting some Outdoor Access Trust volunteers repairing the Lairig Ghru path 🙏

This Friday I have a planned walk going up 2 of the Loch Mullardoch Munros, Sgurr na Lapaich and Carn Nan Gobhar...if the winds allow. I have 3 places remaining, so please get in touch if you would like to come.

20/06/2025

Jings....that was cold! It might seem a funny thing to say when it's been warm, and today is very warm, but when I left home 2 days ago I thought maybe I'd over packed clothing for an ascent of Canisp with a returning client. I was hot in my merino base layer and mid weight trousers. But the helpful Met office mountain forecast was saying "feels like" temperatures of just above freezing....and they were spot on. By the summit I had on my merino base layer, a mid weight fleece layer, a windproof (most useful item of clothing I own), primaloft duvet jacket, waterproof shell, woolly hat and gloves. And I didn't want to hang around too long even with all that on.

It's always a fine line taking enough clothing, but not weighing yourself down unnecessarily. The Met office mountain forecast (in the specialist forecasts section) has a "feels like" temperature chart which is well worth looking at when planning your day in the hills.

Despite the cold wind, we timed our day perfectly to arrive at the summit just as the cloud was lifting and were treated to spectacular views of Suilven and the other Assynt hills - such a special area.

01/06/2025

A whole new meaning to tree hugging

Coco on day 3 hillwalking

A Lochan above Glen Feshie

The things we get to see on a navigation training day 😍

30/05/2025

One of these ladies enjoyed her paddle across the river so much she made everyone go back in for a photo 😁. TBF, it was lovely and refreshing on our walk today from Dorback to Glenmore, exploring one of the great meltwater channels from the glacial era, and the beautiful Abernethy pine woods, before coming to Ryvoan bothy and An Lochan Uaine (the Green Loch).

Did you know in Gaelic, the colour Uaine, often translated as green, really means that bright, turquoisey, almost unnatural colour.

22/05/2025

Highland Wild Walks goes urban!

A longed for visit to Chelsea Flower Show finally happened, with the company of my cousin. Delighted to find out that the Down's Syndrome Scotland garden in the first 2 pics was the brainchild of the amazing Eddie McConnell, twin brother of Frank. They won a SilverGilt medal, so we took them some Tunnocks Caramel Logs as a prize from Scotland, as we thought they were the best!

Please vote for them in the People's Choice vote in the Small Garden Section. https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/rhs-peoples-choice-award

These votes are incredibly important in raising the profile of the organisation which does so much to help people with Down's Syndrome reach their potential.

18/05/2025

Ok, I know I'm a bit weird, but I just love a ploughing boulder. Delighted to come across a new one to me on day 2 of Gaelic landscape learning with . Also an amazing patch of 'Devils matchsticks' lichen. Learning lots!
Day 1 was Seana Bhràigh, we used the northern approach to this stunning Munro, which shows off the mountain's best features. To my mind, the more commonly used approach from the Ullapool road does this amazing remote mountain a disservice, with a high level approach across fairly featureless ground, with no sense of the enormous cliffs and corries on its northern side.

15/05/2025

Sometimes it's nice to go to the hills, but not to the tops. Today was one of those days, a trip into the remote Loch an Nid to do a bird survey.

Lochs like mirrors

You've got to love a hill that provides a pavement 😉

It would have been rude not to dip in this pool, first one of the season

And first orchid of the season too

All the 'worts'...milkwort, lousewort, butterwort.

14/05/2025

Fancy learning some Gaelic hill and nature phrases? Come along to this short, low level walk on Sunday 18/5/25 near Bonar Bridge

Join us for an accessible guided Gaelic landscape walk in Sutherland.

13/05/2025

What an entertaining day today...we caught the first train to Achnasheen, which was FULL of Americans...it broke down at Garve. While waiting for the next train we met a friend who decided to join us on our walk through to the end of Strathconon following an ancient track predating the Battle of Culloden...and what glorious weather! It was lovely to paddle in the loch at Scardroy at the end of the walk.
The dogs had lots of cuddles from Americans missing their own dogs 😍 and treats from a lady from Achanalt.