Stefan Durkacz

This is the last of the Christmas holiday write-ups. I did the walk before Hogmanay but cleverly forgot to charge my DSLR camera's battery. It was a great day for photos though. Figuring something is better than nothing, I used my six-year-old mobile phone instead - camera a whopping 2 megapixels! It took a while to find the lead to download the pictures. I didn't miss the weight and bulk of my usual camera though (a Sony A200). Nice pictures but a proper brick. For the big walk in May I'm starting to wonder if a smart phone with a top-notch camera might be better, as well as serving other purposes. To the walk, and this was a stolen day, taking advantage of a brief weather window, whilst staying with family in Glasgow. Heading west out of the city towards Greenock on the M8 always seems an odd approach to the hills. It's post-industrial central belt much of the way until the bigger houses and more genteel streets of Gourock. Then the Clyde estuary ends and the sea begi...

Sometimes you have to read between the lines to get the point. The Scottish Highlands aren't just a collection of isolated big-name mountain groups, an impression you can get if you stick to guidebooks and Munros. They are in fact a stupendous continuum. Between the constellations of Cairngorms, Nevis, Torridon and the rest, there is much dark matter: the unseen stuff that gives it weight and form and holds it all together. Imagine Dalwhinnie as the tip of a triangle. Follow the left-hand side down Loch Ericht to the bottom left corner around Rannoch Station. The base of the triangle follows lochs Rannoch and Tummel to the confluence of the Tummel and Garry rivers. Glen Garry and Drumochter form the right-hand side of the triangle. The topmost angle hosts a few Munros - the Drumochter group, popular of course but relatively unloved. Beyond these, there is some of the roughest, wildest and least-visited country in the Highlands. The forecast was for one good day - crisp, sunny, brig...

A respite. Wet and windy, but only intermittently wet and not quite blow-you-over windy. Plenty of cloud but shards of brightness make for dramatic conditions. Not wanting to drive too far but in need of a long walk, I headed for the Ochils. Ben Cleuch by the long scenic route, from Glen Devon. The first few miles follow tracks and trails through Woodland Trust property and commercial forestry to Glen Sherup and onto the ridge near Ben Shee. Yet again I saw a black grouse up here, this time flying low in an arc across the moor. Ben Shee North is upper Glen Devon. Wether Hill overlooks the lower reservoir. This hill is on the Tay catchment boundary. Up to Andrew Gannell Hill and the main prow of the Ochils, the crest of the great wave of upland rising sharply from the low lands around the Forth estuary. Right on cue the wind freshens and the clouds are torn away. Views open out to the south, fitfully and hesitantly. Kincardine and Clackmannanshire bridges beyond Gartmorn Dam Sunshine on...