West Highland Way Round

Delighted to announce the publication of my latest title for Kindle and Kindle apps – West Highland Way Round.

The ebook describes a 99km circular walking trail through the Scottish Highlands, starting and finishing in Glen Nevis, near the UK’s outdoor capital, Fort William.

The route follows the existing West Highland Way between Fort William, Kinlochleven and King’s House before heading east to join the ancient Road to the Isles at Rannoch Station. From there it heads north to Corrour Station before roaming through wild, uninhabited glens. Read more…

Ghosts of Barlinnie

Ten Men – 10 Murder Trials – 10 Executions
By James Carron

Ten men each took eight steps across the gallery of Barlinnie Prison’s D-Hall, a final short walk from the grim confines of the condemned cell to the scaffold. Their time had finally come. Convicted of capital murder, each man faced the ultimate punishment – death by judicial hanging. Their crimes ranged from gangland slayings to multiple killings. The legal process exhausted and all bids for clemency rejected, the hangman’s noose was primed and ready to despatch swift justice.

This book explores the lives and crimes of the 10 men hanged at Barlinnie between 1946 and 1960. They were John Lyon, Patrick Carraher, John Caldwell, Paul Christopher Harris, James Ronald Robertson, James Smith, Patrick Deveney, George Francis Shaw, Peter Manuel and Anthony Miller. It follows the path each man took to murder, examines the evidence against them and the defences deployed and charts their final days incarcerated within the condemned cell at Barlinnie.

Buy this book for Amazon Kindle

Beaten by the Moor

My bid to cross Rannoch Moor on foot did not quite go according to plan. Setting off from Bridge of Orchy, I intended to follow the West Highland Way via Inveroran to King’s House.

After a night there, I planned to take the track to Black Corries Lodge and then continue to Rannoch Station via Loch Laidon. The final leg of my journey was to follow the Road to the Isles to Corrour Station from where I would catch the train back to Bridge of Orchy.

Despite heavy rain and lashing winds, and an overwhelming urge to call the whole thing quits at Inveroran, I made it, albeit saturated, to King’s House where I spent a very pleasant night. Read more…

Scotland Outdoors – Rannoch Moor

Check out the Spring 2011 issue of the excellent Scotland Outdoors magazine (published March 7) for an article I wrote on Rannoch Moor. The piece is a portrait of this, a true area of wilderness.

Having written and filed the feature, I was inspired to explore the moor some more and I set off tomorrow to hike from Bridge of Orchy to Corrour. While crossing the moor itself is, due to the terrain, a virtually impossible task, I plan to follow the West Highland Way from Bridge of Orchy to Kings House, where I will spend my first night.

I will then follow the track east to Rannoch Station, skirting the edge of the moor, and pick up the old Road to the Isles for the final leg to Corrour via Loch Ossian. Fingers crossed for good weather and three days of excellent walking!

 

Scotland Quarterly Magazine

Scotland Quarterly is a new Scottish general interest e-magazine, covering Scotland past, present and future, focussing on the people, places, history, wildlife, nature, conservation and countryside of a nation. Published quarterly, features in the first issue, include:

Edward de Gernier – The man who brought chips to Scotland

McAlpine and the Moor – The story of how an intrepid party of railway surveyors, including one of Scotland’s most celebrated entrepreneurs, survived a winter’s night trapped on Rannoch Moor

Quake Centre – The story of Earthquake House, near Comrie

Reindeer Man – A conservation success story in the Cairngorms

Cowal’s Ghost Town – The soulless settlement of Pollphail, built to house oil workers in the 1970s but never occupied, faces an uncertain future

Lost Island Railways – Tracking down Skye’s railway history

Plus we feature a walk from Kinlochleven to the Blackwater Dam, tips on staying in mountain bothies, a short profile of Corgarff Castle and reviews of new Scottish ebooks.

Available exclusively from the Amazon Kindle Store, priced £1.06. Click here to find out more…

Welcome…

Welcome to my new blog. Just starting out on this one but if you click on the Walks link above you will find a couple of routes.

This is just a taste of what is to come. A selection of my favourite walks and outdoor adventures in Scotland and overseas along with some news, reviews and other snippets will follow soon…