Earlier this summer, my husband and I made an evening visit to the harbour at Dunbeath on our way back to Caithness after a day of appointments. In the preceding days, I had been reading Neil M. Gunn’s Highland River and wanted to reacquaint myself with the information boards on Gunn – who was born…
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This summer, I wrote a piece about living on the popular ‘North Coast 500’ route through the lens of my own experience as a resident of Caithness. Entitled ‘Poo, Potholes and Park-Ups – Why Highlanders are Tired of Scotland’s North Coast 500 Route,’ the article was probably more even-handed than the alliterated headline might suggest.…
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Last year, I wrote an article on the ‘summer of discontent’ on Scotland’s ‘North Coast 500’ road trip. As a resident on the route here in Caithness, I spent a lot of time writing about responsible travel and repeating the phrase ‘let’s hope things improve.’ A summer of littering, outdoor toileting and inconsiderate ‘wild camping’…
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As travel restrictions ease across Scotland, many people in the North Highlands are feeling nervous about the resumption of tourism. 2020 was a challenging year here in the far north, and memories of irresponsible camping, inconsiderate motorhome parking, and the litter and human waste left by a minority of visitors will be difficult to erase.…
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Exactly a year ago, on the Sunday before the UK entered lockdown, I was out walking with my son here in Caithness when a man pulled over in his car and rolled down the driver’s side window. He asked us where he could find a place to eat and have a cup of coffee. The…
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Since its inception in 2015, The North Coast 500 – the re-branding of an existing 516-mile loop around the North Highlands – has attracted visitors from all over the world, keen to experience the untamed beauty of this area of Scotland. Originally the brainchild of North Highland Initiative – a non-profit organisation set up by…
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There is a road I see from the front door of my home in Caithness that forms part of the North Coast 500. As kids, we knew it better as the road ‘up west’, a passage imbued with the promise of beaches, picnics and sand between our toes. These days, the route has a new title…
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Last Sunday we took a trip ‘up west’ to enjoy some unseasonably sunny February weather and sample some of the best beaches the North of Scotland has to offer. We are fortunate where we live to be able to reach something akin to a wilderness within a half hour or so of our front door. The…
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Welcome to this (slightly late) June instalment of ‘Life Within Four Corners’, where I share some of my favourite Instagram photos, and the stories that went along with them, from the preceding month. You can find out all about Life Within Four Corners here, and I’d love it if you joined in by sharing some of your favourite monthly…
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The North of Scotland is beautiful at any time of year, but Spring has to be one of the loveliest seasons in which to visit (and I freely admit, I’ll tell you that in Summer, Autumn and Wintertime aswell). I recently saw a sign in a local shop window saying ‘Spring is Nature’s Way of Saying…
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