Great Mountain Days in Scotland. Dan Bailey
catch. Knowledge of tick-borne diseases is not generally good in medical circles, so if there’s reason to suspect a case you may have to be proactive about getting tested and treated.
Avoidance is the best cure. Try not to loll about in thick vegetation; walk in the middle of paths to avoid brushing past bushes; tuck trousers into socks or wear gaiters; consider treating your clothing with insect repellent. After a day out it’s worth having a rummage through clothing (ticks show up best against light colours), and thoroughly examining yourself – particularly armpits, neck, head and groin. Once engorged with blood their presence is more likely to be felt, but removing a well-established tick takes some deftness (see Lyme Disease Action, Appendix 4).
Access – the legal situation
Scotland enjoys some of the most liberal access legislation in the world. Since the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 a principle of unfettered public access to the countryside has been enshrined in law, but that right comes bound up with responsibility. The Scottish Outdoor Access Code provides guidance both for those exercising their rights and for land managers. Provided walkers behave responsibly they are free to roam at will over all open ground, forests, rivers and lochs, at any time of day or night, while pre-established public rights of way continue to exist as before.
However walkers cannot just trample absolutely everywhere. While the grounds or ‘policies’ of large estate houses are generally accessible, the garden immediately adjacent to any private house is quite reasonably deemed off limits; so too are farmyards, industrial sites, paying visitor attractions and fields planted with crops. ‘Responsible behaviour’ means, among other things, treating the environment and wildlife with care, leaving no litter, respecting the needs and privacy of those who live and work on the land, taking pains not to obstruct activities such as farming and stalking, damaging no fences or walls, abiding by reasonable detours suggested by those felling trees or shooting things, and keeping dogs under strict control near livestock or ground-nesting birds.
The Skye Cuillin (Walk 47) from Loch Scresort, Rum (Walk 46) – Rum’s midges are renowned for their ferocity
Left to right – Beinn Eighe (Walk 11) and Spidean a’ Choire Leith from Mullach an Rathain (Walk 12). Torridon has not (yet) been deemed worthy of National Park status.
If carried out in the spirit of the law wild camping is permitted more or less everywhere, except one small area beside Loch Lomond, where at the time of going to print local seasonal bylaws are in force. There are no rights to hunt, fish or use motorised vehicles under access legislation. In other words, common sense and courtesy go a long way.
The annual red deer stag stalking season runs from 1 July to 20 October, generally increasing in intensity as the season progresses. Stalking activities rarely if ever encompass an entire range at once, and estates should be able to suggest alternative routes that avoid areas of activity. In many cases estates post details of their movements at popular access points to the hills, while the most enlightened are members of the Hillphones scheme, which provides daily pre-recorded telephone messages (see Appendix 4). Often, however, it is necessary to phone an individual estate in person (the Hillphones service is the best source for contact numbers) – either that or take pot luck on the day.
The hill environment
The big issues
Scotland’s uplands are a priceless resource that few European countries are fortunate to match – places of great symbolic, recreational and (dare I say it) spiritual significance that can be enjoyed by all. But the industrialisation of this environment continues apace. The preservation of wild places lies further down the political agenda than the rush to renewables, a policy imbalance that can have regrettable results. According to Scottish Natural Heritage the area in Scotland unaffected by visual intrusion from built development decreased from 41 to 31 per cent between 2002 and 2008, an ongoing trend for which wind farm development is largely responsible.
An insensitively sited wind farm will damage large areas of peat bog (a carbon store if left undisturbed), but wider than the physical footprint is its visual impact, a long-range intrusion that can reach far into otherwise unspoilt mountains. The value of wild land decreases in inverse proportion to the spread of industry, and wind farms now feature in the views from many of our most iconic peaks. In each case a little something has been lost. It seems likely that the current extent of development represents only a fraction of what’s to come.
Under a more responsible planning regime renewable energy and conservation of our best landscapes could coexist, but at present Scotland’s statutory landscape protection is a patchwork of inadequate designations, with only two national parks in the entire country (compare that to England’s ten). Strategy is needed at the national level for zoning industrial development, the presumption being to minimise its impact on core hill areas. No amount of ‘green’ energy will compensate for their continued degradation.
Industrialisation is just one conservation issue among many; another is vehicle tracks. Track construction with heavy machinery leaves scars miles long, damages peat, affects hydrology and compromises long term the wild quality of entire ranges. The spread of new tracks is effectively unchecked thanks to a planning loophole. Outside protected sites tracks can currently be built without planning consent or notification to the local authority if they are claimed to be for agricultural or forestry purposes. However, in many cases sporting estates seem to have other uses in mind, namely vehicle access for deer stalking and grouse shooting. It may be difficult for councils to distinguish between stated and actual purpose, and many tracks are so remote that the temptation may exist to ignore the issue. Left largely unchallenged, estates, self-styled custodians of the land, currently remain free to damage swathes of countryside that ought to be protected for the nation.
Only a minority of Scotland’s wild landscape is protected – the Cairngorms National Park is one of just two in the entire country; Carn Etchachan and Beinn Meadhoin from Coire an t-Sneachda (Walk 40)
A still more serious charge is often levelled against Scotland’s sporting estates – that they obstruct the regeneration of natural woodland. The reasoning is straightforward. Most estates are managed to maximise return from commercial stalking, and this requires plenty of deer. Dense deer populations mean overgrazing, the result being the traditional denuded Highland habitat or ‘green desert’. In contrast, public opinion increasingly favours the restoration of thriving natural habitats. Where deer are tightly controlled or excluded, native trees soon return – and with them biodiversity. Case closed?
Personal environmental impact
It would be hypocritical to rail about big issues without also examining the personal.
How should we travel to the hills, for instance, for minimum impact? Although little use for many hill areas, public transport remains a viable way to access some, and it’s worth considering by anyone serious about reducing their personal tyre print. Some walks in this book have been tailored with public transport in mind; see Getting Around, above, for more ideas.
Obligations don’t come to an end once we set foot on the hill; every walker has a small but significant impact on their treasured environment. Soil erosion is an ongoing problem in many areas, particularly on the popular Munros, where thousands of footfalls are concentrated on a few key paths. As overused path surfaces are reduced over time to rubble or deep mud the natural inclination is for walkers to follow firmer ground along the edges, trampling delicate upland vegetation that binds the soil. Where everyone does this, busy paths can spread into broad scars that become channels for surface runoff, further compounding the damage.
Seana Bhraigh from the Creag an Duine ridge (Walk 6)