Munro Moonwalker in Straloch for BOOKMARK
Journalist, author and ‘Moonwalker’ mountaineer, Alan Rowan will be appearing at the Straloch Garden Studio next Saturday as part of the BOOKMARK 2017 festival programme... writes Clare Damodaran.
The author of Moonwalker and A Mountain Before Breakfast, Alan is a self-declared “mountain fanatic” and is looking forward to coming to the heart of Cateran country to talk about his passion for Scotland’s mountains.
A journalist for more than 40 years, working in Dundee, Aberdeen and on a variety of national newspapers in Glasgow, Alan lives near Dundee and is now semi-retired, spending his time tramping Scotland’s hills and writing about the great outdoors for newspapers and magazines.
He has climbed the Munros three times, as well as the Corbetts and all the 3000-foot peaks in England, Ireland and Wales, many of them during the wee, small hours before or after his shifts working on newspapers.
And Alan is currently closing in on a fourth round of Munros as well as ticking off the Grahams and Donalds.
His first book, Moonwalker, is a unique story of a man whose love of Scotland’s mountains overrides his bodyclock and all conventional notions of health and safety, ascending mountains in the middle of the night, seeing the sunrise and then coming down the mountain as everyone else was going up.
The follow-up, A Mountain Before Breakfast, details Alan’s adventures climbing the Corbetts.
Speaking to the Blairie at the launch of the BOOKMARK programme, Alan said: “I go up to the hills quite a lot and Blairgowrie is always a great place to come and visit.
“Straloch is a lovely little venue in the heart of the mountains and I am delighted to have been asked to appear as part of the BOOKMARK festival.
“There’s going to be an exclusively shot film showing lots of tales from the books, which cover around 15 years of night-walking, which I hope people will enjoy.”
Alan will be appearing at the Straloch Garden Studio on Saturday, September 9, at 3pm as part of the popular Blairgowrie, Rattray and the Glens literary event.
Tickets for this event cost £7 are available from Blairgowrie Library, telephone 01250 871305, the membership secretary on 01250 875613 or www.bookmarkblair.com.
I am delighted to have been asked to appear as part of the BOOKMARK festival