On The Doorstep

AS Covid-19 lockdown restrictions ease, life feels like it’s returning to something resembling normal. We can travel, see family and friends, and many shops and businesses are open – but it’ll be a long time before things returns to the way they once were.

And, of course, life will never be the same for the many thousands who have lost loved ones, been seriously ill, or have seen their livelihoods disappear because of the pandemic.

We might be able to travel for leisure pretty much as we like now, but I still haven’t ventured far. One of the reasons is that I’ve appreciated exploring what’s on my doorstep.

As The Scots Magazine editor and with interests like hillwalking and climbing, I’ve been lucky to explore much of Scotland. It amazes me, though, that there are so many places within a few miles of my home to which I still haven’t been.

Recently, I climbed the wee hill Carleatheran. It’s in the Gargunnock hills – I can practically see it from my house. I’ve climbed all the Munros, half the Corbetts – hundreds of hills and mountains – and yet here was a hill I’ve seen almost every day and I hadn’t been up it.

At less than 500m high, it’s a bit of a rounded lump. And being part of the Campsies I guessed it’d be pretty boggy. I didn’t expect much. But it was amazing. Just an hour and a half to the summit, topped by an ancient burial cairn thought to date from the Bronze Age.

It must have been someone special to the tribe to have been buried there. The view is magical.

In fact, if you wanted one place to take a visitor to show them “Scotland”, you could do worse. The vista stretches from Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh and the Forth Bridges, through Stirling and the great range of hills that mark the edge of the Highlands – Ben Ledi, Ben More, Stob Binnein, and Cruach Ardrain – out to Loch Lomond, the Ben, Arrochar Alps and the West Highlands beyond.

It was stunning – and left me wondering what else I’ve overlooked in my own back garden.