Are you “Hill Fit?”

There have been countless articles written on outdoor blogs about ways to reduce your pack-weight. There is the popular slogan “Minimum weight, Maximum fun!” that everyone of sound mind adheres to.

I have at times beefed on about the many backpackers who scrupulously drill holes in their spoons to reduce two grams here and cut the labels out of their clothing to shed another gram or two there. They have all been avoiding the elephant in the room, or should I say, the elephant staring out at them in the mirror. What is the point of having all this super-lightweight gear if you are carrying thirty pounds of fat around with you?

Well, of course, carrying less gear does help, but it does make more sense to be a bit slimmer!

After finishing my four month LEJOG, there wasn’t an ounce of fat left on my skinny little frame and I was incredibly fit. Over the last five years though, that fitness has all but disappeared. I have managed to keep the very worst of the burgeoning belly at bay but my fitness levels are generally pretty poor.

The preparations for my annual binge walk (the two week TGO Challenge) generally involve some Sunday walks over the winter period, building up to a couple of weekend efforts prior to the big walk itself. That usually has me just about ready to face my efforts in Scotland. The rest of the required fitness is built up over the two weeks of the walk itself.

Now, this is a shame as it means that clambering up the steep heathery hills all comes as a bit of an effort to this slack-muscled southerner. To make matters worse, this year I have designed a route for the Challenge that is, shall we say, quite a physical challenge. How on earth will I cope?

Serendipity is a wonderful thing. Out of the blue came a book to review from Chris Highcock: “Hill FIt: Strength, the missing element in your training.”  It was an Hallelujah moment. You may already know that Chris writes regular articles for TGO on fitness. He also writes a mean blog: ”Cairn in the Mist” 

Over the last few days I have been working my way through the book. He starts off explaining, very carefully, why it is important to build up strength, as well as fitness for these outdoor pursuits. He says:

“If you enjoy time walking in the outdoors … and want to enjoy it more, tackling those days with less pain and effort, then the programme I outline in this booklet is for you.”

He goes on to explain how having stronger muscles makes you more efficient and protects you from injury. Increasing your strength also has the added advantages of fighting the aging process, and increasing your health in all manner of ways.

Having got your attention, and ready to holler out “Praise the Lord!” Chris then outlines four very simple exercises (that only need to be performed twice a week; that’s my kind of plan!) to get you up and running and raring to go.

I cannot recommend this booklet more strongly. This is probably far more important than all the weight reducing tips you will ever have read in all the blogs put together. Chris’s simple exercise programme should have you fit and ready for the hill, so that your experience will be one of pleasure rather than one of pain!

You can read more about the book and buy it for yourself HERE It will be the best tenner you will have spent in years.

I am now getting pretty good at brushing my teeth whilst balancing on one leg. Following my first attempt, the bruises are now beginning to fade…

The Harmony Game

I have just caught up with “The Harmony Game” on BBC iPlayer. You can find it HERE for the next six days.

“Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel talk openly and eloquently about an extraordinarily creative period in their career - the making of Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

Bridge over Trouble Water was the first album I ever bought. Here are two of my favourite tracks.

Allt Duine: Highland Council webcast

For those amongst the congregation with an interest in how Planning Committees arrive at their decisions take a peek at yesterdays Highland Council planning committee’s meeting which discussed the Allt Duine planning application from RWE nPower. It was broadcast and the recording can be found by clicking the link below:

CLICK HERE

You need to “Fast forward” to about 7 minutes in, to start at the appropriate point.

I thought it would be interesting to note each of the supporters’ comments, so that we can all see what sort of opposition we are facing in the fight to stop the Allt Duine wind power station.

The three Councillors who expressed support for the windfarm were T Prag, E Hunter and Jimmie Gray. Having re-watched the meeting this evening, what each of them had to say was enlightening. I made careful notes:

Councillor THOMAS PRAG: (Scot Lib Dem)

I haven’t climbed hills for many years. We should make decisions in the light of National Policy. On Wildlife: Effectively the whole of the Monadhliath would be disbarred from windfarms as it is a very wild area: However, It is not a protected area. If I am absolutely honest, the influence on the National Park is probably not that significant. We can’t say “No” to all of them. We have quite rightly said “No” to a few.. I would worry if we got a reputation as ‘anti-windfarm’ I happen to quite like windfarms.

 

Councillor EDDIE HUNTER: (Independent):

Most of the individual objectors seem to be a long distance away from the proposed site.

 

 

 

 

 

Councillor JIMMIE GRAY: (Scot Lab)

It’s probably difficult to recollect a situation where we had less objections to a windfarm  (He said this twice) From our site visit we saw in fact that there was very little to see.

We have a government that has been voted in on a basis of supporting renewable energy. The guidance coming forward makes that very clear. As a planning committee we should take that on board and it is my view that we should support the application and allow this on a national basis.

 

Brilliantly, an elder member of the committee stood up to bash that straight back!

Councillor HAMISH WOOD: (Scot Lib Dem)

“I don’t know what the Provost (Jimmie Gray is the Provost of Inverness) was looking at. When I looked out I saw a vision. I saw wilderness. I don’t know what he was looking at!”

 

 

 

 

I don’t know about you, but if i lived in Highland Council’s area, I would certainly not be voting for Messrs Prag, Hunter & Gray and I would make damn sure that everyone I met knew how these men voted on Tuesday.

Allt Duine: Highland Council rejects planning application

It’s not often that you can say this but today has been a Very Good Day in the fight against wind power stations on wild land.

In fact, It has been an excellent day. You may remember my views on this particular wind power station, which you can find HERE, when I wrote about it in April of last year.

This morning, the Highland Councillors undertook a site visit to the Ptarmigan Restaurant at the top of the Cairngorm Funicular railway, over 20km from the actual site of the proposed windfarm, to see how visible Allt Duine will actually be.  Then, this afternoon, they rejected RWE’s application for 31 x 125m high wind turbines on the very boundary of the Cairngorm National Park by nine votes to three. It will now go to a public inquiry to be undertaken by the Scottish Government.

The John Muir Trust, The Mountaineering Council of Scotland and the Cairngorm National Park Authority all made written submissions lodging their objections to the Application. In addition, there has been a well organised campaign called Save the Monadhliath Mountains backed by a petition with over 1300 signatures. They had the support of Cameron McNeish and Chris Townsend, who have both been active supporters of the campaign; indeed, Chris was a spokesperson for it.

Highland Councillors Fallows, Black, Kerr, Balfour, Davidson and Wood all spoke up against the planning application. (Hooray!) On the other hand, Councillors Pragg, Hunter and Gray supported the application. (Booo!)

Councillor Pragg thought the windfarm was “well planned” and he thought “the influence on the Cairngorm National Park was not significant”.

Councillor Hunter said that “many of the individual objectors live a long way from the site”.

Councillor Gray really took the biscuit, though: He was surprised that there had been so very little opposition to the application. He said that the site visit had shown that very little of the windfarm will be visible. He said that “it is clear that the Council should follow SNP policies and accept the application”.

Whilst I am on the subject of Councillor Gray it would be prudent to mention that in his Register of Interests on the Highland Council Website, that Jimmy Gray declared:

14/01/08: Platform PR - Celebration dinner for 5th Anniversary of funding of company based in the Highlands

Platform PR do a huge amount of work for the wind industry: Amongst others, their clients include:

• Dunoon Wind Farm
• EON
• Falck Renewables
• Nan Clach Ltd (another windfarm near the Cairngorm NP)
• Scottish & Southern Energy
• Viking Energy

I wonder just how objective his viewpoint actually is. It certainly didn’t seem to coincide with that of the majority of his colleagues. Councillor Wood certainly seemed to disagree strongly with him. None of the other councillors have registered dinners with Platform PR.

With it now in the lap of the Scottish Government, there is still a big fight to come as they have a history of overturning local democracy: Think of Trump’s golf course and the many, many wind farms, it has approved at inquiry.

However, this fight has been very high profile and the session was screened live so that the public could see the debate. The BBC and other media businesses were all there. It would be a foolish Scottish Government to overturn this popular decision.

Anyway: Today is a day to celebrate! Tomorrow we should renew our efforts to ensure the public inquiry also dumps the application.

Valuing nature based tourism in Scotland

With more and more Wind Power Plants getting the “go-ahead” from the Scottish Government, perhaps Alex Salmond should pause awhile and reflect on this important document:

VALUING NATURE BASED TOURISM IN SCOTLAND:

Tourism is one of Scotland’s largest business sectors, providing employment for 200,000 people and generating visitor spending of more than £4 billion a year.

The natural environment is a key tourism asset with nature-based tourism making a significant contribution to the sector. Based on information in existing studies the main findings from a study by Scottish Natural Heritage are:

• The value to Scotland’s economy (the direct economic impact) of nature based tourism is £1.4 billion per year
• 39,000 jobs (full-time equivalent) are reliant on Scotland’s nature based tourism
• Tourist spending on nature based activities is worth nearly 40% of all tourism spending in Scotland.

NATURE BASED TOURISM

Nature based tourism is defined as an overnight stay that is related wholly or partly to Scotland’s natural heritage – its wildlife, habitats, landscapes and natural beauty.

The main activities that make up the nature based tourism market are wildlife watching, enjoying the landscape, walking, adventure activities and field sports.

WILDLIFE:

Wildlife tourism in Scotland is a valuable niche sector within the tourism industry. It includes activities such as bird watching, whale watching and guided walks. The wildlife section in this study also includes activities such as practical conservation holidays and other specialist interests such as geology and botany field trips.

This study uses a wider definition of the wildlife sector than a Scottish Government study on the Economic Impacts of Wildlife Tourism in Scotland (2010). It includes all those who enjoy wildlife as only part of their holiday. This gives a more comprehensive estimate of the wildlife sector as a whole.

The value to the economy of wildlife tourism is £127 million per year.

FIELD SPORTS:

Field sports cover a range of activities including shooting, hunting and fishing. This section covers grouse (and other game) shooting, deer stalking, and all types of angling.

The value to the economy of field sports tourism is £136 million per year.

WALKING:

Walking is clearly the most popular nature based activity for UK residents holidaying in Scotland and in 2009 VisitScotland identified 47% of total UK visitor trips (5.7 million trips) involved some form of walking activity.

Walking for this study includes walks of more than one mile, rambling, hiking and mountain sports including hill walking, mountaineering and climbing.

The value to the economy of walking tourism is £533 million per year.

ADVENTURE ACTIVITIES:

Adventure tourism is an expanding market with over 350,000 holiday trips to Scotland made by visitors undertaking adventure activities, including mountain biking, every year. It combines elements of physical activity, interaction with nature and cultural exploration and discovery. The active element includes canoeing and kayaking, surfing, sub aqua, sailing, mountain biking, cycling, extreme snow sports, horse riding and adventure activities such as rafting or paragliding. All rely on a diverse, high quality natural environment.

The value to the economy of adventure activity tourism is £178 million per year.

LANDSCAPES AND SCENERY:

Landscapes and scenery play a major part in attracting visitors to Scotland. A high proportion of both UK and international visitors tour Scotland and go sightseeing to view the scenery. More visitors enjoy the landscape than take part in any individual activity using the natural environment.

The value to the economy of tourists touring and enjoying Scotland’s landscapes and scenery is £420 million per year.

FUTURE PROSPERITY:

Nature based tourism plays a vital part in Scotland’s rural economy, pulling in millions of pounds and creating many hundreds of job opportunities. As one of Europe’s leading year-round nature destinations with a world famous reputation for natural heritage, Scotland has a great deal to offer.

With spending on nature based activities worth nearly 40% of all tourism spending, nature based tourism can generate significant benefits for the economy. We need to ensure that developments and activities are sustainable so that more people can enjoy Scotland’s nature.

Methodology
Attributing value to nature based tourism is complex. In many instances, data is not available and where it does exist, distinct studies often cannot be compared because of significant differences in approaches. The approach taken in this study was to identify and examine individually the main natural heritage features and activities that contribute to Scotland’s tourism product. The research is based on existing studies and uses raw material from some of the studies to calculate economic impact assessments for each of the individual activities. The study then puts together the individual assessments, in a way that avoids double counting, to reach an overall figure.
The overall figure does not include all activity from every sector. It attributes a percentage of expenditure based on the importance of nature for each of the sectors or activities. Where data is not available, the research sometimes has to rely on assumptions and estimates so figures should be regarded as indicative. Ascribing a specific motivation for any individual trip is difficult and therefore there is less confidence in the accuracy of individual activity figures.
The research does not include values for any business trips or visits to Edinburgh and Glasgow and so may underestimate the importance of some nature-based activities.

This document summarises research carried out for Scottish Natural Heritage. The full research report Assessing the economic impacts of nature based tourism in Scotland can be found at www.snh.gov.uk

 

That last link is a bit of a surprise, eh? Yes: This document was written for Scottish Natural Heritage, which is funded through the Rural Affairs and Environment arm of the Scottish Government. You can find this document in all its glory by clicking HERE and then HERE.

I think SNH and Alex Salmond ought to have a bit of a chat about this, don’t you?