Planning a wind farm-free TGO Challenge 2015

This year I have an automatic place on the TGO Challenge as it will be my 20th official TGO Challenge. “Twenty years?”  I hear you splutter! “Hasn’t he got anything better to do with his summer holidays?” 

Lord Elpus, who will be on his 12th Challenge, has very kindly agreed to walk with me. It will be our eighth crossing together. Phil’s first crossing was with me and his wife Tini, way back in 1999. As you can see, the TGO Challenge has been a major part of my life. I have made life-long friends through this fabulous walk and there is the joy of making new friends each and every year.

And here we all are back in 1999, (the picture was taken by Jack Griffiths, who was a 90 year old Challenger at the time) looking considerably more sprightly than we do these days:

[ME, PHIL & TINI, TGO CHALLENGE 1999]

However, independently of each other, Phil and I have both decided that 2015 will be our last TGO Challenge. You can read Phil’s reasons for his decision by clicking HERE It is an excellent read, and one I agree with one hundred percent.

I am setting out my reasons for not wanting to do the TGO Challenge after 2015 below:

***

I must have bored readers of this blog senseless, banging on, for over four years now, about wind farms. You need just to click on “Wind Power Stations” in my LABELS list to the right of this blog entry to see that I have written 74 posts on wind farms. I organised a protest walk, the Wake for the Wild, in May 2011 when we carried a coffin to the spot where the topmost wind turbine was to be sited on the Dunmaglass Estate in the Glorious Monadh Liath. That protest made it to the pages of The Times, and German & French television. It was entitled a ‘Wake’ for the Wild as we all realised that Scotland’s wild places had been passed a death sentence by the Scottish Government.

I make no apology for re-publishing in full the excellent speech made by Janet Donnelly at the location of the highest Dunmaglass turbine:

 

“We have come here today because we are the lucky ones. We are lucky because we are the last generation who remember and who have had a chance to be inspired by the Scottish landscape and everything it represents.

Take a moment now to look around you – really take in what you can see because this may be the last time that you will be able to experience that extraordinary feeling that comes when we feel ourselves dwarfed by the magnificence and splendour of the unspoilt wild land around us.

As more and more swathes of the Scottish wilderness are pillaged in the name of sustainability, we mourn their loss as if they were dearly loved friends who taught us valuable lessons in life like the fact that there is more to life than 9 to 5, the daily grind and keeping up with the Jones’s. Up here we permit ourselves to escape just for a little while and allow the splendid isolation to lift our spirits as the realisation dawns that we are indeed just a tiny speck on this incredible planet.

This land is in our hands, in trust for our children and our children’s children and if the politicians and the fat cats have their way, they will look back on our stewardship of the land and hang their heads in shame.

The politicians would have us believe that there is no other way and nobody denies that something must be done to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear power but we contend that the destruction of the Scottish landscape for ever is not the answer.

The technology is flawed, the sums don’t add up and the claims of large scale onshore wind power station supporters just don’t stand up to scrutiny. Add to that the news that we – the taxpayer have paid nearly a million pounds to the turbine owners to switch them off at times of peak output and we have the makings of a first class farce.

It isn’t funny though – nobody is laughing - unless you count those on their way to the bank. Let’s call a halt to the desecration of our wild landscape and the knee jerk reaction that says ‘do something – anything and we’ll think about the consequences later.

John Muir said: “Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean”

I invite you all to look around you now and try to work out where you will go to wash your spirit clean when all of this is gone.

Could you all please raise your glasses – hip flasks – mess tins, whatever you’ve brought with you?

A toast:

To the wilderness – may it continue to inspire us, arouse passion in us and provide sustenance for our souls. May those who seek to destroy it hear the voices of those for whom it is an integral part of life and may it long be regarded as an asset rather than a resource.

The Wilderness.”

***

I want to make it crystal clear that the extent of the damage being done by wind farms in the Scottish Highlands is ENTIRELY down to the Scottish Government. Yes, Tony Blair signed the UK up to draconian CO₂ reduction targets in the small hours of the morning somewhere in a bunker in Europe. He did not realise that he was signing up to a reduction in the TOTAL CO₂ emissions for the UK; He thought he was signing up to the emissions caused by generating electricity. That was a pretty major blunder that is still biting the UK firmly on its bottom and will continue to do so for some years to come.

However, Blair’s mistake pales into insignificance when compared to what the Scottish Government then did. Rather than settle for a 20% reduction in emissions by 2020, Alex Salmond bludgeoned the Scottish Government into first going for a target of 50% equivalent electrical energy generation supplied by wind farms, but then he increased it to 100%, by the same date. This was a MASSIVE target increase, and one that is very likely to be achieved.

Why did he do this?

The answer’s plain and simple: For the money.

Salmond was hell-bent on an independent Scotland and he knew that oil revenues were not going to last forever; He needed an income to supplement the dwindling North Sea oil and gas revenues when Scotland became independent. Onshore wind attracts a subsidy of roughly the market price of electricity and these subsidies are paid for by the consumer. The money for the wind farms’ construction is put up by the developers and so magically, this gave Salmond a future income stream, that was to be subsidised entirely by the consumer (ie the English) with no investment at all by the Scottish Government. What wasn’t there to be gleeful about? It was money for rope. That’s why he increased Scotland’s wind energy targets so massively.

That’s why wind farms are already decimating the Scottish Highlands. Money. Lots of it. And there are many, many more wind farms to come.

Already, views in Scotland are blighted by wind farms. The next picture is the Map of the Zone of Theoretical Visibility (ZTV) of just the existing wind farms in Scotland. If you are standing in any of the blue areas, you will, theoretically, be able to see wind turbines. There may of course be buildings in the way of your view. You’ll also note the great big red splodge in the centre of the Highlands. That’s the ZTV of the proposed Talladh-a-Bheithe wind farm, that I wrote about recently.

[ZONE OF THEORETICAL VISIBILITY MAP OF EXISTING TURBINES]

That’s a pretty scary map, and if you look at the title of this post – “Planning a wind farm-free TGO Challenge 2015” – you’ll see that Phil & I have our work cut out.

In fact, it is impossible.

This means a compromise. We have to plan a route where we are likely to see the least number of wind turbines as possible. For that we need to look at another map. Below you’ll find the Highland Council’s map, accurate at 23rd June 2014, of the wind farm activity in the Highland region.

You can click on this map to enlarge it so that it’s possible to see the details of each wind farm where turbine hub heights are over 50m high – which means the turbine will be a minimum height of about 85m. That’s about 280 feet tall in real money and there are probably just as many turbines again that are smaller than this 85m. To put things in perspective, most turbines currently in planning for the Highlands are between 125 and 152m high ~ they are huge. 152m is 500 feet high.

[HIGHLAND COUNCIL MAP OF WIND FARM ACTIVITY @ JUNE 2014 – CLICK TO ENLARGE]

For the Challenge, I want us to concentrate on just the area appropriate to the Challenge Boundaries. I’ve cobbled together the next map to make it easier to see the predicament when faced with planning a walk from the west coast to the east coast. It clips off the bottom of the Challenge area, as the Highland Council map doesn’t extend that far south. However, you can rest easy, knowing that from Oban and southwards to Ardrishaig ~ the most southerly start point ~ there are a plethora of whirling turbines to be enjoyed, with many more in the planning system.

[HIGHLAND COUNCIL WIND FARM MAP ~ CHALLENGE AREA ~ JUNE 2014: CLICK TO ENLARGE]

I really would appreciate it if you did now click on the above map. It will open in a new window for you.

You will notice a line of wind farms lining the front edge of the Monadhliath Mountains, parallel to the Great Glen, from Invergarry in the south (the proposed Culachy wind farm) all the way up to the Rothes/Kellas House wind farm in the North East. That’s a distance of almost 100km ~ some 60 miles of virtually unbroken sight of wind farms. Walking from the glorious west coast of Scotland, you are faced by an escarpment of whirling wind turbines, set atop the hills. Worse than this, they thrust westwards, reaching towards the glorious Rough Bounds of Knoydart and the fabulous hills of Torridon, with Fairburn, the appalling Allt Carach (that will destroy the remote Affric hills), Beinn Mhor, Guisachan, Corriemoney, Bhlaraidh, Moriston, Millenniums 1,2,3 & South, and Beinneun (not yet built) and its extension already applied for.

Of course, the icing on the cake; The greedy Dutch owners of the Talladh-a-Bheithe estate want to destroy fabulous wild land smack in the centre of the Highlands, that is previously untouched by wind farms.

2015 will be the last possible year to thread a way through the wind farms in the central / northern section of the TGO Challenge. After that, it’s Game Over.

That is the reason I will not be back to Scotland for the TGO Challenge after 2015. Alec Salmond has single-handedly gone about and destroyed one of Scotland’s most precious assets – its wild land.

***

At the start of this piece I wrote “Hasn’t he got anything better to do with his summer holidays?” 

And the answer, post 2015, will be Yes.

With a heavy heart, I will be voting with my feet, and I’ll be exploring other parts of Europe ~ where countries value their scenery more than the greedy politicians do in Scotland. I am sure I am not alone in making this decision. Salmond has not only destroyed his wild land, he is also responsible for the inevitable slow death of his tourism industry.

Following the result of the Scottish independence referendum, Salmond has resigned as First Minister. The failed bid for independence means that the rabid rush for income from his wind farms will now be seen to have been a dreadful mistake. Alex Salmond will go down in history, not as the man who led a failed attempt at an independent Scotland (however noble a cause that might have been) but as the man who destroyed his country’s landscape.

WAKE FOR THE WILD: TGO MAGAZINE COVERAGE

 

The new editor of TGO, Emily Rodway, had been hard at it making great changes to the mag; refreshing to see. This July’s edition is out in the shops now.

 

Roger Smith, the very first editor of TGO and now the retiring coordinator of the TGO Challenge for the last twenty years, has written a great column this month. I am sure Emily won’t mind me scanning just one page; Roger’s coverage of the “Wake for the Wild” with his comments and popping it onto the blog. Think of it as an advert for TGO, Emily…

 

You can click on it to enlarge it.

TGO CHALLENGE 2011: WAKE FOR THE WILD: Part 2

WEDNESDAY 18th MAY 2011

I am not an online subscriber to The Times, but I have scanned the article they did on the Wake for the Wild and you can see it below. So – we made it into the Nationals!

(You can click on it to enlarge it).

TGO CHALLENGE 2011: DAY 5: The Wake for the Wild

Map & pictures are clickable

 

After a great breakfast with the Sutherlands we loaded the coffin into the back of a van and trundled it down to Errogie, to lean against the chapel wall so that the gathering hordes (surely one or two would show up?) would see it and wait there until everyone arrived. I was then loaded back into the van to be taken back to Ault-na-goire to collect my pack and walk down with it to Errogie.

 

Encouragingly there were phone calls from the Beeb and the Germans & French TV people and very soon we had quite a gathering around the coffin! In all I would estimate that about thirty five people turned up – a great number considering the day chosen was during the working week.

 

We had decided the night before to row the coffin across the lake in great style and so the box was strapped onto the rowing boat. Alex was magnificent in his long black funereal coat and played a lament on the violin before we clambered aboard.

 

 

One chap with quite a few expensive looking cameras slung round his neck asked if he could be a passenger in the boat. I asked his which paper he was from and he answered simply “The Times”. Which “Times” was that? I enquired, thinking it might be something like the Outer Hebridean Times or some such publication.

 

Just THE Times he answered simply…. Of course he could come aboard! So that’s how we managed to get James Glossop of The Times to help row the coffin across Loch Mhor. He explained that he had never rowed before but the feisty lady rower said “You’ll soon get the hang of it” And he did too…

 

 

The rest of the party walked around the loch as we slowly pirouetted mid loch a few times, before all meeting up again on the south shore and setting off for Dunmaglass.

 

 

We all took it in turns to carry the coffin over to Dunmaglass Lodge, over rough heathery ground. At rest stops I was interviewed by the TV people and the coffin carrying party did frequent re-takes as the film crews wanted the perfect shots. Everyone was in great spirits and the weather was really magnificent.

 

There were signs, provided by the estate, guiding us around Dunmaglass Lodge to ensure we kept to the path. There were also signs erected by Dunmaglass Estate, especially for us, headed “Wake for the Wild” which asked us to be careful not to disturb nesting birds and to “avoid damage to the ground.”

 

How crass was that? They are going to bulldoze 20km of new roads up into the fragile peat uplands, bury thousands of tons of concrete, erect huge pylons and 400 feet high turbines that will smash those nesting birds into little pieces!

 

When we reached the Lodge itself we were met by two women police officers and their police car, ensuring that the route to the Lodge was blocked.

 

 

Never having ever organised a demo before (the last one I attended was about thirty years ago at Molesworth) I was not sure what to expect here.

 

I was certainly surprised that even though they appeared to know who I was and what we were doing they *insisted* on taking my name, address, place of birth and telephone number and then proceed to warn me that we were not to litter the countryside with the coffin. It’s interesting that Sir Jack Hayward, sitting on his beach in the Cayman Islands, thousands of miles away, can still rustle up a little help from the bobbies to protect his house from a marauding mob. I wonder who paid for their presence that day? As Sir Jack would know from his days with Wolverhampton Wanderers, football clubs have to pay towards police attending their games. I am sure the two officers could have been more gainfully employed in Inverness that day.

 

 

We had lunch just across from the Lodge where we did another interview to the television cameras and then David Albon very kindly said a few words over the coffin to camera for the BBC and ARD/ARTE to send us on our way for the second leg.

 

At this point the press and TV people left us to get their material off to the studios or whatever they had to do with it and so the rest of the party hitched themselves to the coffin and we headed off once more; this time up to the site of the turbines – quite a slog up the hill.

 

All around us the hillside was magnificent – wild moorland with a tugging cold breeze running through the heavy heather in waves. Curlew & grouse calls were abundant and the splashing burns as pure as could be. Clouds scudding across the high moorland, the dark peat scars like furrowed brows. Amongst the heather, precious, tiny flowers, mosses and all the little crawly beasties at the bottom of the food chain that rises so magnificently to the golden eagles that often fly above here.

 

 

We eventually made the top, where Janet Donnelly said these powerful words which I have transcribed in full:

 

We have come here today because we are the lucky ones. We are lucky because we are the last generation who remember and who have had a chance to be inspired by the Scottish landscape and everything it represents.

Take a moment now to look around you – really take in what you can see because this may be the last time that you will be able to experience that extraordinary feeling that comes when we feel ourselves dwarfed by the magnificence and splendour of the unspoilt wild land around us.

As more and more swathes of the Scottish wilderness are pillaged in the name of sustainability, we mourn their loss as if they were dearly loved friends who taught us valuable lessons in life like the fact that there is more to life than 9 to 5, the daily grind and keeping up with the Jones’s. Up here we permit ourselves to escape just for a little while and allow the splendid isolation to lift our spirits as the realisation dawns that we are indeed just a tiny speck on this incredible planet.

 

This land is in our hands, in trust for our children and our children’s children and if the politicians and the fat cats have their way, they will look back on our stewardship of the land and hang their heads in shame.

The politicians would have us believe that there is no other way and nobody denies that something must be done to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear power but we contend that the destruction of the Scottish landscape for ever is not the answer.

The technology is flawed, the sums don’t add up and the claims of large scale onshore wind power station supporters just don’t stand up to scrutiny. Add to that the news that we – the taxpayer have paid nearly a million pounds to the turbine owners to switch them off at times of peak output and we have the makings of a first class farce.

It isn’t funny though – nobody is laughing - unless you count those on their way to the bank. Let’s call a halt to the desecration of our wild landscape and the knee jerk reaction that says ‘do something – anything and we’ll think about the consequences later.

John Muir said: “Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean”

I invite you all to look around you now and try to work out where you will go to wash your spirit clean when all of this is gone.

 

Could you all please raise your glasses – hip flasks – mess tins, whatever you’ve brought with you?

A toast:

To the wilderness – may it continue to inspire us, arouse passion in us and provide sustenance for our souls. May those who seek to destroy it hear the voices of those for whom it is an integral part of life and may it long be regarded as an asset rather than a resource.

The Wilderness.

There were few dry eyes at the end of this wonderful eulogy and the whisky tasted all the sweeter.

 

Chris Townsend and the rest of our wonderful supporters, then shouldered the coffin once more and took the coffin down the hill for the next group to use on the next protest.

 

Thanks to James’ wonderful iPhone, (my own phone’s battery had conked out after all the calls to co-ordinate the wake) I managed to be interviewed by The Times reporter right at the top of the Monadhliath so that they now had the words and the pictures. Thanks, James. We made it into the paper the very next morning.

 

I then walked on, up over the top of the Monadhliath, to stand alone and take in, for perhaps the last time ever, one of Scotland’s wild places, knowing that in a few months time, all this would be gone for generations. It was with a heavy tread that I made it down to the Findhorn to camp with Andy, John & Norma & the rest of the Challenge crew. It was a day I will never forget.

A WAKE FOR THE WILD: Tuesday 17th May: UPDATE

Location Overview map

Map showing the route the coffin will be carried along.

BOTH ABOVE MAPS ARE CLICKABLE

Well – the above maps show the route of the wake – where we will be carrying the coffin that symbolises the imminent death of the Wild Places.

There have been quite a lot of interest from people who want to take part, and two TV stations have expressed interest in filming – a German crew from ARD/ARTE who will definitely be there and BBC Alba may well be as well. All the Press Releases have gone out and we have been featured on Grough and the MCofS website. I believe there has been an article in this week’s Inverness Courier. Let’s hope we get a bit more coverage.

So – if you would like to come you are very welcome indeed.

We’ll start at about 10:30am, carrying the coffin from Errogie, on the shore of Loch Mhor and take it over to Dunmaglass Lodge following the green line shown on the attached 1:50k map. There, a few words will be spoken over the coffin and a list of the doomed areas of wilderness will be read out. Photographs will be taken with the Lodge in the background. From here, the least fit/able-bodied members of the party could stroll back to the start point if they wished.

The fitter types amongst us will continue to carry it up to the site of the turbines (the area encircled by the red line on the 1:50k map) where the coffin will be laid to rest and photographs taken that will show the beauty of the wild land and which will demonstrate the terrible loss that is about to be suffered.

This is probably quite a hike for some folk and so they should ensure that they are adequately equipped for it. Who knows what the weather will be like on the day? For the most part, the route is on well made estate tracks, but the section just before Dunmaglass Lodge is a little rough heather.

It would be not too bad an idea to bring a warming toast along, to say Farewell to the Wild properly.

I am off now to catch my sleeper up to the Highlands (with the coffin) – so in the meantime have a good time and I hope to see you next Tuesday.

A WAKE FOR THE WILD: Tuesday 17th May 2011.

Today, when the polling stations shut, whoever wins the Scottish elections, the one thing that is certain to continue at an accelerating pace is the destruction of Scotland’s wild places. The Highlands of Scotland are well on the way to industrialisation on a vast scale.

Energy policy is dictated largely by Westminster & the European Union but the Scottish Parliament is on a crusade to go for more and more adventurous targets for wind. This blog has pointed out over the last four months that wind power stations are horribly inefficient, produce electricity at very high prices and are only in existence because of the massive subsidies paid by the consumer.

The National Grid cannot cope with the fluctuations in the power delivered by wind at present and so with three times as many turbines planned than we have installed already, Scotland stands every chance of having major power blackouts.

However, once you have signed up to having energy supplied by wind power it’s pretty obvious that the best sites for the turbines are where it is windiest; which is on top of the hills. These wind power stations will blight the Scottish landscape for ever, with hundreds of miles of access tracks, whole chains of pylons and cables and millions of tons of concrete buried in the landscape, not to mention the thousands of 400 feet high whirling turbine blades. The damage these turbine blades will do to Scottish birdlife is unforgiveable in itself.

One example of the hundred or so planning applications that have gone through for these wind power stations, is Dunmaglass in the Monadhliath Mountains. This seems to epitomise the rabid decision making behind many of these schemes: The Dunmaglass Estate is right next door to Coignafearn, where the enlightened owner, Sigrid Rausing, has for quite some time been encouraging Scotland’s iconic Golden Eagles to make their home. You can track Cullen, a young female Golden Eagle’s daily movements by clicking HERE. You will see that Cullen’s days are surely numbered when the Dunmaglass turbines are erected.

We have to face the fact that Scottish Wild Land will be utterly destroyed. The sense of the wild that we seek out will be gone forever; finished. Dead.

On Tuesday 17th May, a few friends and I will be walking peacefully the few miles into the Monadhliath, carrying a coffin; a symbol of the death of Scotland’s Wild Places. We will be passing Dunmaglass Lodge itself and carrying the coffin up to the point of the highest turbine, about 2,500 feet up in the beautiful, wild Monadhliath Mountains.

There will be a few words said over the coffin in memory of a once beautiful wild land. This is a chance to enjoy, perhaps for the last time, a wonderful wild place and reflect and celebrate together the glory of the Scottish Wilderness which is now, sadly, destined to be gone forever.

If you would like details of how to take part in this peaceful “Wake for the Wild” please email me and I will send you the details. Please come and support us.

My email address is alan.sloman@ntlworld.com

A WAKE FOR THE WILD: THE WILDERNESS’S COFFIN

Behind the scenes a lot has been going on. Perhaps “behind the scenes” is an apt description of the manufacturing process. A wonderful gent known on a few blogs as “Shap” has been burning candles at both ends (and in the middle too) behind the flame proof curtains of the theatre and has been making a labour of love - a beautiful lightweight coffin that shall be carried on the Wake for the Wild to the point of the highest turbine on the Dunmaglass Estate Power Plant.

Shap with the bare lightweight coffin

We had a brief conflab and decided that the right colour would be black. And it had to be waterproof. An Lo! The handles are next…

As I said to Shap: “That really is quite a beautiful coffin!”

I suppose that’s one of those phrases that, even in your most fevered imaginations in the various bars across the breadth of Scotland, you never ever thought you would ever hear yourself saying...

Later today, at 5:30pm I will be appearing on David Lintern’s show on Resonance FM with Andy Howell and amongst other things we will be discussing the forthcoming “Wake for the Wild” Protest.

There will be more shortly on here detailing the protest. Stay Tuned!

SOME GREAT LINKS

Cameron McNeish has hit the headlines today in the Press & Journal (front page in the Inverness edition). You can see the article HERE. It is also reported in HeraldScotland, HERE

Young John Manning has rumbled into life over at his blog, HERE which also includes some excellent photographs of what is about to be sacrificed to Power Plants.

A very thoughtful three piece article has been written by the long distance walker, David Cotton, which covers the background to our nation’s energy problem as well as some very useful information on energy costs of production. You can find Part 1 HERE and then work up to his newer posts for Parts 2 & 3.

Amongst a host of highly respected outdoor groups and individuals,The John Muir Trust, The Ramblers and the MCofS have signed a letter to Alex Salmond: You can see that letter HERE. It must have taken a huge amount of time and organisation to to get all these bodies on board to unite together to write this. I just wonder how much time and attention he will afford it? Any guesses?

Ooh – I have just heard that I am in the Inverness Courier today as well (I don’t have a link for that)

Oooh! BREAKING NEWS….

A journalist friend of Cameron McNeish rang me the other day wanting to know about the unrest amongst hill walkers about the threat to Wild Land in Scotland.

He’s a great chap and already coverage has been in the Scottish “Sunday Post” yesterday and today an article has appeared in the Press & Journal.

You can see that article for a while HERE.

Many thanks to Cameron & Iain.

KISS THE MONADHLIATH GOODBYE

After my previous post Val Machin has commented about a new wind farm proposal for a 105 MW wind factory above Kincraig; the Allt Duinne Wind Power Station, comprising about 35 turbines. If you look at the map above you can also see where the Dunmaglass Wind Factory is located to the north west of this proposal. Of course you should then add in the existing forty-plus turbines at Farr, directly to the north of the Allt Duinne scheme, also in the Monadhliath. This means that in effect the Monadhliath will become one giant Wind Factory.

So – who is going to stop this? Not the Scottish government; that’s for sure. Not the Highland Council. The usual set of bribes financial incentives are being offered to the local communities.

You can find all about it from the Developer's own website HERE

I recommend that you read the article that Marcus Petter has pointed to from the Times Online HERE to find out the true appalling extent of what is to become of Scotland’s Wild places.

AWake4TheWild: THE PROTEST GROWS

Isn’t it wonderful how, with a good idea, momentum can build.

As well as two excellent posts from Cameron McNeish and Chris Townsend, New Year’s Eve saw support coming in from Darren Christie. New Year’s Day brought Alistair in with a great piece that made you feel like standing up and shouting “Halleljuah!” and today has seen some fantastic writing coming in from Andy Howell, Byways, and Janet Donnelly.

I would commend you all to have a read of each one as each has their own take on the protest and is very well thought out.

We also have two excellent chaps investigating the possibility of getting a coffin and getting us a website with all the artwork and literature designed for free. We will need a techie chap to put the website together… I just need more hours in the day…

Thank you everyone.

10:40pm: EDITED TO ADD: And this fine post this evening from Bearded Git. (quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson, no less!)

A WAKE FOR WILDERNESS: THE BONES OF THE PROTEST

I suppose I should start by clearing up a misconception: The protest I am trying to organise is not specifically about the Dunmaglass decision – however disgraceful I think that has been. I am certainly not trying to get the Dunmaglass project stopped as that would be totally unrealistic.

The idea is *not* to protest particularly about Dunmaglass but about the siting of these Wind Farms in obviously wild land in general. In Scotland the Greens are propping up an SNP Party in order to get their hands on the levers of power. The Green Party has managed to paint a picture of anyone who doesn’t want these turbines as being Anti-Green, which is patent nonsense. The purpose of the protest is to bring this to the fore and make people realise that the value of wild land is significantly more than just an empty space suitable for wind farms. The JMT writes eloquently to expound these views.

I quote: “ The JMT supports the development of small-scale, sensitively sited renewable energy schemes, in areas adjacent to existing settlements, which demonstrate that renewable energy may be sourced without significantly impacting on "wild land" (1) or wildlife. The JMT, while generally in support of the development of renewable energy systems, opposes new developments where they significantly threaten "wild land".

The great majority of proposals to develop renewable energy schemes in Scotland have, to an extent, avoided the most iconic areas of wild land. The Dunmaglass proposal is blatantly irresponsible in that regard. To place the significance of this scheme in context, it should be noted that of the many schemes proposed in the UK in the last five years, the John Muir Trust has formally objected to only four: Shieldaig and Slattadale hydro, Lewis windfarm, Eisgein windfarm and now Dunmaglass.”

It’s early days yet but I am trying to gather quite a few walkers together to walk a coffin right past Dunmaglass Lodge’s windows and take it to the spot of the highest turbine (at about 750m contour) where we could set it on a funeral pyre (the materials having also been carried up) and then possibly set the thing alight, (need to think about that – don’t want to torch the Monadhliath!) whilst holding a Wake for the Wilderness. (Cheese & Wine, naturally)

I will try to get the JMT and MCofS involved as well as Sigrid Rausing (the owner of Coignafearn and quite an amazing woman) as well as a few high profile media figures as I am well aware that we need high profile support for a protest to be picked up by the general media. At the moment I am putting it all together as an approach document for them all – none are likely to agree unless there is a good plan.

So – I need to get busy and finish the document and start to mail it out to everyone.

As to getting large numbers of TGO Challengers there – I realise that that is a non-starter as most will have already worked out their routes and be in the process of submitting them to be vetted. No: I am appealing to a much wider congregation of every hill walker who loves the wild places.

It’s been suggested to me that this might politicize the TGO Challenge. The Challenge has been supported by TGO magazine since its inception back in 1981. TGO is a magazine that campaigns for walker’s rights and the wild places. Both Cameron McNeish and Chris Townsend have written to me supporting my idea of a protest.

I should stress that this is not a TGO Challenge event. However, if people who participate in the Challenge want to take part then that is entirely up to them and their consciences to do so. If other estates believe that this sullies the name of the Challenge, then they are estates that we should be actively taking on to challenge their views about access and conservation. The Letterewe Accord was a benchmark of collaboration and enlightenment and this should be the basis of talking with landowners. A huge amount of effort went in to persuading errant estates that hill-walkers were actually good for the Highland economy and this is the message that should be pressed home at every available opportunity.

I believe that not to do anything condones the Highland Council’s and the Scottish Government’s dreadful decisions about siting more and more turbines on wild land and if we sit on our backsides being polite and not involving institutions that we have come to think of as comfortable old friends then we are condemning the rest of the Scottish uplands to more and more turbines.

For Dunmaglass, the building of Wind Turbines at 750m above sea level, on top quality wild land will only diminish the reasons for walkers to visit these places. In addition to the turbines, 20km of NEW tracks will be built to maintain these monsters (as well as upgrading a further 12 km of existing tracks). This is industrialisation of wild land on a massive scale. No amount of financial benefits from the energy companies will make up for the shortfall in the “Hillwalking-Pound” and the tourism organisations were against the Dunmaglass Project for exactly this reason.

This issue of totally screwing up the wild places IS important. It IS worth ruffling a few comfortable feathers. If we don’t then we will lose the rest of what we visit Scotland for – a sense of freedom; a place to be refreshed emotionally. What has been built up to now is only a fragment of what is proposed. There will be many times more of these factories in more and more of the wild places.

I am not setting out to be confrontational – but I am setting out to try and change the Green Movement’s mind – It is not acceptable, it is not “green” to urbanise our wild places. Once this message is received only then will planners and government take the wild places true value into account.

AN UNUSUAL REQUEST…

A slightly unusual request this: Can any amongst our noble congregation help me out?

I would like a coffin – a real one would be pretty handy. The snag is, it isn’t going to be something I am borrowing – you won’t be getting it back, you see… (not that you would normally get coffins back of course….)

I need it for a date in May.

Could you scratch your heads, wrack your brains and think of all your friends and acquaintances who might be in that line of work? It’s going to be used in a good cause. Can’t say any more than that at the moment.

Thank you.

DUNMAGLASS: A PROTEST

The Dunmaglass Wind Factory is now a done deal. It seems that nothing can stop the developers from vandalising a beautiful wilderness area. Even though strong arguments were put forward against the scheme by the John Muir Trust and the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, they were ignored by Highland Council.

It seems that more and more of precious wild land will be taken away forever by the big business of wind energy companies. That seems inevitable.

Or is it?

These decisions are being made by politicians who are elected by you and me. However, in Scotland it seems that whoever is elected next May will be supporting the wind factories. This can only mean that they do not understand the appalling consequences of their decisions. The politicians seem united on this. Perhaps this is because they do not realise that a huge number of people are opposed to the schemes. If that is the case then we really should press home to them how much we despise these schemes. That way they might think twice before voting in favour of more Wind Factories.

So – how do we go about this?

How about a good old fashion peaceful protest? I have been in touch with both Cameron McNeish and Chris Townsend with a view to getting a bit of help in organising a protest on the Dunmaglass Estate in May on the TGO Challenge.

Both have been really quick to respond and wish me luck. Chris has given me a really great list of people and their contact details so that I can try to enlist more help from them. Cameron has written a very nice reply and also warns of impending disappointment as he has in the past tried to organise protest rallies but has found that unless thousands turn up then the media aren’t interested. That is a really really good point and one we should bear in mind from the outset.

These days, social media, like Blogs, Facebook and Twitter, can all help in getting a message out there to like minded people. Importantly it also gets the message out the to people who don’t necessarily agree with you but who would be nervous about your message spreading and becoming a cause.

I think with a little bit of a push we CAN organise something that the media would be interested in reporting. What form this protest will take I am not sure yet but in my opinion it must be peaceful, thought provoking and threaten the politicians’ jobs so that they sit up and take notice.

I will be writing to the neighbouring estates (Sigrid Rausing of neighbouring Coignafearn Estate is a high profile objector to the Dunmaglass scheme) to try and enlist their help too as well as high profile media figures known for their love of the hills.

Any ideas of what form of protest we can make will be gladly received. Please watch this space.

DUNMAGLASS DISGRACE

Renewable Energy Systems, Sir Jack Hayward and the Lib-Lab Highland Council are celebrating today the approval of a 33 turbine Wind Factory on Sir Jack’s estate at Dunmaglass in the Monadhliath. The Scottish Government’s Energy Minister, Jim Mather, said it also marked a further step towards greater use of "clean, green electricity" in Scotland.

RES’s PR company’s blurb put out on RES’s website mentions a reduction in the number of turbines from the original 36 to the “more modest” 33 but does not mention that each turbine will be taller than those first applied for and more powerful.

I remember walking through the Monadhliath in May of, I believe, 1998 and watching them construct the first windmill on top of Beinn Dubhcharaidh. They used a massive mobile crane and constructed an ugly bulldozed haul road to the top to enable the thing to be built. For the next three days, whenever I was near the top of anything, my eye was drawn to this excrescence.

That was also the year that Dunmaglass’s land agents, Bidwells, complained of walkers not shutting a gate on the estate. Everything in proportion, eh?

Chris Townsend of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland compiled the organisation’s submission to RES’s planning application; You can see that excellent submission HERE

Forget “Clean, Green Electricity” and all the other bollocks that will be trotted out to support this madness. This lot are in it solely for the money. RES, Sir Jack Hayward, the Highland Council and the Scottish Parliament should be hanging their heads in shame. 

I wonder how much explosive it takes to topple one of these generator towers? 

6:06pm – Edited to Add:

Once built, I wouldn’t fancy walking anywhere near these structures: read THIS from the Caithness Windfarms Information Forums 2010 (www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk) to be truly alarmed…

7:30pm: Edited to Add:

For two really excellent articles see Cameron McNeish’s take on it and Chris Townsend’s.