The Summer of Wild Swimming
If one thing defines this summer for me, it’s been open water swimming. From the Heb Tri to being in the water with the kids, it’s all been about wetsuits and waves. If you’d told me two months ago that […]
Land Court shocker as evidence not required
There has been a development in the battle for the rights to develop wind farms on the common grazings land around Stornoway. The news came, at the end of the last week, that the Scottish Land Court had ruled in […]
Hidden gem in the Harris hills
I usually prefer my hills to be above the 3,000 feet mark – and admit that, when the prospect of moving back home to Lewis was first suggested, I flat-out refused. “There are no Munros in Lewis.” It was simple, […]
Seeing it through to the end
Nearly three years ago, I brought you the story of a group of crofters who were taking on the might of the multinationals by applying to the Crofting Commission for the rights to develop wind farms on their common grazings, […]
Wintry surprises in the Cairngorms
Whatever your views of Munro bagging, it’s a fact that anyone who climbs all 282 will have got to know Scotland in a way that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. This was brought home to me earlier this month when, from […]
Listening on another level
A few days ago, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon declared a Climate Emergency, during her speech to the SNP conference. She pledged that Scotland would “lead by example” as our obligations to the next generation are “the most important we carry”. […]
Thoughts on International Women’s Day
A massive, celebratory, shout-out, this International Women’s Day, to all those women who strive for better, who go against the grain, who stick their heads above the parapet and generally dare to live their lives in a way that does […]
Think Different – its value and pricelessness
Something significant happened in my world this week – I set up as a limited company. Going limited has meant a mental shift in gear, as much as a legal or accounting one, and it is exciting. And it takes […]
Audacious and ambitious: Stornoway does War of The Worlds
“No one would have believed in the last years of the Nineteenth Century, that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space. No one could have dreamed we were being scrutinised, as someone with a microscope studies […]
Questions of governance at Stornoway Trust
So Lewis Wind Power were consulting yet again last week, on their fourth proposed version of Stornoway Wind Farm. What a complete mess this whole thing is. What I’m going to deal with in this blog, however, is not LWP’s […]