Podcasts about Cairngorms

Let's go on a Highland Safari in the Cairngorms National Park and spend time exploring the Snow Roads! ‘The Birds and the Trees' is a story about a scenic road trip through the Cairngorms, Scottish "wilderness" and what's left of it...This is a newly remastered version of a Wild for Scotland classic,  but even if you have heard to this story before, it's worth listening again!The story featured newly done soundscapes, and afterwards, you'll hear brand-new tips for wildlife watching in Scotland.*** Remastering stories is supported by the members of the Wild for Scotland Social Club

On this week's episode Equiteam's Liz Daniels welcomes International Endurance rider, Iain Paterson to the show. Having represented Scotland seven times, won a 100 mile endurance ride through the Cairngorms after finishing the race in 21 hours, and spent four days in South Africa to complete the 350km ‘Race the Wild Coast' on horses he didn't previously know, his Mum's decision to take him on a pleasure ride as a young boy after seeing he was losing interest in Pony Club certainly seemed to be a good life-shaping decision! Filled with passion and enthusiasm for both the welfare of his horses and the sport, Iain shares an insight into endurance riding, and his family's involvement in the sport and building the Tannasg Arabians Stud. Follow Iain or find out more about endurance: https://www.facebook.com/Tannasgarabians https://www.tannasgarabianstud.com/ https://www.scottishendurance.com/  

Iain is joined by adventurer Elise Wortley. In the last 7 years, Elise has taken on some hugely challenging projects to highlight some of the original – and largely forgotten - female mountaineers and explorers.  What makes her ‘Woman With Altitude' project unique is that she has climbed and trekked in places such as the Himalayas, the Alps and the Cairngorms using the same equipment and clothing that was available to her female predecessors at the time. We discuss what it's like trying to summit Mt Blanc in hobnail boots, how you source a wooden-framed backpack and the challenges of hiking in woollen knickerbockers.  Elise also featured in the Channel 4 programme ‘Alone' where she spend over a month in the Canadian wilderness completely alone.  Discount Code for Intersport Ski Hire If you are heading to the snow then don't forget that you can save money when you book your ski hire at intersportrent.com and use the code ‘SKIPODCAST'  You'll get a guaranteed discount for ski hire in France, Austria and Switzerland and to make it even simpler you don't even need to use the code, just take this link and your basket will automatically be reduced.  SHOW NOTES Listen to Iain's previous interviews with: ·       BBC Ski Sunday presenter Chemmy Alcott ·       GB Snowsport CEO, Vicky Gosling  ·       Former Erna Low MD Joanna Yellowlees-Bound ·       Team GB freestyle skier, Zoe Atkin Inghams are celebrating their 90th anniversary this winter (2:45) Take a look at Elise's website ‘Woman With Altitude' (3:30) Elise was inspired by Alexandra David-Neel's book ‘My Journey to Lhasa' (4:00) Nan Sheperd wrote ‘The Living Mountain' after hiking in the Cairngorms (11:30) Find out more about Iain's ski touring trip to Ben Lawers in Scotland (15:15) Find out more about Elise's Scottish adventure (15:30) Jane Inglis-Clarke founded the Ladies' Scottish Climbing Club in 1908 (17:00) Henriette d'Angeville was the first woman to climb Mont Blanc solo (17:30) Look out for Henriette on the mural in the centre of Chamonix (18:15) Elise's hobnail boots were supplied by shoe specialists Trickers (20:15) Dorothy Pilley wrote the book ‘Climbing Days' and was the co-founder of the Pinnacle Club (24:00) Elise travelled from Bastia to Monte Cinto in Corsica in February 2025 (24:30) Watch the Channel 4 series ‘Alone' (26:15) [Spoiler] Elise came second after spending 34 days in the Canadian wilderness (32:00) Elise will be returning to Chamonix in June 2025 to try and complete her recreation of Henriette d'Angeville's historic climb (33:00) Hotelplan are funding Elise's 2025 attempt on Mont Blanc (34:15) Only 2% of mountain guides are women (35:30) FEEDBACK (37:00) I enjoy all feedback about the show, I'm always interested to hear what you think, so if you enjoyed this episode, please do let me know on social @theskipodcast or by email theskipodcast@gmail.com  We've had a couple of items of feedback since the last podcast:  Emma Budget: “Fantastic podcast! My husband and I have been listening religiously since before Covid. Now that we're taking our first holidays as a young family, it's been so useful picking up tips and tricks from your episodes about skiing with kids! It's unbelievably rewarding skiing the slopes for the first time with them. Thanks for the podcast, we love it!” Ian Simpson: "Great podcast. Gives me so many travelling ideas especially by train. Any chance you could do one exploring by motorhome? Small community type resorts working together for the van people who like exploring the mountains in Europe." [Try this episode, Ian] There are now 253 episodes of The Ski Podcast to catch up with and 166 of those were listened to in the last week. If you've enjoyed this episode, why not to go theskipodcast.com and take a look around the tags and categories – you're bound to find something of interest.  If you like the podcast, there are three things you can do to help:    1) Follow us. Just take a look for that button and press it now  2) Give us a review or just leave a comment on Apple Podcasts or Spotify  3) Book your ski hire with Intersport Rent using the code ‘SKIPODCAST' or take this link You can follow Iain @skipedia and the podcast @theskipodcast. You can also follow us on WhatsApp for exclusive material released ahead of the podcast. 

We celebrate Burns Day on Out of Doors on the 265th anniversary of his birth. Mark chats to Professor Fiona Stafford from University of Oxford who writes about Burns ‘the bard of nature'. They chat about his understanding of ecology and how that comes through in his poetry.Rachel hears the good news story about Goldeneye Ducks in the Cairngorms. Goldeneyes are a protected species that have suffered severe population declines, with only around 200 pairs in the UK. But recent work has seen their numbers increase. She finds out what's behind the success.In our Scotland Outdoors podcast this week Helen Needham headed up Morven, a Corbett in Aberdeenshire with artist and adventurer Morven Stewart. We hear an excerpt where they chat about where her passion from sketching came from.No Burns Day would be complete without a haggis. Rachel heads to Glenesk where every year the locals make their own for the Tarfside Rural Burns supper. Anne Littlejohn lets Rachel into her kitchen to see the process- guts and all!We get a live update from the team at Ellisland Farm. Ellisland near Dumfries was built by Robert Burns in 1788 for his young wife Jean Armour and their family and it's where he penned some of his most famous work. The team at the Robert Burns Ellisland Trust was awarded funding last year which has allowed them to make plans to secure the property's future. We hear about what they've got in store.There are ambitious plans to completely transform a former opencast mine site at St Ninians in Fife. The land was purchased by community interest company National Pride over three years ago. Mark met chair of the company, Irene Bisset, at the site to hear about their hopes to create a facility that enables visitors to enjoy being close to the natural world.And we delve into the archive to hear a piece from 2020 where Mark and Euan visited the famous Globe Inn in Dumfries, a pub frequented by Burns after his move to Ellisland in 1788.

FEC208  Hello moi luverly FECers and this, believe it or not, is Front End Chatter episode 208 in a long-running series with him, believe it or not, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and him, believe it or not, Simon Hargreaves.   Believe it or not, you should get your bike insurance from Bennetts, Britain's best bike insurers and supporters of Front End Chatter since 1894, with massive range of savings and offers on all sorts of kit and caboodle, plus lots of cool policy add-ons like 90 days EU cover and common mods (like road legal exhausts) covered – as standard! And you also get free BikeSocial membership (which you can also buy for £60 regardless of your insurer), which gives you access to all the above offers and savings, plus VIP experiences, cheap track days; the list goes on. And don't forget to visit bikesocial.co.uk and their Youtube channel for all your biking media consumption needs.  And – last few rooms remaining on the FEC Highland Fling 2 – yes, ride Scotland's greatest hits this May with Simon and Martin, enjoying the best of the NC500, the best of the West Coast, and a romp through the Cairngorms, all while staying at the Aultguish Inn and partaking of libation in the evening. The dates for Fling 2 are arrival Thursday May 6th, departure Sunday May 10th. Visit bit.ly/fecfling2 for more info, or email anything@frontendchatter.com or Paul at MCI Tours – info@mcitours.com  And on that note, what's actually in the podcast? I'd tell you but, honestly, on this occasion it's easier to just listen! Email anything@frontendchatter.com with your thoughts and queries and stuff, and get Martin and Simon on some of the social medias: Insta:MufgaSimonhbikes BSky: @sihbikes.bsky.social @mufga.bsky.social    

Mehemet Karatay is a Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor, Winter Mountain Leader and Orienteering coach based in the Cairngorms. He is part of the Mountain Weather Information Service (MWIS) team and has a doctorate in Glaciology. Mehmet reveals the origins of his name, how he came to be a walker, climber and instructor in Scotland. We also talk about glaciology and forecasting for MWIS.

The team returns for a new year to consider what the big stories will be.  Budgets take centre stage, including alarm over university finances and the NHS. Money can be found for a broken mountain railway in the Cairngorms, so why not everywhere else? And will our politicians find a way to respond to Donald Trump and social media doomscroller-in-chief Elon Musk?

HOT NEWS! The FEC Highland Fling is here!  Yes folks, come ride with Simon and Martin in Scotland in May 2025 – we've booked an entire hotel in the heart of the Highlands as a base for three days of riding the most stunning loops around the most iconic routes in the UK. It's majestic, it's mind-blowing, it's the best riding – and the best hospitality – you'll get in 2025.  The FEC Highland Fling starts with a grand ride-in on Friday 2nd May through Glen Coe up to the hotel near Garve. After an evening of greetings and meetings, we'll spend the next three days exploring the finest roads and scenery Scotland has to offer – the north coast, west coast, and across to the Cairngorms, talking in all the Highland hits along the way. And, on the final night (Monday 5th May), Martin and Simon will host a special live episode of Front End Chatter.  To register your interest in the FC Highland Fling, please send an email to anything@frontendchatter.com titled "I'm interested in the FEC Highland Fling, please send me more info." We look forward to seeing you in Scotland in May! Meanwhile.... Hello and welcome to E206 of Front End Chatter, the UK's most Christmassy (he means 'Festive' – Ed) motorcycling podcast, brought to you gift-wrapped in last week's MCN by Simon Humbug Hargreaves and Martin Ho Ho Ho Fitz-Gibbons, supported as ever by the bike insurance baubles at Bennetts, and their multimedia minions at BikeSocial.co.uk. Get your insurance with Bennetts because their industry-wide offers and discounts will pay you back big time in 2025. Become a BikeSocial Member, take advantage, get involved, come to a discounted trackday and keep your eyes on your inbox for amazing events with which you can get involved. And on this week's FEC we have: • our fave bikes of 2024 (and a few of 2025) • more KTM woes, plus does talking about it make it worse?  • the last new bike news of 2024, Ducati's down-sized V2 Multi • plus a whole heap of nattering on topics raised by you, the FECers, sent in via email to the FEC-Sac, to anything@frontendchatter.com Please keep your thoughts and ideas and musings and fantasies coming in!  Thanks for listening, and see you in Scotland in May!  Bsky @sihbikes.bsky.social @mufga.bsky.social Insta simonhbikes mufga

Grab your hot chocolate (or mulled wine!) and get into the festive spirit with our Christmas special as we meet some reindeer, talk Christmas trees and explore a small but mighty wood with huge value for nature in the snowy Cairngorms National Park. We discover fascinating reindeer facts with Tilly and friends at The Cairngorm Reindeer Centre, and step into a winter wonderland at nearby Glencharnoch Wood with site manager Ross. We learn what makes a good Christmas tree, how the wood is helping to recover the old Caledonian pine forest of Scotland, why the site is so important to the community and which wildlife thrive here. You can also find out which tree can effectively clone itself, and is so tasty to insects that it developed the ability to shake them off! Don't forget to rate us and subscribe! Learn more about the Woodland Trust at woodlandtrust.org.uk Transcript You are listening to Woodland Walks, a podcast for the Woodland Trust presented by Adam Shaw. We protect and plant trees for people to enjoy, to fight climate change and to help wildlife thrive.  Adam: Well, today I'm in the Cairngorms in Scotland. In Scottish Gaelic, the area is called – I'm going to give this a go - Am Monadh Ruadh. Apologies for my pronunciation there, but we are in the midst of a mountain range in the Highlands, of Scotland obviously. Generally we're about 1,000 metres high here but the higher peaks I'm told get to about 1,300 metres odd, which is going on for, I don't know, 4,500 foot or so. So this is a very dramatic landscape. We have rocky outcrops, boulders, steep cliffs. It's home to bird species such as the dotterel, snow bunting, the curlew and red grouse, as well as mammals such as mountain hare. But the reason of course we are here this Christmas is because it is also home to Britain's only herd, I think, of reindeer. Now, the reindeer herder is Tilly. She is the expert here and I've been braving, I am braving the snow and icy winds to be introduced to her and the herd. And from there after that, we're going to take a drive to what I'm told is an amazing wooded landscape of Caledonian pine to talk all things pine, and of course, all things Christmas trees. But first of all, let's meet Tilly, who looks after the reindeer.  Adam: OK, we are recording.  Tilly: That's good. OK. I'd better not say anything naughty then.  Adam: I'll cut out any naughtiness, that's fine.  Tilly: This is a bit of a rustly bag. It's more rustly than normal but never mind.  Adam: What do the reindeer actually eat?  Tilly: Well, so. We're now up in their natural habitat and we're looking across a nice heathery hillside with sedges as well. You can just see them poking through the snow and they'll pick away at the old heather of the year and the sedges.  Adam: Right.  Tilly: But we manage the herd and we like to feed them. So what I've got in my bag is some food for them, which they love.  Adam: Right. And what's in your Santa sack of food now?   Tilly: Oh, that's a secret.   Adam: Oh, you can't tell me. Oh, God.  Tilly: No, no. I can tell you. So it's a cereal mix and there is something similar to what you would feed sheep. Bit of barley, bit of sheep mix.  Adam: That's awesome. So not mince pies and carrots? That's only reserved for Christmas Eve. That's probably not very good for them, I would have thought.  Tilly: Yeah, no, I hate to say this, but reindeer don't actually eat carrots.  Adam: Oh right okay, well, that's good to know.  Tilly: But if ever children bring carrots for them, I never turn them away because we're very good at making carrot soup and carrot cake.  Adam: Santa's helpers get the carrots.  Tilly: And I'm absolutely certain that Santa eats all the mince pies, so all good. So anyway, come on through here. We're going now into a 1000-acre enclosure. It just hooks on there, that's perfect, it goes right across. We could actually once we get close to these visitors are coming off from a hill visit this morning. So you'll be pleased to hear that I am the boss. I'm Mrs. boss man and I've been with the reindeer for 43 years. Now, their lifespan is sort of 12 to 15 years, so I've gone through many generations. I've known many lovely reindeer and there's always a favourite and you would have seen some real characters there today. And you couldn't see them in better conditions. Anyway, do get yourself down and warm yourselves up. Oh, you've done very well to bring a little one like that today.  Walker: He did pretty well until now!  Tilly: You've done extremely well. Of course they have. He's got very red, a bit like Rudolph. The thing is there's just that wind, and it's the wind that drops the temperature, that chill factor.  Adam: Yeah. So where are we going, Tilly?  Tilly: So we're heading out towards what we call Silver Mount. They're not in here all year. Different times of year, sometimes they're all free range, some of them are free ranging, some are in here.  Adam: When you speak about free range, literally they can go anywhere?  Tilly: Yes they can.  Adam: And they come back because they know where the food is?  Tilly: Yes they do. They know where the food is, they sort of know where the home is, but they do wander out onto the high ground as well, more in the summertime.   Adam: Right. And is that, I mean Scotland has different rules. There's a right to roam sort of rule here. Does that apply to reindeer? Is that the issue?  Tilly: That is a moot point.  Adam: Oh, really? We've hardly started and I've got into trouble.   Tilly: No. Well, we lease 6000 acres, right? So we lease everything out to the skyline.  Adam: So that's an extraordinary range for them.  Tilly: It is an extraordinary range, but they know no bounds. I have to say reindeer sometimes do just pop over the boundary.  Adam: And that causes problems with the neighbours?  Tilly: Well, some like it, some aren't so keen. And we herd them as well, so we can herd them home. And we herd them by calling them.  Adam: I was going to say, do you have a skidoo, or?  Tilly: No, no. Absolutely no vehicular access on the hill. It's all by Shanks's pony, everywhere.  Adam: Really. So you walk, and then you just ring a bell to herd them, or what do you do?  Tilly: And you ‘loooooow, come on now!' and they come to us.  Adam: Right. And so what was the call again?  Tilly: ‘Looow, come on now!'  Adam: Come on now, is that it? OK, very good. OK, I now move.  Tilly: Yes. But hopefully they won't all come rushing from over there.  Adam: I was going to say, yes, we've now called out the reindeer.  Tilly: We've just joined a cow and calf here, who have just come down to the gate, and you can see just for yourself, they're completely benign. They're so docile and quiet. There's no sort of kicking or pushing or anything. They're very, very gentle creatures.  Adam: And is that because they've been acclimatised because tourists come, or would that be their natural behaviour?  Tilly: It is their natural behaviour, bearing in mind that reindeer have been domesticated for thousands of years. We're not looking at a wild animal here that's got tame. We're looking at a domesticated animal.  Adam: Right.  Tilly: It's probably more used to people than some of the reindeer up in the Arctic. So we have domestication embedded in their genetics.  Adam: So what we're saying is, genetically, they're actually more docile. It's not because this particular reindeer is used to us. But originally then, if one goes back far enough, they were wilder?  Tilly: Yes so, it's a really interesting process of domestication of reindeer, which happened in the Old World, so Russia, Scandinavia, inner Mongolia, outer Mongolia. And that is reindeer and many, many reindeer in these Arctic areas, are domesticated. They're not wild.  Adam: And that started happening, do we have an idea when?  Tilly: Probably about 10,000 years ago. But if you go to the New World, to Alaska and North Canada, exactly the same animal is called a caribou. Caribou are never domesticated. The indigenous people of these areas never embraced the herding and enclosing of reindeer, which was caribou, whereas in the Old World it became very, very important to the men, the people's survival.  Adam: And then the caribou, do they have a different character?   Tilly: Yes, they're wilder. And it's a little bit difficult to show today – you see quite strong colour variation in reindeer, which you don't see in caribou, and colour variation is man's influence on selecting for colour. So you'd get very light coloured ones, you'd get white ones in reindeer, you'd get very dark ones, but in caribou they're all the same, brownie-grey colour. Yeah, they felt that the white reindeer were important in the herd for whatever reasons, Germanic reasons or whatever. Interestingly, the Sámi - and I'm not sure if there could be a white one up in the herd here at the moment - describe them as lazy reindeer, the white ones.  Adam: Why?  Tilly: Well, I didn't know why until I worked out why white reindeer are often deaf. So they sleep, they don't get up when everybody else gets up and moves, and this white reindeer doesn't realise that the herd has left them. So they're not all deaf, but certain white ones are.  Adam: Very important question, obvious but I didn't ask it to begin with because I'm a fool. Why are reindeer connected to Christmas?  Tilly: Well, that's a really good question, because actually they think it stems from a poet called Clement C Moore, who wrote a poem in America, he had Scandinavian Germanic connections, called The Night Before Christmas, where Donder, Blitzen, Cupid, Comet, fly through the air with Saint Nick in the sleigh, the little Santa.  Adam: Yeah.  Tilly: But, so that really set the scene of eight reindeer and the sleigh, and that was based on the Norwegian God Odin, who had eight legs and strode through the sky with these eight legs and eight reindeer. Then we have Rudolph, who turns up, but he doesn't turn up until the time of prohibition in America.  Adam: So Rudolph isn't in the original poem?  Tilly: Absolutely not. Rudolph is an impostor.  Adam: I didn't know that!  Tilly: He, so he, it was a marketing exercise for a department store during alcohol prohibition. And it was Rudolph with his red nose, and his red nose is because of alcohol.  Adam: Because he drank too much? So was it in favour of alcohol or was it going ‘what terrible thing happens to you when you drink'?  Tilly: I'm not terribly sure. But anyway, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was the song, so that adds to it. And then along comes Coca-Cola who used a red and white Santa to promote Coca-Cola at Christmas time. So the red and white Santa is Coca-Cola.  Adam: Right. And the red-nose reindeer is from alcohol and reindeer comes from an actual American poem, of which Rudolph wasn't part of anyway. That's all simple to understand then!  Tilly: Exactly. Perfect.  Adam: Well, we're moving up to some of the more exposed slopes. Tilly has gone ahead. I'm just going to catch up back with her, and ask how she started as one of UK's first reindeer herders. Well, certainly, one of our few reindeer experts.  Tilly: I came up to volunteer and I met the keeper who was looking after the reindeer for Dr Lindgren, who was the lady who brought them in with her husband, Mr Utsi, and he was quite good looking.   Adam: Is this a revelation you wish to make to them?  Tilly: And the reindeer were endearing, and the mountains were superb, and so I married the keeper.  Adam: Right, you did marry him! I thought you were telling me about another man other than your husband.  Tilly: So I married Alan. We married in 1983 and I've been here ever since.  Adam: And so the purpose of having reindeer here originally was what?  Tilly: Ah, good question. Mr Utsi came here and was very taken by the landscape and the environment, the habitat, because it was so similar to his own home country of north Sweden. And he begged the question where are the reindeer? Why are there not reindeer here? And it was on that notion that he and his wife, Dr Lindgren, devoted the latter half of their lives to bringing reindeer back to Scotland.  Adam: So that's interesting. So, it raises the difference of ecological or sort of natural question, of whether these are indigenous animals.  Tilly: Yes. So it's an interesting idea. Certainly, the habitat's available for them and they live in their natural environment. But when they became extinct, or not extinct, but when they weren't in Scotland, some people say as recently as 600 years ago and some people say as long as 2,000 years ago. If it's 2,000 years ago, they're described as a past native.  Adam: So OK, I didn't realise that, but is there any debate around whether they were originally - whatever originally is –  Tilly: They were definitely here.  Adam: So they are native? They're not sort of imported, they have died out and been brought back here.  Tilly: Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, they were reintroduced, but how, what that time span is, some people say sooner than later, and Mr Utsi certainly identified this as a very suitable spot for them.  Adam: Any idea why they might have died out? Do we know?  Tilly: Probably a bit of climate change and also probably hunting. Very easy animal to hunt. Are you OK with this chitter chatter going on?  Adam: Yes, it's all good, and a bit of, do you call it mooing?   Tilly: Oh no, the reindeer aren't making any noise, they're clicking.  Adam: Someone was mooing!  Tilly : I think it was the people.  Adam: I thought it was the reindeer making that noise.   Tilly: Not at all. They're very silent.   Adam: They'd have left this podcast thinking reindeer moo.  Tilly: They would have. Exactly. No, they are really, really silent animals.  Adam: There's a very large reindeer there coming down the road.  Tilly: Oh, that's OK, that's Akubra, he'll do nothing to you at all. He's an absolute genuine reindeer. He's lovely. But he listened to the clicking as they walk. You can't hear it because of your headphones.  Adam: OK, so I guess later on I'll put a microphone on a reindeer. That will be a first. One other thing I always imagined when you saw a set of antlers on a sort of grand Scottish mansion, I thought, oh well, they've killed that the reindeer. And actually, that's not true, is it? They fall off.  Tilly: They do. You're absolutely right. Having it depends how you see the antlers. If the antlers are still on a skull, that animal has been killed and there's nothing wrong with that. There is a, you know, the animals need to be controlled. But you're also right. Antlers are lost every year and regrown again, so they cast their antlers and they regrow their antlers. So in a reindeer's life, if a reindeer is 10 years old, he will have just grown his 11th set of antlers.  Adam: And the purpose of antlers is fighting? I'm a big girl, I'm a big boy, whatever.   Tilly: Yeah, mainly for fighting, a weapon. So for the big breeding males, it's for claiming harem for females, so in the breeding season. And those big breeding bulls will actually lose their antlers around about now, their antlers will fall off and then they won't regrow their antlers until next spring, right? The females, little females like this, keep those boney antlers all winter and they use them for competing for food, so they can jab another reindeer and push it off and they can get into the food as a result.   Adam: The other thing I can notice about some of them, but not the reindeer in front of us, but I think the one walking away, although this looks very bony, the other one has sort of felt on it, and what looks like blood. So what's going on there?  Tilly: Yes. So they are the velvet antlers on the Christmas reindeer that have finished growing, but they don't lose the velvet properly and there is still potentially blood in the bone, as it were.  Adam: So there's this sort of capillary underneath the felt.  Tilly: Yes, exactly, because the antler's a really interesting appendage because it grows from the tip. It doesn't grow from the base, so the blood supply has to go all the way to the tip to grow. And the velvet skin carries that blood supply.  Adam: Right. I see. So now the reindeer in front of us has no velvet so that can't grow.  Tilly: And no blood supply. Exactly. And the only way she can grow, get more antlers or bigger antlers, is to lose the whole thing and grow it again next year. Yes.  Adam: So any other serious facts we should note, to inform ourselves about reindeer?  Tilly: Oh, lots of serious facts. So they're the only deer species where the males and the females grow antlers. Every other deer species, it's only the males that grow the antlers. They are the only deer species that's been domesticated by man. All the other species of deer, we're talking about 40 different species, are all truly wild animals. They can survive in the coldest parts of the world, so in the middle of Siberia, the temperature can go down to -72 and reindeer are still living there quite happily.  Adam: It's cold today, but it's probably -2 or something.  Tilly: Exactly. Yeah, yeah. Man cannot live in the Arctic without an animal to live by, and it's reindeer that he lives by. Man would never have gone into these areas. Obviously now they're all digging up, you know, getting the oil and the gas and everything. But indigenous man can only survive in these areas if he has reindeer as his farm animal of the north, so they're really important to the indigenous people of the north.  Adam: And in that sort of role, then, you can clearly eat reindeer. Then what else does it provide us?  Tilly: Absolutely. So it provides with meat. There are indigenous people that milk them in season. They have these tremendous coats that are used for covering tents and for people's, you know, clothing. And the antlers? Not now, but the antlers would have been used as tools in the past.  Adam: And have you ever had reindeer milk?  Tilly: I have tried, yes, we have milked the odd reindeer for one reason or another. It's very rich, very rich.  Adam: You have! Rich, is that good or quite fatty? Is it drinkable?  Tilly: That's good. Yeah, it's totally drinkable. Totally nice.  Adam: Yeah, I think yaks or a drink made from yaks, which was disgusting, I found in Mongolia, but I really found it difficult. It wasn't my thing.  Tilly: But it wasn't the fermented one, was it? Because in Mongolia they're into fermented mare's milk.   Adam: That might be what I had.  Tilly: And that is revolting.   Adam: Yes, OK, that's maybe what I had. How unusual is reindeer milk then?  Tilly: Yeah. It's got a very high fat content. They produce very little milk, because if you had a great big swinging under in in freezing conditions, you'd have ice cream, you wouldn't have milk.  Adam: The other thing I noticed that we haven't talked about is their hooves which look quite large and they look, I mean just from a distance, quite mobile.  Tilly: Yes. They are very, very, very flexible animals and their feet, their hooves are very big. Of course, for snow. Walking on the snow, spreading the weight, but also great shovels for digging. So they dig. You know, if you're in two feet, three feet of snow in north Sweden, you've got to get to the food underneath and to get to it, they need to dig. So they're great diggers.  Adam: And your life now here. It's quite a change from where you grew up, I appreciate.  Tilly: Certain years, a very rural life I had then. I have an equally country-wise life now. I will go to my grave with reindeer. They are my complete nutter passion. They are the most wonderful animals to be amongst, they put a smile on your face. They live in a beautiful area. They're just, they're just lovely animals and they give me a lot of pleasure. Yeah, yeah.  Adam: Fantastic. And if people are in the Cairngorms and want to have their own trip to see the reindeer, they call the what?  Tilly: They call the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre. You could do it on the website, you can ring us up and they need to dress up. I'm sure you appreciate you, are your feet cold yet?  Adam: No, look, I stopped off and bought extra thermals on my way.  Tilly: Very good.  Adam: Well, thank you very much. It's been a real treat, thank you very much.  Tilly: Brilliant. Oh, well, thank you for coming.  Adam: Well, I'm afraid I'm having to leave the reindeer behind because we're now heading to a little lower ground to see what I'm told is an amazing forest of Caledonian pine. And to learn a bit more about the trees and their relative, the other pine, which we all know as the Christmas tree. And we're off to meet a guy who looks after the Glencharnoch Wood in Carrbridge, near the River Spey and Dulnain. And now, despite it, it's a quite a small forest, I think. But despite that, it's quite well known for being really important, really big on biodiversity. And it's home to a number of species including, but not just them, but including the red squirrel and the crested tit.  Ross: My name's Ross Watson. I'm the site manager for North Scotland for the Woodland Trust.  Adam: Brilliant. Ross, we have come on an extraordinary day. It has snowed. It looks picturesque, chocolate box, shortbread box maybe, type stuff, so fantastic. So just tell me where we are.  Ross: Well, we're in Glencharnoch wood. It's a wood that the Woodland Trust owns and it's part of a series of little woodlands on the back of Carrbridge between Carrbridge and the railway. And the Woodland Trust has had it for a number of years. It's a little site, only 36 acres, but it's a pine wood site and a really important pine wood site at that, in that it's a small part of much bigger Caledonian forests.  Adam: OK. Well, I want to talk to you about pine wood, because I think it just sort of gets dismissed – ‘oh this pine wood, not important, not interesting'. Apart from Christmas, perhaps, when suddenly it becomes really important, but I want to unpack all of that with you, but just explain to you we're going to go on a little walk. Hopefully you know where you're going. Good. All right, so just explain a bit about where we're going, give me a sense of the pattern of where we're going.  Ross: Absolutely. We're going to take a circular walk around the woodlands. The woodlands here, it's all about community. Everything we do here is around that tree. We're going to walk through a piece of land that's owned by the local authority and then go through our own land and onto privately owned land and then come back to our own land. And it really shows the connectivity of all these different habitats, all the different landowners. But really the path network is there for the community that's here and they are involved in practice as well.  Adam: So. Pine wood. Yeah, it sort of gets bunched all together, and especially the Scots pine I hear a lot about. But there are there are big, big differences and varieties are there? Tell me a bit about them.  Ross: The Scots pine we are walking through are really special species. That's the only native conifer in the UK, right? And that's why they're so special here. Really these Scots pine provide their own habitat all of their own. They're incredibly threatened. As a habitat in Scotland, we've got just a number of Caledonian pine inventory sites. We've got ancient woodlands, designated sites.  Adam: Sorry, just to stop you - Caledonian pine, Scots pine, interchangeable words?  Ross: Yeah, good point. The Great Wood of Caledon was the reference of the name of the forest that was here, the old, the original boreal forest that gradually reduced in size. Partly through climate change as the country became cooler and wetter, but also through human intervention through felling, fires, grazing, all that kind of thing. So now we tend to talk about Scots pine and Cally pine which can be fairly interchangeable, but the Cally pine tends to be the bigger, grander kind of granny pines, these really lovely old things you see in some of the landscapes.  Adam: But that's sort of just the way people use the word. Technically, they're the same thing, but we refer to the Caledonian pine as the big grand ones, and it comes from… so I just want to make sure I understood what you said. The word Caledonian pine then comes from a Caledonian, a forest called Caledonia?   Ross: Yeah, the Great Wood of Caledon.   Adam: Isn't that a brilliant name? So mystical and it sort of talks of Tolkien and other worlds. Wow, wow. OK. So we have the great Scots pine, the Caledonian pine. If people have a general thing in their mind about pine trees, what is special about Caledonian pine? How that distinguishes from pines in other parts of the world.  Ross: Well, Scots pine, as we're walking through this woodland, just now as you look up the trunks of the trees, as you look up the bark tends to go from a kind of grey-brown to a real kind of russety red, like a red squirrel colour. And that's a lot of the red squirrel camouflage comes from that, that rusty colour. So they're skittering around these treetops and they can be jumping around and they're nice and camouflaged because of that colour. So is that redness that you really see? But what we can see in here, a lot of these trees are very even age, it has been quite heavily thinned in the past, but then you come across a tree like this that's got a very deep crown. So you see there's live branches more than halfway down that tree, whereas there's a lot of these other trees -  Adam: Yes, I was going to say it's weird that they've got no foliage until very high.  Ross: Yeah, so this tree here, and foresters may call this a wolf tree, a tree that has occupied a space and it's just sat there and doesn't allow anything around it.   Adam: It's called a wolf tree?  Ross: Some people would refer to it as a wolf tree. What we would refer to that is it's a deep crown tree, not very imaginatively named, but a deep crown tree is really important here because of capercaillie. Now, capercaillie, you imagine a capercaillie's a big bird, a turkey-sized bird, almost waist height, a male capercaillie. And in the winter it will walk out across these branches and it will nibble away at some of the needles, and it will sit there and it will rely on that during deep snow for shelter, security, food. So without these deep crown trees, there isn't anywhere for them to go. So if you imagine a plantation, a very dense pine that are much denser than this and they don't have the chance for any deep crown trees. Then the opportunity for capercaillie here is much reduced.  Adam: Right. So there's sort of, I mean, look the elephant in the room. Well, it's Christmas around the corner. People have Christmas trees. Sort of most people know anything about pine, it's because they have it in their house at Christmas. That's not a Scots pine.  Ross: No, your traditional Christmas tree is a Nordmann fir. A fir tree tends to hold onto needles a little longer than a pine tree. And if you look after the pine, it will retain its needles, but quite often the pine trees will grow slightly too quickly, so it'll be a bit bare as a Christmas tree, whereas a fir tree is kind of hairy enough to be a good Christmas tree.  Adam: Right. And do we have, do we have them planted in the UK as well? I mean just for commercial cropping?  Ross: Yes, as a Christmas tree.  Adam: Right. So the other thing, look, we're in a really lovely forest at the moment. We're the only ones here. But Scotland, the iconic pictures of Scotland, are bare, bare mountains, aren't they? They're not wooded, and yet I've always read that that's not how it used to be. It used to be a wooded part of the country. Why did it lose so much of its woodland?  Ross: Well, it's looking back to, what, centuries ago as the climate became cooler and wetter, the tree line reduced in height. But more recently in the 1800s the Cultural Revolution created huge periods of felling where they needed this timber for industrialization. Trees from the woodlands near here were cut down, they were floated down to the river Spey and then out to Spey Bay and the Moray coast. They were used for underground water piping for ship's masts. Because these trees are, as you can feel today it's a cold place to be, they've grown very slowly. So because they're nice and straight as we can see, they are, the rings are very close together, so they're very sturdy. They're an ideal timber source. But then we start to look at deer numbers increasing and sheep numbers increasing. The more mouths on the hill meant that once you cut these trees down, it was much harder for the trees to come away again. And really, that's the landscape we're in now really. And when we're talking about those very large, deep crowned trees on open hillsides, these kind of granny pines are so picturesque, and really a lot of these trees, there was no timber value in them because they were already so crooked and they were left, and this is almost a remnant that's showcasing the old forest that once was standing there.  Adam: A lot of times, site managers, they're trying to keep things steady in a way, I suppose. Just trying to maintain what's going, keep that going, that's hard enough. Is that the job here or do you have bigger plans? Are there, you know, times are changing?  Ross: Well, this is one of eight woodlands I look after across the north of Scotland. Whenever we're doing anything, no matter what the scale of it, it's not just how do we keep the site going and kind of steady. It's about when we are doing work, how do we add value to that to make it better for the people that are living here? And how do we use that to continue to showcase these sites as the shop window for the Woodland Trust?  Adam: And is the idea here to try and remove the non-Scots pine, so you'd have a pure Scots pine forest?  Ross: Well, the Woodland Trust works on a on a threat basis really. So any tree is better than no tree, right? But if you have got a lot of spruce regeneration that's threatening this ancient wood then we need to begin to remove that. And that's been the case here.  Adam: Sorry I'm pausing because there's a lovely spaniel who I can see wants me to throw a stick, but I won't throw the stick. Very cool dog. There we are. Sorry, we were saying yes, so any tree is better than no tree. But are the other trees a threat then or not?  Ross: Well, the Norway spruce here has been seeding regeneration into the woodland areas and over the last few years we've cleared a lot of that and in some of these nice young spruce, we've been able to provide to the community for Christmas trees, which has been really handy. But all of that is gone now and we're left with this core of, of mature Norway spruce, that a number of them have started to snap so are becoming a safety issue for members of the public using footpaths next to it. But also there's an opportunity there where before that timber dies, we can extract it and it can be useful for the community.  Adam: And you'd replace it with Scots pines.  Ross: No, we're going to replace it predominantly with hazel and aspen. Because one of the slight concerns in having a single species stand, like we have here, where it's all Scots pine, is that there's only one species for the likes of red squirrels or the crossbills. And on a day like today we might hear crossbows coming over. There's only one species here for them, whereas if we're planting hazel, which is under-represented species here, that provides a different food for red squirrels in a different part of the woodland. And aspen is one of the most biodiverse species that we would have in this part of the world. And there are very, very few aspen.  Adam: When you say it's the most biodiverse species, you mean it attracts biodiversity?  Ross: Absolutely yes. In terms of the lower plant assemblage that's on there specifically and insects. And aspen, their Latin name is Populus tremula and the tremula comes from the oval shape on the leaf. Just in the slightest breeze, it's adapted that to try and shake off the insect burden because the leaves are so palatable for insects.  Adam: So the shape of the leaf in wind -  Ross: The shape of this stock of the leaf is oval.  Adam: And that helps shift any insects.   Ross: Yeah, yeah.   Adam: It's interesting because aspen, in my ignorance, I associate with aspen in America, but it's a native UK tree.  Ross: It is, yeah. And it will be one of the first colonisers after the Ice Age. That's, an aspen will have, the seed will have blown down as the ice is receding. But some of the aspen that are here now will be some of the oldest trees that exist in the UK and aspen generally now grows rhizomatously, so you'll see the roots through the forest and all of the suckers will pop out. And the aspen that we can see in the woodland today, they could have been here for hundreds, maybe thousands of years, and they've just, as the clone has marched through the landscape, it's just it's moved and colonised these different areas. They're fascinating trees. So when you look at some of the images in North America, you might see entire hillsides of aspen and that could all be the same tree essentially, they're amazing organisms.  Adam: That's amazing. So it's sort of cloning really.   Ross: Yeah, absolutely.  Adam: That's amazing. And also I can see right on the Scots pine behind you, beautiful lichen, which is just a real sign of the air quality here, isn't it? I mean, it doesn't grow and it's just often further south. We do see lichen, obviously, but often I see a bit. This is everywhere. It's a real sign this is good land.  Ross: Absolutely, yeah.  Adam: Good land, good air. Wonderful. Well, I'm going to take another shot of our colleague down below. Hello. Wearing a lovely red hat, almost looks like Santa. And then we'll move on. So we're going uphill a bit, you might just hear the snow crunching under my boots. So this is amazing. A wolf peeking out from the woods, which adds to the fairy tale quality of all of this forest walk. This is not a real wolf. This is carved in wood. It looks really beautiful and it's covered in snow at the moment, which maybe is why I didn't spot it at first. So what's the story here?  Ross: Well, the story here is that Carrbridge hosts the Scottish chainsaw carving competition every year at the end of August, and there are chainsaw artists coming from all over the world to compete here to do some incredibly elaborate carvings. They do benches and three-to-four-metre statues and it's absolutely incredible.   Adam: This is very delicate that I'm surprised this would be done with a chainsaw.  Ross: Yeah, it's a very specialist skill as you can see, and people have to be very artistic. You have to be very good with the saw, but also the bar of the saw is a specialist carving tool. But then they also can use all sorts of other implements to try and refine the artwork itself. And this is just one part of that much larger chainsaw carving trail that's in Carrbridge that really commemorates this annual event.  Adam: Amazing. Well, we'll leave the wolf. It's got even a little dark nose. Amazing. A little dog, a real dog this time. Well, yes, just to prove it. We've just seen some reindeer. Obviously they're a type of deer. Are they as much of a problem as the normal red deer that we know about? So what's your view on them?  Ross: Well, red deer, the numbers are extremely high in some places and in the Cairngorms, they're generally much better managed. But in other places where there just isn't that, that integration or the objectives are yet to be aligned with protected areas, the numbers in those places need to come down, but recognising that there are different objectives, there are different landowners who want to do different things with land. So in recognising and respecting those objectives, but generally, ideal numbers need to come down and they need to come down a lot in order for trees and woodland to recover.  Adam: But that's deer in general, just because it's Christmas, I just have reindeer on the mind. You don't see many reindeer here. Or any reindeer here?  Ross: No, you see them up in the Cairngorms, right?   Adam: Right. Another pitstop. I see some lichen with some snow on it. I should turn them into Christmas cards. I won't, but that's what I should do. So if there was a sort of a final thought you wanted people to take away about this forest or about Caledonian pines you're trying to protect and grow here, what might that be?  Ross: Well, for this woodland, and as I say, it's only 36 acres in size, it's a fairly small wood. But it's not to discount that, and we talk about the hundreds of ants nests, the crossbills, the crested tits, it's woodlands like this can punch way above their weight. But also woodlands like this connected together provide a much larger, integrated robust habitat. And it's just thinking along these lines that this, this woodland, although it has the A9 on one side, it's got roads on two other sides, it's got a forest adventure park there and to the other side, it feels like a woodland that could be squeezed, but it can also feel like a woodland that is a part of this much larger landscape and contributing to that. And I suppose in part it depends on how you view that, yeah. But the woodland is connected to its woodlands round about, so it's definitely playing its part and part of that recovery of the old Caledonian pine forest of Scotland, as small as it is.  Adam: It's been a real treat for you to guide us through it on such a special snowy Christmas-y day. So thank you very much indeed.   Ross: No problem.   Adam: Well, it's been a fantastic day. Which leaves me just say from the land of reindeer and Caledonian pine, can I wish you a very happy, peaceful and joyous Christmas and New Year? And I do hope that wherever you are, you are able to share the joy of this season and that you'll join us in the New Year for lots more podcasts and tree adventures. Until then, from all of us in the Woodland Trust podcast team, to all of you, can we wish you a happy Christmas and a great New Year and of course, happy wanderings.  Thank you for listening to the Woodland Trust Woodland Walks. Join us next month when Adam will be taking another walk in the company of Woodland Trust staff, partners and volunteers. And don't forget to subscribe to the series on iTunes or wherever you are listening. And do give us a review and a rating. If you want to find out more about our woods and those that are close to you, check out the Woodland Trust website. Just head to the visiting woods pages. Thank you. 

In Scottish lore, a mysterious figure is said to haunt the summit of Ben Macdhui, the highest peak in the Cairngorms of Scotland. Described as a towering, shadowy presence, the entity is often associated with feelings of unease, dread, or even panic among those who encounter it. Witnesses have reported hearing eerie, echoing footsteps, seeing fleeting shadows, and experiencing a sense of being followed when alone on the mountain. While some attribute the phenomenon to natural causes like atmospheric conditions or psychological effects, others believe it is a supernatural guardian of the peak. Whether legend or reality, its enigmatic presence adds an air of mystery to one of Scotland's most remote and rugged landscapes.Join Gary and GoldieAnn as they climb Within the Mists of Scotland to investigate the Am Fear Liath Mòr, also known as the Big Grey man of Ben Macdhui. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Scottish lore, a mysterious figure is said to haunt the summit of Ben Macdhui, the highest peak in the Cairngorms of Scotland. Described as a towering, shadowy presence, the entity is often associated with feelings of unease, dread, or even panic among those who encounter it. Witnesses have reported hearing eerie, echoing footsteps, seeing fleeting shadows, and experiencing a sense of being followed when alone on the mountain. While some attribute the phenomenon to natural causes like atmospheric conditions or psychological effects, others believe it is a supernatural guardian of the peak. Whether legend or reality, its enigmatic presence adds an air of mystery to one of Scotland's most remote and rugged landscapes.Join Gary and GoldieAnn as they climb Within the Mists of Scotland to investigate the Am Fear Liath Mòr, also known as the Big Grey man of Ben Macdhui. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'A Coorie Winter' is a story about getting cosy (or 'coorie') in the great outdoors during the Scottish winter months. We're heading to the Cairngorms National Park and the Moray Coast for stops in Aviemore, Tomintoul and Findhorn.In each location, we're trying another coorie winter activity, from hiking with reindeer on the Cairngorm plateau to sweating in a wood-fired sauna with sea views and star gazing at the Cairngorms Dark Sky Park. Things don't always go as planned, but that's part of any winter adventure to Scotland...Visit our website to find the full show notes incl. the transcript and links to places I mention in this episode.Sponsor: This episode is sponsored by Birch Grove Cabin. Book now at birchgrovecabin.co.uk and quote “Wild for Scotland” to get 10% off your stay from December to February 2024. Coming to Scotland? Start planning your trip to Scotland with my FREE Trip Planning Checklist. Get it here! Browse my Scotland itineraries for your next trip.Help us spread the word about Wild for Scotland! If you hear something you like in this episode, take a screenshot and share what you like about it on your Instagram stories. And tag us @wildforscotland so we can say thank you!Join our email list for weekly resources and glimpses behind the scenes.Follow us on Instagram @wildforscotlandAlso check out my Scotland blog Watch Me See!

The great Victorian collector of minerals Matthew Heddle mentions two places in particular for the finding of aquamarine in Scotland, one the island of Arran and the other a mountain in the Cairngorms. But locating these gems is another story.The Cairngorm mountains are a kind of fortress. There is nowhere else like them in Scotland. You enter their world from one side or another and thereafter are inside them until you withdraw once more. You become aware of other noises than the ones that dominate our days: you hear streams, the breeze lifting the pine trees, the wind in the high hills once you have climbed into them. It's an elemental place: pure and to all intents and purposes undamaged, undisturbed.Kenneth Steven explores the history of this semi-precious stone and reflects in poetry on his finds.Presenter Kenneth Steven Producer Mark RickardsA Whistledown Scotland production

The Forth Bridges Trail is a five-mile circular route which brings together various points of interest in North and South Queensferry and crosses the Forth Road Bridge. New stops were added onto the route earlier this year, so Mark took a wander along part of it to hear about the area's fascinating history.When you think of Beaver reintroduction sites you probably imagine the Cairngorms, Knapdale or rural Tayside but certainly not the heart of London. A few weeks ago, Rachel went to visit The Ealing Beaver Project where beavers are making their home right beside a retail park! Dr Sean McCormack gave her a tour and explained how they hope the beavers, who have been relocated from Scotland, might help with flooding in the area.At the end of the summer Mark visited Loch Katrine, home to the Steamship Sir Walter Scott. But the Loch is also home to other boats and Mark went to speak to one man who's been restoring his very own steamship.We're joined live by Dr Cat Barlow, project manager with the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project who tells us about their plans to expand and re-introduce the species to England and Wales following their success in Scotland.Next month, the winners of the BBC's Food and Farming Awards will be unveiled at a ceremony in Glasgow. Out of Doors and Landward have our own category – the BBC Scotland Food Hero award. Over the past few weeks Rachel has been visiting the three finalists, and this week we hear from the Cosaig Growers. Back in 2016, Kate Wieteska and Jake Butcher bought a challenging piece of land on a hill in the north west Highlands and since then they've completely transformed it in order to grow fruit and vegetables. Rachel paid them a visit while they were getting on with some scything.We hear a short Islay folktale recorded on our recent trip to the island which is home to lots of fantastic myths and stories.In this week's Scotland Outdoors podcast we feature the latest instalment of Mark's journey along the Stevenson Way which is based on the novel Kidnapped. We hear an extract where Mark hears about a real event, the Appin Murder of 1752 which is one of the most notorious of its kind in Scottish history.

An initiative has been launched in the Cairngorms National Park to save and restore one of Scotland's most important yet endangered native tree species. The new partnership between Trees for Life and the Cairngorms National Park Authority, working with Cairngorms Aspen Group, aims to map, expand, and connect aspen - an essential but now rare feature of the Caledonian forest. Aspen provides a habitat for a wide range of rare fungi, lichens, mosses, and moths - but although once common, it has now largely disappeared from Scotland's landscapes. Experts believe aspen has suffered more from deforestation than any other native tree in Scotland. The new Cairngorms Aspen Network is bringing together experts, enthusiasts, and land managers to take action to identify and then restore aspen-rich habitats, and so boost wildlife and threatened species. It will also raise awareness about the importance of aspen. A healthy, functional aspen network will help build resilience against climate change and biodiversity loss, says the Network. "The new Aspen network will offer much-needed hope for tackling nature and climate emergencies by developing a restored, better-connected, and healthier aspen network. By working together, we can improve the future of our aspen woodlands and the life they bring with them," said Niamh Byrne, Aspen Project Officer at rewilding charity Trees for Life. Aspen has been hit especially hard by deforestation and overgrazing, largely because it rarely flowers or sets seeds in Scotland, for reasons that remain unclear. This means once it is lost from an area, aspen is unlikely to return on its own. The tree's survival is threatened in the Highlands, where it now often only regenerates on rocky slopes or cliffs, out of the reach of grazing animals. Such small fragmented stands - sometimes a handful of old trees growing off the same root system - are geographically isolated and cannot provide a proper habitat for the many species that depend on them. Fragmentation of native woodlands also reduces aspen's chances of reproduction, while new growth by suckers from a parent plant is often grazed before it can flourish. Characterised by shimmering foliage in summer and leaves that turn a stunning golden yellow in the autumn, and able to grow at elevations of up to 550 metres, aspen is extremely important for many reasons. Aspen grows fast and dies young - meaning it efficiently locks away carbon. Aspen's high rate of leaf fall and production of deadwood enriches soils, which creates optimum conditions for other plants and trees. Over 60 insect species are known to feed on aspen foliage in Scotland. Young aspen shoots provide food for caterpillars of the rare dark-bordered beauty moth, while the endangered aspen hoverfly favours aspen deadwood. The tree is also highly valued by beavers. Sarah Henshall, Head of Conservation for the Cairngorms National Park Authority, said: "Aspen is a priority species in Cairngorms National Park and a hugely important resource for rare and threatened wildlife. Aspen also makes a significant contribution towards healthy and resilient nature networks in the National Park." The project's first stage, being carried out by Trees for Life, is mapping the location, condition, and health of the Cairngorms National Park's existing aspen, alongside key plants and animals that depend on the tree. This mapping will help identify key sites and management priorities, including growing and planting plans for creating a thriving new network of aspen, and will create a blueprint for an effective approach to aspen conservation that could be rolled out across Scotland. As the project develops, it is hoped there will also be scope for local volunteers to get involved, including by gaining hands-on rewilding experience and receiving training for carrying out aspen surveys. Trees for Life has been working to restore aspen to the Highlands since 1991, including by growing and planting thousands of young aspen tre...

When she was 16, Lise Wortley read a book by the explorer Alexandra David-Neel, who had undertaken a 14-year journey through Asia. The idea of it stayed with her until ten years later, when she was searching for a way to improve her mental health. It dawned on her that David-Neel and other female adventurers like Nan Shepherd and Henriette D'Angeville, were far less well-known than their male counterparts. She set out to change that, by the incredible method of recreating their journeys, in the clothing they wore at the time.  Join Lise now in the Cairngorms, to hear her stories of spending a month walking in the tweeds and poncho tent that Nan shepherd wore, travelling in David-Neel's yak wool coat and preparing for an ascent of Mont Blanc in Henriette D'angeville's tiny shoes. Lise is an ambassador for Passenger Clothing a responsible outdoor clothing brand with a mission to inspire meaningful escapism. This summer we've been working with them on a few different exciting projects including a series of videos with some of this season's podcast guests. We've also teamed up to create a pop-up holiday bus in the Lake District. Thank you to them for sponsoring this podcast episode. https://www.passenger-clothing.com/ https://www.canopyandstars.co.uk/britain/england/cumbria/hinterlandes/little-firs-from-passenger https://www.instagram.com/woman_with_altitude/ A Life More Wild is an 18Sixty production, brought to you by Canopy & Stars. Production by Clarissa Maycock. Our theme music is by Billie Marten. 

Mark Stephen meets Morag Skelton at Glenmore Lodge in the Cairngorms

We are in East Lothian with Patricia Stephen, founder of Phantassie Organic Produce. They head out to the fields during pumpkin planting and chat about the growth in organic food and farming over recent years.Friday 12th July was the launch of this year's Big Butterfly Count organised by the charity Butterfly Conservation. Mark met Apithanny Bourne, their East Scotland branch chair, at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to find out more about the count and see if they could spot the elusive Holly Blue.In this week's Scotland Outdoors podcast, Helen Needham is in rural Wales with musician Owen Shiers. Owen lives in a housing cooperative in Ceredigion which was formerly a sheep farm and is now a woodland. He explained how that process had happened and they chat about the concept of rewilding.A year ago, Mark headed out on a trip with Hans Unkles, co-owner of Scotland's first ever electric, solar-powered fishing vessel. A couple of weeks ago, Mark and Rachel caught up with Hans to hear how the first year of the boat has gone and if anyone has been inspired to follow in his footsteps.The Pine Hoverfly is one of the rarest species in Scotland. It used to thrive in Pine woodlands across the country but is now confined to just a small area of the Cairngorms. Rachel visits the Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie where the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland are working on a breeding programme. Dr Helen Taylor told her about the project which has involved releasing thousands of eggs and larvae into the Cairngorms National Park in an attempt to save the species from extinction.Farmer turned comedian Jim Smith has become pretty well known across Scotland over the last few years, especially in farming circles. He's appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, on TV and radio and now he has his own BBC Radio 4 series- Me and the Farmer. Jim chats to us live about his journey from cattle to comedy.Two years ago, journalist Paul English encountered a team of archaeologists exploring a patch of land in Govan in Glasgow. The team, from the University of Glasgow, were taking part in a research project to uncover what they could of the one remaining site of the Glasgow Garden Festival of 1988. Paul recently went back to catch up with the team and see what treasures they'd uncovered.While on the outskirts of Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago, Mark bumped into a man on a strange looking electric bike. It turned out to be Jim Gayes who is working with the charity Sustrans on mapping the off-road National Cycle Network. He explained more about how the bike system works and why the mapping is important.

A rainy morning in Glenmore Forest in the Cairngorms national park in Scotland, on the walk towards Meall a' Bhuachaille. A picturesque autumnal forest with lots of yellow and red leaves, as well as pine trees.  Walking in one of the highest parts of the Cairngorms, but it was very hard to see due to bad weather and dense grey cloud, following a natural rocky path and recording one of the many streams, with absolutely no other people around.  Recorded by Giulia Biasibetti.

We go off the beaten track with Kennedy Warne, who has just returned from an expedition in Scotland. He will detail what he got up to, and talk about the life and writing of Nan Shepherd - a mountain walker in the Cairngorms, whose memoir The Living Mountain is a classic of outdoors literature.

21st April 2024 The Spokesmen Cycling Podcast EPISODE 352: Laura Laker SPONSOR: Tern Bicycles HOST: Carlton Reid GUEST: Laura Laker LINKS: https://www.the-spokesmen.com/ https://www.ternbicycles.com https://twitter.com/CarltonReid https://twitter.com/laura_laker https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/potholes-and-pavements-9781399406468/ Carlton Reid 0:11 Welcome to Episode 352 of the Spokesmen cycling podcast. This show was engineered on Sunday, April 21 2024. David Bernstein 0:28 The Spokesmen cycling roundtable podcast is brought to you by Tern bicycles. The good people at Tern are committed to building bikes that are useful enough to ride every day and dependable enough to carry the people you love. In other words, they make the kind of bikes that they want to ride. Tern has e-bikes for every type of rider. Whether you're commuting, taking your kids to school or even carrying another adult, visit www.ternbicycles.com. That's t e r n bicycles.com to learn more. Carlton Reid 1:04 I'm Carlton Reid and today's show is a chat with like journalist Laura Laker, author of an excellent new book, Potholes and Pavements. This is a travelogue featuring Laura's travels around the UK, writing on some of the best and worst bits of Britain's National Cycle network. From jaw droppingly gorgeous looking ancient military roads in the Highlands of Scotland to dark and dingy urban back streets blocked with barriers. As the books subhead warns, it's a bumpy ride. Um, so you've written a book. Is this your first? Laura Laker 1:46 Yeah, my first my first book, believe it or not, Carlton Reid 1:49 well done. Congratulations. It's a brilliant first book. One of many. I'm sure it'll be one of many. I noticed you've got a an agent. Yeah, you say in the back and thank him. So I'm guessing you're going to be doing more books? Laura Laker 2:00 Yeah, I guess so. I'm not trying to think about it too much. This one was very long in the gestation. I had an idea back in 2017 to do a basically ring around talking to people. I'd listened to the audiobook of John Steinbeck's Travels with Charlie, in which he travels across the US with his big poodle, and talking to people and he says he's most wonderful conversations, which were later question for their veracity, but it's just, it's just a wonderful format. And I love I'd kind of in that trip to America, I rediscovered my love of talking to strangers, which I had as a kid, and I'm kind of lost over the years, I guess, being British, but spending time in the US where everyone is just willing to talk to you and tell you their life story. I rediscovered this just love of cycling, is brilliant for that, you know, just talking to people you're travelling around, you might stop at some lights, or you might pass someone on a path and just get chatting to them. And it's wonderful people have the most amazing stories, I think Carlton Reid 2:59 Well, there's two teachers that you met, hopefully they will read the book. You weren't avoiding them. Laura Laker 3:07 I know Greg and Norton, they were so brilliant. And the most unexpected encounters and I was up in the Cairngorms and travelling alone and feeling a bit like oh, you know, such a beautiful, it's ridiculously beautiful up there. I'm always just astounded by Scotland, and how how it's possible for somewhere to be so beautiful. And the NCN [National Cycle Network] across the Cairngorms is something else, it's really quite remarkable. A lot of its off road, it's this dedicated path. It was an old military road. And the rest is on fairly quiet country roads. And I was pootling along on my big pink ebike, which I did some of my adventures on and I saw these roadies coming up behind me and I thought well that they're going to overtake me in a bit. And sure enough, they did. We said hello. And then I saw them stopped at this bridge and they were looking over and they just had this wonderful kind of whimsy about them this they weren't they were going a long way actually they're going from kind of Aviemore back to Preston where they were at least one of them lived and doing it over a couple of days in sort of training one of them's an Ironman enthusiastic participants, but on the way they were stopping looking over bridges, that sort of waterfalls over rocks and like looking across the landscape and just enjoying the scenery. And that for me is what cycling is about. It's about appreciating the world around us and the people around us and so they said we'll ride with us for a while and as you know ebike your Aberdeen bought a bike mine included, maxes out at 15 and a half miles an hour which these guys were obviously capable of exceeding quite easily. So but they they rode with me for quite some time and we chatted and they were just fantastic. And then yeah, they they stopped for a week and I had to run inside for a week. And then I came out and they'd gone Carlton Reid 4:51 but it's quite a nice way to say goodbye. Are you are you are you taking notes as you're going along? So you wrote their names and what they did. And or you coding stuff. How are you physically? Laura Laker 5:02 Yeah, so I get back at the end of a ride and write stuff down. And I do think it's best that way, especially with travel writing, because you forget so much so quickly. And the big three Cornwall, I think is, you know, in the early parts of the book, when I first started the exploration, further afield, you know, writing stuff down as you experience it, or very soon after is really important because you lose a lot of the detail and the texture of what you're experiencing. And I think it just makes for much richer story that way, but also difficult to do because you're having to memorise and maybe that's why Steinbeck was getting criticised because he wasn't writing No, no. As he was going along, he's remembering it. Well, memories can do. Memory is really interesting, actually. Because we we probably most of us think that our memories are fairly good, or the way that remember things is correct. But actually, it's very, very subjective. And the longer time goes on, the more we forget, or the memory gets warped, or things get introduced that didn't exist, maybe and it's really very, very subjective. I've got I don't know for some things, I've got quite a good short term memory so I can remember to a certain extent, but obviously, as Homer Simpson once said, you know, one thing comes into your brain another thing has to leave it so. Carlton Reid 6:23 That's 100% me though. So this book Potholes and Pavements, a bumpy ride on Britain's National Cycle network, it comes out May the ninth published by Bloomsbur. £16.99. Excellent, excellent book. I read it yesterday and got up early this morning to make sure I finished it before I spoke with you. Now normally when when I talk to people for this podcast, I always get them to send me a photograph so I can do the you know, the socials and the thing that goes on the show notes. What have you with you, oh, an hour and a half to do that. Because I have ridden with you ridden with you on bits of the ride that you are right that you mentioned in your book. So when you mentioned that, you know the cycle superhighway. You make an item was like, I've got that photograph because I was holding my camera photographing you behind me? Laura Laker 7:20 Yeah, with Brian Deegan. Carlton Reid 7:21 There's knowing smiles when I'm reading your books like I was on that ride. Like I know, Laura. Oh, my word. It's also like me on that ride. And when you describe windmills, yes. But the windmills and it's a cute book for me. Also cute because I know lots of these people who you're describing. And I know in the book, it says he didn't want to be described as a hero. But he is a hero. And because it's about the National Cycle network, then clearly that's got to be the guy who not single handedly founded it, but certainly pushed it through with those with those early innovators. So that's John Grimshaw. So he comes in, he's, he's in at least three or four parts of the book, you've clearly gone to speak to him a number of times wonderful. And it's fantastic that he's in there, because he really doesn't get the recognition he deserves. Laura Laker 8:16 Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, he I obviously have to speak to John Grimshaw. Because a lot of people as he points out, and as I tried to convey in the book, a lot of people and probably, you know, uncountable numbers of people were involved in the foundation of and development of the National Cycle network. And then it's maintenance ever since many of whom are working for very little, in fact, nothing, because they loved it. But John really seemed like, talking to people and talking to him, was the driving this real driving force behind it and his kind of self belief and single minded determination, I think was a major driver and he is such a character. I mean, a bit of a Marmite character, I think, but, you know, it seems like you need people to kind of drive things forward. Carlton Reid 9:05 Cos you need somebody like that. He's a visionary. Yeah, you know. I love Malcolm Shepherd. I love Zavier Brice, the people who are in charge now and Malcolm was the guy who came in after after John. But Malcolm wasn't a visionary. Malcolm was an accountant. And when when the organisation any organisation any business gets big, then you very often need somebody else to take over. And there's lots of faction there at the time. You don't go into it in a great detail. That was enormous friction there and there's still enormous amount of bad blood between people. Laura Laker 9:46 Yeah, and it's interesting because Caroline Lovatt. Here's another key figure from fairly early on and still works with John today. On there, they're still building cycle routes under a different organisation, cycle routes and greenways and Um, she says that, you know, for for years, according to her, John kept disappearing from the kind of record of that of the history of the NCN on Wikipedia, she kept putting him back in. And um, yeah, I mean, the story was, and that was a difficult part of it to tell. But it was one that had to be mentioned, I didn't want to go too into it. But obviously, you know, John, leaving Sustrans under fairly strange circumstances, and really against his will, was was part of the story that needed to be told. And it was a different and I spoke to a number of people and nobody really, I think, you know, there were potentially nondisclosure agreements. And so nobody really talks about what exactly happened, which is why I call I mentioned the omerta. Because it really seems like everyone has a slightly different story, or, and I and again, I, you know, it's memory and it was a painful time. And it was a long time ago. And it's quite common, as you say, with new organisations, you've got this big driving force, but then sometimes they're not the person to carry on leading an organisation once the first major thing is done, and, you know, they might not be great with people is, you know, having a skill to start and drive something is not the same as being a sort of manager of people and diplomats. And it's, yeah, it's quite often it's a painful process, certainly not unique, I think. Carlton Reid 11:16 No, it's very common for that kind of thing to happen. However, saying that it's very important to recognise who was that visionary? And I think he lost an awful lot of that. So, so wonderful to see John. central to that. So that's really nice part of the book because I, you know, John, John is a wonderful, wonderful guy, and absolutely, this would not have happened without him. I know, there's lots of other people you know, David Sproxton, all these kind of people were there at the same time, George Ferguson. So So Sproxton was Aardman Animation. So people who know admire animation, George Ferguson, Mayor of Bristol, at one point, all these individuals were there at the time, but it needed that guiding force that needed that. Just somebody who woulda just said no, and just went ahead and did it. That was that was the ethos of Sustrans in the early days. So that Laura Laker 12:12 Yeah, yeah, because the status quo then as it is, today, is very much stacked against cycling routes happening. And so you kind of need a rebel who's not willing, who's you know, not willing to take no for an answer? Who's going to be able to make things happen? And I think in a way that kind of, I guess, you know, being from a fairly well off upper middle class background, you have the confidence really the education that kind of gives you that confidence and and then the character and self belief to just to drive that forward. Carlton Reid 12:47 Mmm. That you didn't mention not even once Cycling, Touring Club CTC cycling UK. Because the book isn't in all cycling, you are you are laser focused on the National Cycle network. But there was also friction between those two organisations, you know, stranden effect was an upstart organisation, then it got for £42.5 million with Meatloaf handing that over on TV or that kind of stuff. And there was there was an awful lot of friction between still is between strands and and what is today cycling UK. So you haven't got into that at all. What Why didn't you go into that? Is that just because you wanted to just stay laser focused on the cycle network? Laura Laker 13:36 I mean, I mentioned that not everyone felt that Sustrans was being helpful because they felt that cycle route should be delivered by government and charities stepping in. And taking that role almost allows the government to say, well, you know, someone's doing it. Now. We don't need to get involved. But I mentioned the kind of tension between certain types of cyclists. I think I might quote to you, I think I've got you in the references on that. But I mean, I don't know if I just don't know how. I don't know. It's yeah, it's a tricky one. It's how much to include, and you always have to make these decisions, what to include and what not to include, and I guess I just didn't feel like that was a key part of the story at all. There was some thinking at the time around that but and I'm aware that there was tension and I know that Mark Strong for one who gets quite a mention in the book, talked about Sustrans being too successful and not successful enough in that, you know, they were doing this job notionally? No, they were doing a great job for with what they had and who they were and ie not the government and with not very much money but they were doing enough just to allow the government to just say, You know what, well Sustrans is delivering the National Cycle network, tick, job done. Let's get back to the serious business of roads. Carlton Reid 15:01 because there is there is you meant we will get on to the very positive points, you've got like a bunch of what what do you call it in the book where you've got a whole bunch of asks basically? Oh, yeah, the manifesto, the manifesto. There you go. Number one, we'll go through these points. 10 point manifesto. So there's some positive stuff to talk about that. But you don't really mention that there's this that, you know, you're talking about, you know, this should be funded nationally, and there is that struggle, bear with you know, this is a charity, etc, etc. But then you've also got the weakness of you have actually got to at least have British Cycling as well, three competing organisations, going to government and asking for money for various things. And wouldn't it be nicer and more practical and may even get more stuff? If there's only one organisation so there is that there is the absolute fault line running through cycling? That is one of the reasons why it's very easy for the government to not do stuff because they're getting told different things by different organisations and one organisation saying don't back them back us. So there's that kind of friction there. Laura Laker 16:22 I don't know if that's if I see it that way. I mean, Sustrans cycling UK, and British Cycling, and things like livable streets are all part of the walking and cycling Alliance. And I think what that what that's trying to do is to unify the voice, because ultimately they want the same thing. I mean, British cycling's coming at it from a sports point of view. But recognising that its members also need safe roads to cycle on. And that means a whole host of other things, safe protected routes in cities. And that's popular with members. And then cycling UK, originally a touring group, now a charity that lobbies for Safe Routes, safe conditions, and also delivers stuff for government, such as what to fix your ride, and a bunch of other things. And then Sustrans is a National Cycle network and behaviour change programmes. So there are overlaps, but I do think they are distinct. And I don't see I don't see it as I mean, they probably have internal, you know, perspectives on things and perhaps don't always agree with what the other one was doing. But I think I think they tend to present a fairly unified front these days. Carlton Reid 17:30 They're not as bad nowadays. I mean, it's when you get rid of it certainly did not get rid. That's the That's the wrong phrase. When individuals leave organisations, it can change because a new people come in, and you know, those alliances are, that's what you're just used to. But you know, before that alliance was put in place, they were cats and dogs, they were really hating on each other and slagging each other off to government as well. So that's why government was able to go up. This cycling is just mad look, these these, you know, what they, these three cats in a sack just fighting each other. Laura Laker 18:03 And then you saw, I mean, I think I talked about, you know, Malcolm Shepherd, who was the CEO after John Grimshaw. He went to ministers, and he was saying, why aren't we getting the funding we asked for? Or why are we getting taken seriously, I think was the question. And he was told, Well, you don't ask for enough money, basically. So they were thinking and perhaps this kind of historic infighting is also a function of the fact that these were kind of fledgling organisations to an extent for some time, not very much funding. They were run by enthusiasts probably, who all had their own ideas. And of course, let's not forget that there were also the vehicular ISTS who didn't even believe that we needed cycling's of which I think cycling UK early on was one and that might explain why they disagree with Sustrans who were trying to yes, no, there was a whole cohort who stands for that reason, absolutely. 100%. So maybe that, you know, it perhaps is a function of just the whole movement being in its infancy. I mean, it's been going for a good 40 or so years, but I don't know, maybe it was maybe it was just run by enthusiasts for a very long time. And that's why it's taken a while to kind of mature but also I think it was going I mean, our cycling lobby, organisations were kind of leading the way for much longer than a lot of European countries in a nice talk about this in the book in countries like France and in the Netherlands and in Denmark, they all started their calls for National Cycle networks or at least safe routes, thanks to charities and voluntary organisations. And then fairly quickly, were all taken on by the government who saw this as a piece of infrastructure firstly, quite often for leisure, but then they realised people were using these routes for commuting trips, and it was it needed to be part of the infrastructure and was taken up with great enthusiasm and in Sweden as well. By the various local departments and regional governments and delivered quite quickly and at quite a kind of scale. And that hasn't really happened here. And so perhaps those kinds of just the longevity of those cycling groups being so crucial to anything that happens for cycling, has kind of made this whole, I don't know, split more important than it would have otherwise been. Carlton Reid 20:24 Yeah. And like in the Netherlands, the the organization's tried to fight against this, but the government tax cyclists, and cyclists actually paid for the roads. Laura Laker 20:34 They did, that's right. Carlton Reid 20:37 But it's the very fact and this was a cyclist at the time were fighting against, they didn't want to be taxed. In the UK, and the Netherlands, they were taxed. And then cyclists became national infrastructure. And that became critical, as you say, and the fact that you know, there wasn't, there was some national infrastructure, obviously, I've done this the 1930 cycleways project. But the CTC is the British Cycling as of the time fought against all of this, they fought against taxation, they fought against cycle routes. And so there is there is some argument to be made that cyclists have been their own worst enemy. So I know in the book, you're saying, you know, it's just such a no brainer. And it is to back, you know, for want of a better word or phrase active travel. Now, in the book, you've got various people are saying we should call it something different. Laura Laker 21:27 Yeah, Lee Craigie. Carlton Reid 21:27 yeah. Yeah. But, you know, cycling has been difficult, at the same time. And it's like, what's happening in Wales, and in Scotland, is inspiring, possibly, because it's actually coming from above. A lot of it, you know, there's obviously enthusiastic people working on the ground, etc. But a lot of this is coming from government ministers. So that helps. Yeah. And, Laura Laker 21:54 I mean, we have this idea, and I'm sure we're not alone. And this point you just made and the example of the taxing of the cyclists in the Netherlands, which is something I learned during doing the research for the book, I didn't actually know about this, but I, you know, the reason we lost the railways that then became a lot of these greenways was because, you know, we see transport as needing to wash its own face needing to fund itself. And the railways at the time, were losing money for most of the routes. And so that was the reasoning. And, you know, with roads, obviously, drivers are taxed it's not sort of ring fence funding. It's not a road tax, it's, but you know, it is making the Treasury money and cycling has never really done that. And I, I think fundamentally, the way that way of thinking about transport is wrong, because of the benefits, the much wider benefits that transport gives us in terms of, you know, being able to access education and health and social opportunities and for our physical and mental health. And it's, its benefits span far beyond its own kind of silo. But we don't really see it that way. And I'm not really sure actually, if anywhere managers to think of it this way, but I think post pandemic, things like free bus services and in different countries has maybe illustrated that people are starting to think about it differently. But ultimately, I think it's it's a very tricky one. Because like you say, we in a way we weren't, we were own worst enemy in terms of our predecessors in the cycling world. But we were working within philosophy that's that dictated that actually, if you're going to build something, you know, who's making money from it, or, you know, how is the Treasury getting that investment back and not really seeing it as this makes people healthier? Or this gives them opportunities or promotes businesses, local tourism? And all of this? So yeah, I mean, if we'd done it differently, who who knows of cyclists in the UK? So fine, we'll pay a tax. Who knows? We might have an NCN now, but, and even today, it's a little bit of an uncomfortable conversation, isn't it? Because, you know, nobody wants to be taxed. Carlton Reid 24:02 So the book is, it's a polemic in many ways, not not all the way through. But there are definitely bits in there that are strident. And I cannot argue with at all I'm reading it nodding along. And certainly the bits about like the national infrastructure, right, and it's all being spent on roads. And it's it's the so many reasons why that is crazy. Yeah, and why spending even just a fraction of the roads budget on on a national cycle network, you know, genuinely joined up one high quality would bring many more, many more benefits. And then you've got and the irony is, and I did a new story on this is, you have a government minister, who has written the foreword to your book, and he said This is not government minister, a former government minister, a former Transport Minister, Jesse Norman, and then it's like, why don't you do this when you're in power? It's great. You've said it. It's wonderful that you're saying all these things. But you could have done this, you could have pushed for this. And he was also the Financial Secretary of the Treasury. Yeah, he could have released money. Yeah, let me see what he says. But Laura Laker 25:26 it's so difficult, isn't it? And it's, again, it's kind of facing it's the status quo. I mean, it's, I think, maybe important to remember, and I'm not making excuses for anyone. But, you know, he was a junior minister, certainly in his first round is cycling minister. And so he would have had to tow the party line. So I don't know how easy it is for. I mean, he's a very intelligent guy. He cares about cycling. But then he's part of a system, which ultimately, I guess, maintains the status quo doesn't want to upset the applecart. And that's why, in the manifesto, I, you know, I think it's so important that people speak up for these things, because I think until there's an outcry for it, it's very difficult for any one minister, unless we have a cycling Prime Minister, to change all of this. There's a lot of vested interests in maintaining, you know, roads for cars, keeping car manufacturing, going and, you know, taxation on cars is going to be very problematic, because obviously EVs electric vehicles don't pay, you know, drivers with EVs don't pay cortex. So what's gonna happen there? But yeah, I mean, it's difficult, but I think people need to speak up for this kind of thing. We get a lot of kickback pushback from people when there's cycle routes coming. But those are the minority. And one thing I tried to highlight in the book is that most people want this once cycling routes, they they want other options and to drive. And, you know, between two thirds and four fifths of people in representative polls say that they'd support this and many of them, even if it meant taking road space away from motor vehicles. But that's not what politicians listen to. And I think increasingly, politicians are listening to angry people on Twitter. And you know, if Mark Harper's comments about LTNs and 15 minute neighbourhoods is anything to go by, which was straight out of the kind of conspiracy theorists, Twitter playbook, you know, they're listening to the loudest voices. And I think until people say, you know, we actually want choice. We don't want to have to breathe polluted air, we don't want to have our neighbourhoods dominated by motor vehicles. We want our kids to be able to go to school safely. I think it's gonna be difficult for things to change. Carlton Reid 27:45 Hmm. So you have mentioned a variety of routes that are actually pretty good. So yeah, Keswick one is one of them. Laura Laker 27:55 Threlkeld, yes. Carlton Reid 27:58 And that's why I know, I know the route well, as good as now, you know, a cycleway there because that was that was long in gestation. But basically, it's it's it's, it's popular. You know, people say, oh, like, but that's a popular route now, isn't it? Laura Laker 28:15 Yeah, yeah, people drive there. And I mean, that was that was interesting for a number of reasons. I mean, incredibly beautiful. It sort of weaves through Greta gorge, which is just this kind of just this amazing landscape, this sort of rocky river which meanders through this very deep wooded valley. And it's on a former rail line. And it was, which storm was it was it 2015, there was a big storm, which basically crumbled a couple of the bridges with the sheer volume of water that ended up going through this narrow gorge. And then it was out of action for a couple of years. And that was an important, crucial route and a tourist attraction for local businesses. One pub owner apparently offered the local council, I think it was the national parks something like 30 grand out of his own pocket, reopened the route, but it was actually a sort of 2 million pound job. So that wasn't going to go all the way. But you know, this was a really important tourist attraction for people and people drive there because there aren't safe routes to get to and from the ends, so people drive and park and then cycle along it and cycle back. But yeah, it's popular, it's really popular. And they when they put the bridges, the new bridges in Sustrans with various parts of funding, they resurfaced it and there was a big hoo ha about putting tarmac on instead of the gravel that had been there before. But that actually opened up it up to far more people, including people who use wheelchairs and mobility scooters, because any sort of rough surface or uneven ground can tip someone in a wheelchair and it effectively makes these routes unusable. And this is something that I really learned in the book and feel very strongly about now. And there was a big outcry nationally about tarmacking this path because it's in the Lake District and everyone's He has an opinion about the Lake District even if they've just been there once and we all feel like we own it because it's such a beautiful place and I guess rightly so. We all care about it. Carlton Reid 30:07 The Lakers. Laura Laker 30:09 Lakers, my people. Yeah. The people who holidayed in the lakes were known as the Lakers. Yeah, which is brilliant. So yeah, they, you know, they held their ground and they tarmac it and you know, the numbers increased drastically. And this story plays out all over the country, wherever there's a improve surface on a path. Suddenly, it's open to everyone. And this is what this is what cycle rich should be in, in my opinion, it should be open to everyone. Carlton Reid 30:37 Yeah, it's like the cinder path. That's the Sustrans route national cycling group from from Whitby to Scarborough. That was the one that had a load of of people complaining because Cinder path you know, they were going to be tarmacking just parts of it. And lots of people are saying you know but this this this will you know, destroy it or whenever lots of yobs in and it just never got done. And then it's it's impossible for a lot of the year because it's just it gets just too rutted into mud into too horrible. And this is, you know, we discard it would just be so easy. You know, between these two conurbations and small conurbations, if you could ride there on an all year round an all weather path? Laura Laker 31:21 So yeah, I do. I do worry about this, because it's, you know, they say it's an effect gentrification. And you're you're bringing, you know, urban into the countryside yet. There's roads everywhere, and they got tarmac on, and nobody seems to be kicking up a fuss there. What's What's your problem? Yeah, I know. And I think it's just we have this idea about what the cycle routes should be or could be, and we see them as leisure routes quite a lot of the time, we have this kind of set idea about cycling, that it's not, you know, it's not a commuter option, or, but you know, it is, but it goes beyond that. And it is about who can access these parts. And quite often, having an uneven surface will lock a lot of people out. And you know, we're an ageing population in this country. And as we get older, we will all have disabilities, and mobility issues. And it shouldn't be that you know, these paths are any open to a few people. But yeah, it's a difficult one. And we would like to say we've never think twice about it for roads, we've never think about having a road as a dirt path. And I can you know, visually tarmac is not a beautiful thing, but I think if people understood that actually, it's it's not just about the visuals. This is about people and this is what these parts are for they're for people. Carlton Reid 32:34 Well you can make if you want it to be just that colour, you can make the the asphalt you can you can you can dye the asphalt. So it's it's more expensive. But you can you can do all sorts of treatments you can do to make it all weather doesn't have to look, you know, black. Yeah. So anyway, so let's go to another assessment. That's some negative ones. Where they tried to be certain, but then you point out the Polgate one, between Polgate and Glynde, which is almost happened to you by by mistake. Not mistake, but it's certainly a by accident. Yeah. And you're talking about it being just brilliant. So describe that one. Laura Laker 33:11 That's amazing. Yeah. So I was told about this. And then I know someone who lives in Lewis, which is at one end of it. And so we we we met at the station and cycled along this path. And so it's beside the A27, which is a national highways road. And it's right by the sales downs, which is hugely popular with cyclists. And basically, there were so many people cycling on this incredibly terrifying road. It's one of those narrow and winding A roads with huge volumes of traffic. I mean, I went on a walking trip near Louis the other day, and I had to cross it with no crossing and it was it was genuinely terrifying. I can't imagine people cycling on it, because it's, you know, six months. So yeah, anyway, people were being held up in their cars because of people cycling. And so national highways decided it was going to build a path alongside and it's this this was a real eye opener for me because they had done what needs to happen around the country. They had built a path behind the hedge row, which is wide and tarmac and smooze with lots of planting and culverts and bridges over rivers and and they just laid it you know, very little problem. I don't know if they owned the land or perhaps compulsory purchase probably a mixture of I think it was a mixture of both. And so they built this amazing kind of 10 kilometre joyful route, which is just you know, it's just like a road. It's like no stress. You just carry on. There was someone on the mobility scooter the day I was there, a couple of people on bikes, but it was basically hadn't opened yet. And yeah, it was just there. But it's quite funny because at either end, it just stopped because then that's the local councils job to kind of deliver it beyond. But you know, it shows what's possible if you have a national body with the power and the funding, and they have, you know, multi year funding pots which helps plan and deliver this stuff and they just did it, they just sort of swept aside all of the normal problems that I talked about in the book that usually dog these cycle routes. And yeah, it's quite, it was quite marvellous, quite Carlton Reid 35:11 I found it fascinating because one of the things you say is, as we just mentioned there, it, it was an effective bill to get the cyclists off the road. We made enough nuisance of ourselves, that is 1930s to a tee, you know, the transport, you know, built those 500 miles of cycle tracks in the 1930s to Dutch standards laced around the country. Some of them weren't brilliant, but some of them were amazing, you know, 12 foot wide Dutch Dutch level, concrete curbs, you know, perfectly brilliant bits of cycling infrastructure that are now just some of them are white elephants, because they didn't link up to anywhere. But, you know, the government at the time said, Oh, we're doing this for the safety. No, they weren't they were doing it to you know, get cyclists on the road because we're slowing down motorists, but you kind of almost don't care if if if you get a really superlative route behind the hedgerows. Yeah. Okay. It's such a difference. Yeah. That's the difference. It's got to be good. You can't just fob you off with shared route pavement, which is what yeah, the criticism of Sustrans has been is like there's so many shared route pavement. And that's why Sustrans got a bad rap, even though it wasn't their fault. And they were just trying to fill in the gaps. Laura Laker 36:28 That yeah, yeah. And yeah, they just have to use whatever was there, which was quite often a pavement along what would have been a not too busy road in the 70s or 80s. But it's now a sort of thundering highway and being on a pavement with no barrier between you and or no, no sort of space between you and the 60 mile an hour traffic is far from pleasant, and no, no, no parent is going to choose to cycle on that. If they have any other choice, you know, they're going to avoid that like the plague because you know, one little wobble or mistake and then you know, it's horrific there, you know, possible outcomes. But yeah, it's you know, it's, it's fantastic. Because you don't even barely know the roads there. It's just cool. It's just gorgeous. I'd like to go back actually, because it's been a good year, I think since I saw it. At least actually. Maybe Yeah, I think it's at least a year and yeah, let's see how the trees are bedding in and because it was brand new at the time it just been done. But yeah, it is. Ultimately it is possible. And regardless of the motivations it just goes to show what's possible. I liked recently because Andy Streets and his Walking and Cycling Commissioner Adam Tranter he's on my podcast. They announced they're going to deliver the HS2 cycleway alongside in and around HS2 between Coventry and Birmingham. And when they get to Kenilworth, they're basically connecting up to one of their 1930 cycleways into Coventry. So I quite like that, you know, it's sort of linking something that's already there. And Carlton Reid 38:01 yeah, and that's also a John Grimshaw project, wasn't it? That was that was a John Grimshaw. Laura Laker 38:05 Yeah. He cycled the whole thing. Yes. Yes, he's been he's been trying to get that one, you know, for a lot for a long time. And yeah, it does stand alone. No, you need really, you need the HS2, of course, just stand alone without it. Carlton Reid 38:21 It does. Yeah, saying that, it would have absolutely been put in at the same time, that would not have been the difference. So that is point three. So in your 10 Point manifesto, that's basically work together a behind the hedgeroq Act, compulsory purchase orders, all these kinds of things that only government can do. Yeah. needs to be brought in into play. Yeah. And then you you've said and it's very ambitious. But when you think about it's like, yeah, you could do this easily. And that is you know, if if this was done and if money was provided, and compulsory purchase orders were put in like you would do for roads, you can have an unbelievably fantastic truly superlative national cycling in four years. Laura Laker 39:02 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Brian Deegan active travel England reckoned reckoned on this, because, you know, they have such a huge amount of power and to take go to build a cycle, which basically takes three years generally you do you have a year to kind of plan it a year to consult and tweak and then a year to build it. And for that you need multi year funding, because without that, you can't plan anything, basically. And that's why we've ended up bits and bobs of improvements, because it's like, you get the money, you have to spend it pretty much immediately. But yeah, I mean, the amount of funding a body like national highways has would be enough to you know, link these existing routes. Sometimes there are quiet roads, you know, I guess, in the Netherlands, you have through roads and access roads, things like low traffic neighbourhoods, in the countryside. That is a that is a kind of measure that you can do. And some of it it doesn't all have to be Are these sort of high quality pieces of massive engineering cycle routes, either behind the hedge row or on main roads? Some of it can just be tweaking kind of existing infrastructure so that it's not not every road as a through road. But yes, it's some it's amazing. And I kind of did a double take when I heard this. But when we put our mind to something, it's amazing what's possible. Carlton Reid 40:24 And potentially, we will see the fruits of this in Scotland, and Wales, Scotland, Wales are putting in some really ambitious stuff. And Mark Drakeford going, you know, will they backtrack on the 20 mile limit? And will they, you know, reverse a lot of stuff that Lee Waters that all this kind of stuff is potentially up in the air? We don't know yet. Yeah. But Scotland does seem to be, you know, putting their money where their mouth is, you know, that the amount of money that's going in there, per head, dwarfs what we see here in England. So the potentially you've got, you've got like, in five years, you could have something incredible. In Scottish cities in Glasgow. Yeah. You're talking about Glasgow? Laura Laker 41:09 Yeah. And yeah, Glasgow was amazing. I mean, that was the first time I'd been to Glasgow, on that trip. And I was blown away, actually. So they're developing a city wide network of routes, they're lowering in bridges across, they've got this very kind of, I guess, I guess they had this, at the time, they were building roads, they had a very ambitious programme of building like highways. And maybe that's about the culture of the city that when something comes along, when an idea comes along, they kind of embrace it. Whereas Edinburgh has historically been much more conservative. And so when, when highways when sort of urban highways came along the bond level load of those, and now cycling is seen as this big sort of saviour of health and climates and all of these important things, they're going all out on cycle routes, which is fantastic. And yeah, I was really blown away by what they're doing really high quality protected routes with planting alongside, you know, for extreme weather, it's really important to have permeable and green planting on tarmac. And, yeah, and these beautiful bridges and this massive bridge that I saw, and you know, they're really, really ambitious, I think, I've got a piece coming out about Edinburgh in the next week or so. And it talks about the difficulties that Edinburgh has faced very, very different than the city very conservative. But similarly, it's had a huge amount of funding. And I think they're finally getting to the tipping point there where they're starting to deliver real change, you know, hopefully. But yeah, it's, you know, the money's there, I think there's still difficulties with politics. So they've got these active freeways, which would be a kind of National Cycle network for Scotland, these rural routes, you know, the plan is there, or at least the idea is there, but it's not being rolled out yet. So who knows what's going to happen with that, but definitely, the funding and having that long term funding does make it much easier. I'd really love to see Scotland, you know, doing big things. And I think Scotland and Wales have been very, very forward thinking and a lot of things got maybe Scotland particularly, and more consistently than Wales, because as you say, there's a bit of a question mark. Now over Wales, they've, you know, they had the active travel act, they arguably took term coined the phrase active travel with the active travel act about a decade ago. And yeah, but stuff, you know, they have the policy, they had the money, but again, it's very, very slow to change. And I don't know, maybe they maybe if Westminster were a bit more proactive and supportive, it will be easier, who knows, but you're always going to come up against these kinds of difficulties, local politics and stuff, but I think money talks, you know, the money's there for it local investment, which Council isn't going to want public realm improvements, and you know, health. Carlton Reid 43:49 Money is number one, in your manifesto, so it's funded, and okay, we get the money from it. Here's what you say, stop expanding road capacity, and we have delivered a comprehensive network of cycling and walking routes. Hallelujah. Yeah, exactly. It's just like, you know, we've got so many roads, why can't we have more and more and more and more, as we know, it just fills up with traffic if we're gonna have build it and they will come Okay, let's do it for bikes. Now. You know, roads have had eighty years of this, let's have 10 years for for bikes, but walking and . It's just, it's a no brainer. And the LTNs thing kind of like it's so frustrating. Because we're only talking like a few streets. We're not we're not talking. That's when you hear you know, the the shock jocks you'd think is every single road in the country is going to be catered and you're going to hand it to cyclists. That's, that's how it's portrayed. And we're actually you know, maybe maybe a fraction of 1% of roads. really, genuinely is all too Talking about is currently got anyway. Yeah, having safe cycle routes, you know, don't get it get blown up by us people like us journalists, Laura, we're to blame for misrepresenting this. That's that's, that doesn't say good things about our profession, does it? Laura Laker 45:22 No. And I think I think I mean, it speaks to the kind of economics of journalism that, you know, people want eyeballs on stories nowadays because it's that's what makes advertising revenue funding for journalism is fallen off a cliff. And I think this is sort of desperation about the industry at the moment. But, you know, I think it's important to remember that the people shouting against this stuff are a minority, and most people want this stuff or are willing to try it and see, and most of us want quiet, safe streets, we want our kids to be able to play out in safety, we want clean air, we want, you know, peace and quiet. And I think because we haven't seen it, a lot of cases, it's difficult to imagine. But you know, ultimately, these things happen. There's, there's a pushback from a handful of people who are noisy, but I think if we have conversations about, you know, what we could, what we could get from these improvements from these schemes, then it's much positive way of talking about it. Of course, that's not how news works. And I think that's why we need leaders who are willing to sort of look beyond that short period in which a lot of journalists are shouting, and a few people, some of whom have genuine concerns and need to be listened to a shouting and listen to them. But you know, this is something that people want actually, and, you know, the benefits so enormous. Once it's happened, I don't think people would want to go back. Carlton Reid 46:46 Yeah, this is the thing. It's like, a good example is Northumberland Street and Newcastle, which is a pedestrianised street used to be the A1, you know, really the central state through the centre of Newcastle. It's I think, outside of central London, Mayfair on Oxford Street. It's the highest grossing per square foot retail zone in the country, because it was pedestrianised. And it just made it easier. And nobody in their right mind would say, we need to make that the a one again, guys, you know, let's get the cars and buses soaring and you just wouldn't do it. But Newcastle spent the best part of 20 years doing this, it wasn't an overnight thing. We had to spend a long time, a lot of angst getting it done, but nobody would wish it away now. And that's what when we're not getting with all these LTNs and all these cycles, if only if we put them in, nobody would complain about them. Not really not once they see it, it's just if people don't like change. Laura Laker 47:47 yeah, none of us like change just a thing. And it's hard to picture. And I think it's easy to dismiss people's concerns. Because you know, it's normal for us not to want change, it's normal to be concerned about something if you can't picture it. And you're, you know, many of these are genuine worries about businesses, and how will I get from A to B and, and all of this, but yeah, I think what's been lacking in this conversation is just some sort of grown up honesty about, you know, this is going to be a change. But ultimately, it's going to be one that's positive for these reasons. We, you know, we are going to listen, but ultimately, this is a an agenda that most of us support. And we know it's beneficial for these reasons. And I think we've I don't know, I think there's too much government in this country, and in many English speaking countries, kind of almost government by fear of what the Daily Mail might say, in response to this policy. And even the the recent announcement by governments about you know, stopping anti motorist measures was all caps. You know, it was like almost a Daily Mail headline. Carlton Reid 48:52 Yeah, it's quite scary and sad. Yeah. But then, you know, like you say, if you know, for the ones that hold their ground, you know, stuff dies down, people say actually, that actually is much better. So you know, where I'm coming from, I know where you're coming from. And you're saying people want this, but I'm gonna play devil's advocate here and say, Well, no, they don't people want to drive around. And if you're a woman at night, and you describe a lot of the routes, the Sustrans routes, the Nationals, you wouldn't want to go there at night, and probably no matter how much lighting security whatever you put in, you probably would still feel that way. In. Yeah, yeah. On a bicycle, you're not protected. Whereas a car, a woman, a single woman can get into a car can lock the door, can maybe have, you know, dark windscreen even so nobody knows who's in there. You then become this powerful individual who can get around in safety at the end of the day. But bicycles aren't like that, Laura. So you're you're basically making it more insecure for women to go about as independent beings. Laura Laker 50:11 Well, so as a as a woman who cycles on her own at nights that that route from Arnhem to Nijmergen in the in the Netherlands, so I ended up leaving that event and it was dark and cycling home on my own however far it was, it's a good hours ride along these routes, but because you don't have to stop, you actually feel safe. It's only when you have to stop that you start to feel unsafe in my experience. I mean, there's certain routes like along the canal, I live in East London, along the Li River that I have cycled at night, but wouldn't do now. Because you know, that is very isolated. And people have been known to jump out with bushes. But I think for the large part, if they're well designed, and other people are using them, then cycling at night for me isn't a problem. You know, you're moving you're Yeah, I don't Yeah, I very rarely felt in danger of cycling through London at night, for example. I mean, it's been the odd park where I felt a bit sketchy, but I think if you design them, well, not every path is going to feel that way safe at night. But I think in urban places where a lot of people will be cycling to and from at night, it will probably be fine. I mean, you probably feel quite safe. It's about kind of eyes on the streets in a way having people they're with you. Yeah, and I think if a route were well used enough, and don't forget, you know, if you're, if you're, you know, you're not going to necessarily, you're not going to drive home after a night out if you've had a drink. And so you will have to sort of walk a section of your journey. Most likely, if you're in a place like London, you hate taking public transport, maybe you take a taxi, but I feel I don't feel like if I'm on a busy road, walking alone at night that I am safe with those other people around me because I don't feel like people who are driving through again to necessarily stop and help me if something did happen. So I think kind of busy streets can feel unsafe, even though they're very highly populated. And, you know, theoretically, and this kind of, there's been research on this, you know, people who live on quiet streets, no more of their neighbours, this sort of social safety element, and people start looking out for each other. Whereas if you have a traffic dominated environment, it's people tend to turn away from the street. Carlton Reid 52:28 Yeah, I don't disagree. But if it is looking at the motivation of many, many people, I mean, humans are generally lazy. Yeah. They generally want comfort. They want their own things, and they want security, all of those things you have in spades in cars. The downside is, because everybody wants that. And everybody's in a car, it means you don't get anywhere. Unknown Speaker 52:57 Yeah, I don't think that's a whole story. I mean, I think a lot of the time people drive because the alternative is either aren't there don't feel possible, or they don't feel safe. So cycling on the road wouldn't feel safe, you wouldn't even most people wouldn't even consider it. But we've seen I grew up in rural West Somerset, and you had to learn to drive as soon as you turn 17, you would take your test, you buy a car, and you drive everywhere, because the buses mean the buses are even worse. Now. They were okay at the time, but not great. But they just took longer, and you couldn't get everywhere you needed to go my friends as a teenager lived in variable kind of communities. And so you had to drive there was just no other option I would have loved to cycle. And you've seen in London, where we've got a growing network of roots, suddenly, all these people from all walks of life, all kinds of demographics. Laura Laker 53:48 genders, you see a much better one gender split, but also all types of people cycling. And that kind of speaks to the fact that actually, people do want to do this and they may want to convenience but they also want to enjoy their journey. They also want to save money. Cycling can be incredibly convenient, no parking worries, it's so much cheaper you know you don't have to stress of finding a parking space or you know, paying vast amounts of money. I think something like I forget the number who in transport poverty in this country because of cars basically. They spend something like 19% of their income on their car with finance lorry, using facts to convince me that's Carlton Reid 54:36 Anybody can convince with facts, come on. At that juncture, I'd like to go across to my colleague David in America. Take it away, David. David Bernstein 54:45 This podcast is brought to you by Tern Bicycles. Like you, the folks at Tern are always up for a good outdoor adventure by bike—whether that's fishing, camping, or taking a quick detour to hit the trails before picking Unknown Speaker 55:00 up the kids from school. And if you're looking to explore new ground by taking your adventures further into the wild, they've got you covered. The brand new Orox by Tern is an all-season, all-terrain adventure cargo bike that's built around the Bosch Smart System to help you cross even the most ambitious itinerary off your bucket list. It combines the fun of off-road riding in any season with some serious cargo capacity, so you can bring everything you need—wherever you go, whenever you go. Plus, it's certified tough and tested for safety so your adventures are worry-free. With two frame sizes to choose from and a cockpit that's tested to support riders of different sizes, finding an adventure bike that fits you and your everyday needs has never been easier with the Orox. Visit www.ternbicycles.com/orox (that's O-R-O-X) to learn more. Carlton Reid 56:04 Thanks, David. And we are back with Laura Laker the Laker people. And she's the author of potholes and pavements a bumpy ride on Britain's National Cycle network. It's not actually out yet, isn't Laura. It's actually middle middle of the next month, middle of night. Hmm. Yeah. So you having a launch day what you're doing? Laura Laker 56:28 Yeah, I've got some. You've got like, You got speaker a bank and tell us tell us what you're doing? Yeah, so I've got I'm having like a bit of a party for some friends and family. And then I've got a talk in Stanford's in Covent Garden. I'm speaking in Parliament. But I think that's more of a parliamentary event. And I have got an event at Stanfords in Bristol with Xavier Bryce, we're going to discuss the future of the NCN. I've got one I'm speaking in Oxford, at a bookshop. I'm going to be interviewed by Emily Kerr, who's a green Councillor there. I have got a there's a literary festival in Wantage in November. And we're looking at other events as we speak. Carlton Reid 57:16 Excellent. And this is two hundred and .... All right, I'm going to deliver the end of the book. We're talking 264 pages, and then you've got references back. I mean, one of them. Thank you very much. Laura Laker 57:32 Yeah. Carlton Reid 57:34 Thanks. as well. Yes, at the back there, but there's, there's lots in this. So who's gonna be? Who's your audience? Who's gonna be reading this? Who do you think will be reading this? And what might actually could it start something big with with in politics? Can we could we get this like your manifesto? Can it get out there? What do you hope to happen with your book? Laura Laker 58:00 Yeah, well, obviously, I want everyone to read it. I mean, my editor at Bloomsbury was saying, you know, it's probably going to be cycling enthusiasts, people who I guess already, maybe listen to your podcast, my podcast, read our articles about cycling. But I would like to think that you know, these people, these two thirds to four fifths of people who want more cycling people who think, you know, why do I have to drive everywhere? Why aren't there safe cycle routes? Why can't my kids cycle to school, and see that might see this book and think, Oh, this is going to tell that story, this is going to explain it to me. And so I hope that it's going to give people a sense of kind of why we are where we're at, with the history of the NCN and the stories, but also, you know, how wonderful it could be if we had this thing, this network of connected routes, if it were possible for all of these people who say they want to cycle and more who maybe don't even know they want to cycle could do so. And I hope that, you know, my perhaps naive hope is that people will read it and think, you know, this could be such a wonderful thing, why aren't we doing it? And how can we get it to happen and I hope policymakers you know, we've got an election coming up I think this speaks to you know, forget the culture wars. I think this speaks to all sides, you know, of politics, I think, you know, individual freedom and choice is a conservative value, right? Cycling, cycling delivers on that. Carlton Reid 59:26 Cycling is so libertarian is a form of transport I've had many conversations This is freedom. Why is this left wing? Why do people always assume it's just this thing? Laura Laker 59:42 Yeah, it's become a cultural thing. And it's only for I think, you know, certain factions of the right perhaps see this as a wedge issue. And a way of you know, rallying people around them on based on kind of outrage like false outrage really, untruthes. and you You know, in terms of the left, this is, you know, great value for money, the Labour Party is very, very keen on showing they're working and proving to people that they can be trusted with the economy. It delivers on the green agenda, it's so beneficial in terms of cutting carbon emissions, it delivers on health, pretty much every department that we can think of this offers people access to work, you know, so many people who are out of work, especially in rural communities can't even afford to go and find work or stay in a job because the transport is too expensive, or it's too patchy doesn't go in and they needed to go. So there's like barely a thing that this doesn't touch. And I really hope that you know, along with kind of griping, which is, I hope not too much of the book, and the polemic side that this shows actually, you know, this is great for tourism, this is great for our mental health. This can bring us together, you know, it's about in Scotland, I saw that a cycle route can be a linear park, it can be about artwork and community. It can bring people together from different walks of life around a space. And, you know, cycling delivers on these things. And, you know, if we kind of dropped the culture was narrative, which is nonsense. You know, we could see all of these benefits fairly quickly and for very little money, and have a far better country for it. Carlton Reid 1:01:18 Many people would baulk at having Boris Johnson back. And you do mention this in the book of what he and Andrew Gilligan were able to do. Hopefully, it doesn't seem like I want him back. But will it that that is what you need. I mean, you do talk about having a cycling Prime Minister, we had a cycling Prime Minister, we had a Prime Minister who said it was me a golden age for cycling. So we need we need him back. Laura, that we just we need we need Boris back. No, we don't like that back there. Are there other other politicians are available? We just need people to believe in it. And you know, I hope that people read the book and think, actually, this is something we can believe in, but don't need one of the good things about Boris Johnson. Not only did he you know, talk, the talk, walk the talk, all that kind of stuff. But he was right wing. So he could he just instantly takes away that that part of this oversight is a left wing things like well, here's this right wing politician who's pushing for this Andrew Gilligan, Telegraph writer. These are not left wing people in any way, shape, or form. So is that what we need we actually need and then we'd like all politicians to do this, but by the same thing, you need somebody almost on the opposite side to be doing this, they've got more chance of pushing this through. So that's why Boris Johnson did so well, because he was right wing and the Mail isn't gonna, you know, rail against what Boris Johnson was doing. They never did. Laura Laker 1:02:46 They did though. They did. They totally did. I don't think they discriminated against him because he was towards their political leanings. I mean, it's unlikely we're going to have another conservative government, right, when we've got the election coming up, it's going to be Labour by all likelihood. And so they're going to be the ones in power delivering. So I don't know, Carlton Reid 1:03:09 But they backtracked over their green policies. I mean, what hope do we have? Laura Laker 1:03:12 I know I know. I know it's incredibly disappointing. And the thing is this this stuff like the green agenda, more broadly investment in insulating homes, for example, is such great return on investment and if they're thinking about finances and showing they're working insulating homes is just a total no brainer. You know, we all pay far too much for our energy bills. We live in draughty leaky homes. So many houses are mouldy because of the cold walls are damp Yeah, I just think you know, and green technology, huge growth industry. Solar and wind where you know, we're windy little island, but a lot of coastline. Offshore wind is fantastic. Carlton Reid 1:03:55 But in your in the book, you show how national highways basically is an organisation set up to build roads. And once you've done something like that, and that's their raison d'etre. Guess what they're going to build roads. Yeah. So yeah, it's that oil tanker you know having to put the brakes on and change a whole culture so we're not talking about you know, Cuz your manifesto is saying you know, stop funding this and yeah. Laura Laker 1:04:28 Wales did this basically with their no more roads or no more roads and less they increased active travel and public transport policy. They basically have kind of repurpose their national highways body around this agenda, you know, fill in the potholes. We've got a road in a dreadful state and, you know, develop use all their skills and power and funding for active travel. You know, public transport in this country is drastically underfunded. Buses are so important, especially in rural areas, especially people on low incomes, especially for women and Do you know buses are so important? We're really, really not kind of reaping the power the massive power of the bus.? Carlton Reid 1:05:08 Yeah, that's in your book as well, because you're talking about how buses, you know, need to be able to carry bikes. Yeah. And that's, you know, that's a small part of what they could do but the broader transport perspective that's that's so impor

What have you done this week in a car?If you've only been a passenger or a pedestrian, you can live vicariously through the many activities of our hosts.From touring the Cairngorms searching for the "GR Yaris" of Scotch Whisky, to car-spotting on foot with kids through Belgravia on the way to eating some Peking Duck, you should be inspired to do more with cars this week!This and more on episode 57 of the Collecting Addicts podcast!---(00:00) Intro(00:59) This week in cars(23:32) Favourite TV sleuth(37:29) Itches that need scratching(48:27) Home servicing(1:00:43) Funny motorway signs(1:09:27) 2 car garage(1:20:15) Driving tunes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr David Hetherington is an expert on the Eurasian Lynx and the beneficial links Lynx (Lynx lynx lynx) can manifest within our complicated British ecosystems. What he doesn't know about the Lynx's rich history across Europe is not worth knowing: Hear why Hildegard von Bingham thought drinking Lynx urine was highly beneficial; when exactly(ish) Lynx were wiped from British shores leaving only one town name with any form of association to a once indigenous species, and; how the Nazis could be considered the twentieth century's first big-mammal “re-wilders”. But, most importantly, David answers the big question: does Britain have enough well connected forest habitat to safely support a large mobile forest-dependent species? Specialising in species reintroduction programmes, David managed the Cairngorms Wildcat Project and actively encouraged a positive relationship with gamekeepers to help all parties work for nature conservation without getting “sucked into the vortex of raptor politics”. He also sits on the board of Trees for Life - an award-winning charity that works to enhance the native woodland ecology of the Scottish Highlands. To that end, expect wildcats, red squirrels, pine martens, capercaillies, as well as the animal so cool they named it thrice, Lynx lynx lynx, in this immersive and informative wildlife deep dive. Why not become a "Subscription Squirrel" on our Patreon, and help support the production of this podcast? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Phil Carson (Nature Friendly Farming Network) and ffinlo Costain (8point9.com) chew through the week's land news, and talk to special guest, Rachel Jones (Sustain), about local food. News topics discussed: Scotland: Yousaf to continue 70 per cent direct funding, dependent on greening https://8point9.com/scotland-yousaf-to-continue-70-per-cent-direct-funding-dependent-on-greening/ Survey reveals bleak relations between landlords and tenant farmers - FFINLO https://8point9.com/survey-reveals-bleak-relations-between-landlords-and-tenant-farmers/ “Hidden” record of UK's historic biodiversity to be digitised - PHIL https://8point9.com/hidden-record-of-uks-historic-biodiversity-to-be-digitised/ UK-wide exhibition spotlights regenerative food producers - FFINLO https://8point9.com/uk-wide-exhibition-spotlights-regenerative-food-producers/ Traceability markers to deliver transparency in recycled cotton supply chain - PHIL https://8point9.com/traceability-markers-to-deliver-transparency-in-recycled-cotton-supply-chain/ Cairngorms awarded £10.7 million to become first net zero UK National Park https://8point9.com/cairngorms-awarded-10-7-million-to-become-first-net-zero-uk-national-park/ National Parks must work for everyone https://8point9.com/national-parks-must-work-for-everyone/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/farmgate/message

Are Football Sugar Daddies the future in Scotland? Just ask Hibs, they're on the verge of becoming the first to try it out.Join Andrew Slaven, TNT Sports' Laura Brannan and Sky Sports' Andrew Dickson as they round up the weekend's news and action.Will Bournemouth owner Bill Foley help Hibs close the gap on Celtic and Rangers? And is David Martindale's time up at Livingston after a heavy 4-1 defeat at home to Dundee?With the transfer window closing on Thursday, the team catch up with Sky Sports News Anthony Joseph. What does the future hold for Lawrence Shankland and Lewis Ferguson?RUNNING ORDER:00:26: Intro03:47: Gies a laugh: FC Midtjylland's training camp in Cairngorms and Scotland's Euro 2024 base at Mount Wank.09:51: Latest news: Hibs' cash investment, Peterhead's Rec and Edinburgh City docked points25:00: The latest ahead of transfer deadline day with Anthony Joseph from Sky Sports News38:47: SPFL round up including Livi's 4-1 hammering at the hands of Dundee. Is it time up for Davie Martindale? GET IN TOUCH:• Follow us on Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/tsfspodcast• Follow Andrew Slaven on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewslaven7• Follow Laura Brannan on Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/_LauraBrannan

Rachel ventures into the sea caves at East Wemyss in Fife to hear about how coastal erosion is threatening the Pictish carvings on their walls.Last summer, the Saving Wildcats project released 19 cats in the Cairngorms as part of efforts to prevent the species becoming extinct. Mark visits the Highland Wildlife Park where the next kittens that will be released have been bred, to hear about how the project is going.We've all heard of wine tasting but have you ever thought of giving honey tasting a bash? In our latest Scotland Outdoors podcast, Rachel tries her hand at it under the tutelage of Dr Gino Jabbar, a honey sommelier.Earlier this month, dozens of people under the banner of The Cairngorms Crofters and Farmers Group gathered to voice their grievances over the recent release of beavers into the National Park. Mark met one of the organisers, Ruaridh Ormiston, to find out more about their concerns.And we're joined live by Grant Moir, Chief Executive of the Cairngorms National Park Authority. We'll put the concerns of farmers to him and ask about the tricky balance involved in keeping everyone who lives, works and enjoys the park, happy.More than a million pounds is being spent upgrading one of the most popular walking routes in the North East. Rachel went for a wander along part of the Formartine and Buchan Way to hear how the money will be spent.If you watched Britain's Best Woodworker recently you may remember one of the stars Jen Humphreys. Jen has her workshop in Banff, and Rachel went along to see how she creates her stunning work.And as Thursday marked Burns Night, Mark met up with Professor Alison Lumsden from Aberdeen University to hear about the Bard's connections to the North East and whether any of his poetry was inspired by the Doric he would have heard growing up.

Mark uncovers tales from the secret howff bothy in the Cairngorms. Mark and Rachel explore the dark skies in the hills above Braemar and Rachel finds out the lengths farmers go to to decorate their tractors for a festive run through the streets of Inverurie

This week's show is with Wendy Dooner. Wendy Dooner is a Medical Herbalist and Shamanic Practitioner from Scotland who is passionate about reconnecting women with the innate healing wisdom of nature and their bodies. Wendy graduated from university in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science (honours) degree in Herbal Medicine (Phytotherapy) and, more recently, a 3-year advanced Shamanic Practitioner course. Weaving back together the threads of science, magic and spirituality in herbal medicine has been a major focus of her practice recently and is a cornerstone of her teachings; she now practices what she has called Shamanic Herbalism. Through her online courses, workshops, or one-on-one consultations, Wendy ensures that this wonderful blend of ancient wisdom and modern science reaches all her students. At the heart of Wendy's practice is her profound connection with her native medicinal plants. She believes that these plants hold the answers to many of our modern ailments. In her practice, Wendy doesn't just prescribe herbs; she introduces her clients to a world where plants are people; they are teachers, guides, allies and elders. She believes that every plant has a story to tell and a lesson to impart, and it's her mission to facilitate these transformative conversations between nature and the individual. She lives happily in a small community in the foothills of the Cairngorms in Scotland with her husband and 2 young sons, where she forages in the wilds of the moorlands, grows herbs in her messy garden and skateboards at every spare opportunity. In this show, Lian and Wendy explored our experience and understanding of autistic people, and maybe especially women, being designed to be healers, how the very aspects of ourselves that have created struggles, can be used in service of helping others to heal, and what we've seen can be helpful to alchemise those challenges into gold. I'd love to know what YOU think about this week's show. Let's carry on the conversation…  please leave a comment below. What you'll learn from this episode: As both Lian and Wendy's experiences showed, being late diagnosed as a woman can bring its own emotions and challenges - there's a reckoning and grieving needed in order to move forward into claiming the gifts that autism brings Pattern recognition, empathy, adherence to ritual, openness to spirits and other realms, and attention to detail are all aspects of autism that can be used in service of supporting others in their journey to wholeness Diving into the work of reclaiming the unwanted and hidden parts of us is challenging for most people but maybe especially for autistic people for whom there has been an even greater challenge, necessity, and effort needed to fit in and function - it requires the right support and readiness, and we can be helped by understanding and using some of the very same gifts we will ultimately serve to others. Resources and stuff that we spoke about Visit Wendy's Website: wendydooner.com The Center for Shamanism: Shamanic Herbal 1:1 with Wendy Follow The Center of Shamanism in Social Media: Facebook: Wendy Dooner Instagram: @wendy.shamanicherbalist Thank you for listening! There's a fresh episode each week, if you subscribe you'll receive every show as soon as it's released (that way you'll never miss an episode): Subscribe on Apple Subscribe on Android Thank you! Lian and Jonathan

Our final episode of 2023 explores the sleepy but still vibrant natural world of December - from newts and frogs hibernating in the garden pond to colourful toadstools in the woods. Alice visits the Cairngorms in Scotland to retrace the steps of nature writer Nan Shepherd, while we mark the winter solstice and watch the Geminids meteor shower. To close, we hear one last Welsh folksong from Gwilym Bowen Rhys, the very old Christmas carol 'Ar fore dydd nadolig'. 'As the Season Turns' is a podcast created by Ffern in collaboration with the nature writer and author of the Seasonal Almanac, Lia Leendertz. Lia is joined by novelist Zoe Gilbert, composer and sound recordist Alice Boyd and folk musician Gwilym Bowen Rhys. Geoff Bird produces and Catriona Bolt is Ffern's in-house researcher. Each episode, released on the first of every month, is a guide to what to look out for in the month ahead - from the sky above to the land below. Ffern is an organic fragrance maker based in Somerset. You can learn more about Ffern's seasonal eau de parfum at ffern.co

Josephine in her own words:   “I'm a middle aged mother of three. Also, adventurer, rock climber, former Mountain Rescuer, wilderness addict, lover of Nature, doer. Oh, and professional author and award-winning photographer. Many hats, but a common thread of being outdoors, helping people and sharing a love of wild places. Having moved on from the confines of Mountain Rescue, I am on a journey with Mountain Training Association to get qualified so that I can introduce people, and especially women, to the indescribable benefits of outdoor adventure.  Too many women feel that it is beyond them. I want to show that it is not. I love polar adventure and have been to Norway many times and skied across Svalbard on a 9 day expedition.  Mountains, moors, wilderness, old mines and rock faces all vie for my time so that it feels there is never enough!  My mantra is: “Do it now. Life is too short.” I am not one for “ests” the longest/fastest/highest etc. To me, it is all about being there, in that moment. My work as an author and publisher includes the Dartmoor Tors Compendium, the Official Visitor Guide to Dartmoor National Park and the Geology of Dartmoor. I also design unique infographics and poster art about Dartmoor in particular. My photography, when not illustrating books, is photographing architectural properties and interiors. Mainly though, photography is about showing how beautiful and amazing our world is.” *** Don't miss out on the latest episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast, airing every Tuesday at 7am UK time. Hit the subscribe button to stay updated and connected. Join us in our mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media especially in relation to adventure and physical challenges. Show your support by visiting www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast. Thank you for helping to make change happen.   Show notes Who is Josephine Wearing lots of hats  Her love for going out and exploring and spending time in wilderness Studying geo-physics at university down in London Making the move to Devon Deciding to re-train in photography  How her career focuses on photography, design and being outdoors Having 3 grown children  Her love and passion for the outdoors  Growing up in Acton, London Spending more and more time in Dartmoor  Age 14, having the opportunity to do an outward bound course (3 week residential) Discovering different possibilities and wanting to live a life outdoors Meeting her husband at the Officer Training Core at University  Making the decision to move to Devon to raise her family Asking herself the question - what does she really want to do Buying an old barn to renovate, while raising 3 children and going back to college for 3 years to study photography and media production Why we have to take a risk and make things happen Not doing any adventures for 20 years while raising the kids Starting to do more solo activities at 52 Booking to do a polar training course with Newland Expeditions Spending time walking on Dartmoor Losing her mum to Ovarian Cancer  Skiing across Svalbard on a 9 day expedition (being the only woman and one of the oldest there) Camp life, dealing with Polar bears and why it's so challenging  Imposter Syndrome? Feeling like an explorer and an adventurer Cycling the Hebridean Way, Scotland 2022 Being inspired by watching the Reality TV Show Castaway (2000)  Dealing with the tough days while on challenges Suffering from covid Challenges with mental health and seeking therapy   Dealing with setbacks and failure  Spending time in the Cairngorms, Scotland and going exploring  Doing her Hill & Moorland Assessment  Wanting to train for her Mountain Leader (ML) Award  Her healing process and wanting to learn new skills Trying to identify what you want to be Doing what's achievable first Signing up for the Rock Climbing Instructor Course in 2022  Wanting to share her love for the outdoors and encourage more people to spend time outside Mountain Rescue and the training program Hitting a glass wall and dealing with bad people management Deciding to resign from Mountain Rescue  Advice and tips for other women who are in a similar situation Not wanting to rock the boat and what she would do differently now Why the old school way of thinking has to change Why we don't have to put up with bad behaviour  How the ML training is going  How you can connect with Josephine The meaning behind the name ‘Tavicinity'  Using Instagram in the old fashioned way - black and white photos The importance of learning how to navigate Why you shouldn't compare yourself to other people  Why you should try something new “Make it happen and do it for you”.     Social Media Website: www.tavicinitypublishing.co.uk  Instagram: @tavicinity   

Kenneth Steven considers the introduction of wild animals into the Highlands of Scotland, reflecting in poetry at the end of each Essay.A consignment of eight reindeer landed at Clydebank near Glasgow on April 12th in 1952 thanks to a Swedish Sami Mikel Utsi who hailed from a long line of reindeer herders. There were eight reindeer and they were from Mikel Utsi's own family herd in Arctic Sweden. The crossing had taken four days and by all accounts it had been pretty rough. Those first eight beasts spent the next month in quarantine at Edinburgh Zoo and then they completed their journey to Highland Scotland and the area of ground that had been granted for them. There are echoes of the old stories of attempted re-introductions of reindeer: low and wet ground, the prevalence of insects. It took time, but in 1954 Mikel Utsi was given permission for free grazing up to the summits of the northern corries of the Cairngorms: in other words, where they needed to be. Further clusters of reindeer were introduced in 1952, 1954 and 1955. Several hundred reindeer were born in Highland Scotland between 1953 and 1979, that year when Mikel Utsi passed away. Wild reindeer were again living freely in the country that had been theirs centuries before. And the herder who'd brought them here, whose dream had come true, he was able to bring people out into what might just have been another piece of his childhood landscape and tell them of the ways and the stories of the Sami. Presenter Kenneth Steven Producer Mark RickardsA Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 3

Lesley Mckenna is a legendary snowboarder in the UK scene. She was the first British snowboarder to compete at the Winter Olympics and the first to win a World Cup Half-Pipe. She went on to become coach of the most successful GB Park and Pipe team ever, plus she's a filmmaker, ski tourer and much more. Intersport Ski Hire Discount Code Save money on your ski hire by using the code ‘SKIPODCAST' at intersportrent.com, or simply take this link for your discount to be automatically applied at the checkout. SHOW NOTES Lesley's parents were both ski instructors (4:00) Her grandfather was one of the original Scottish pioneers of skiing (5:30) Lesley's cousins are Alain and Noel Baxter, who both skied slalom for Team GB (8:00) First ski season in Jackson Hole (8:30) Racing on pair of 224cm skis (13:30) Moving on to Breckenridge (16:00) Kirsteen McGibbon tragically died during a training run in 1996 (17:45) H&R Insurance were the main sponsors of Lesley's early career (18:30) Becci Malthouse helped Lesley's transition to snowboarding (18:45) The 1996 Brits took place in Meribel Lesley started off racing slalom before moving onto freestyle (23:30) The challenges of funding (28:00) Listen to Iain's interview with Bode Miller (30:30) What was it like being with Alain Baxter when he won his Olympic medal (31:00) Coaching at the British Ski Academy and for Roxy (35:00) Lesley Worked through the 2014 & 2018 cycles as a coach (36:30) Listen to Iain's interview with Pat Sharples (38:00) Jenny Jones won Britain's first ever medal on snow at Sochi (39:00) Billy Morgan won bronze in the Big Air at PyeongChang (40:00) Wandering Workshops (43:30) The Kendal Film Festival takes place from 16-19 November (46:00) Patagonia's film ‘Thrawn' is about the cultural significance of snowsports in the Cairngorms (46:30) Is haggis the Scottish version of ‘hygge'? (48:00) The 2023 Brits took place in Scotland (50:30) Listen to Iain's interview with Kirsty Muir (51:30) Watch ‘Dropstitch' on YouTube (52:15) Lesley won Sport Scotland Coach Developer of the Year (53:00) If you like the podcast, there are three things you can do to help: 1) Review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 2) Subscribe, so you don't miss another episode 3) Book your ski hire with Intersport Rent using the code ‘SKIPODCAST' or by taking this link   You can follow Iain @skipedia and the podcast @theskipodcast

Sharing the wisdom generated over recent years of wilder farming on a 150 acre croft in the Cairngorms, Lyn Cassell's reflects on the importance of connection to the land, holistic living and the principles of wilder regenerative farming. We leave inspired and full of admiration for the pioneering work at Lynbreck Croft, we hope you do too?Your HostsTom Constable: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-constable/Chloe Constable: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloe-constable-24155821b/Our GuestLynn was working in the south east of England for the National Trust where she met Sandra, and they connected over their shared vision to live closer to the land – raise our own animals, grow our own produce and be as self-sufficient as possible. That vision has grown into Lynbreck Croft, a 150 acre croft in the Cairngorms from which they have created a new rural, vibrant enterprise. They firmly believe that working with natural processes and in harmony with nature is the only way to run our business and to live our lives.Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/lynbreckcroftGrange Project Contact & Social MediaEmail: hello@grangeproject.co.ukInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/grange.project/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/grangeprojectYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GrangeProjectLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-constable/Listen out for:[00:00:00] Tom and Chloe update on rewilding interventions on the Grange Project, including ‘leaky woody debris' and mud (where it's wanted and where it's not).[00:06:40] Introduction to our guest and Lynbeck Croft, before being joined by the fantastic Lyn Cassells.[00:12:03] Reflections on the balance between a ‘busy life' and a ‘full life'. [00:14:25] We discuss the principles of ‘regenerative wilder farming', including responding to the land, mob grazing and the role of grazing animals in regeneration. [00:26:44] Exploration of the root cause behind why we need to rewild; the loss of our connection to the land.[00:30:18] We talk about the merits of natural regeneration versus tree planting.[00:37:06] Lyn shares her hopes behind the education and outreach activities at Lynbreck Croft - the Landscape of Hope and we talk about the financial viability of wilder food production, in balance with holistic living.[00:42:55] We talk about the value of reconnecting with nature and our land.[00:49:00] Tom and Chloe reflect on the interview and what resonated for them both.Keen for more: Websiteshttps://www.lynbreckcroft.co.uk for more about regenerative wilding farming and the merchandise, courses and tours offered from the croft.Books

We asked Instagram historian Beth Reid five questions and challenged her to answer each in one minute or less. Here are the questions:If you could meet one person from the Scottish Wars of Independence, who would it be?What's your second favourite era of Scottish history?If you had to recommend one place in Scotland for our listeners to visit, what would it be?You have to recommend one book about Scottish history for our listeners to read - what is it?Forgetting about history for a second, what's the most beautiful place you've ever visited in Scotland?Have thoughts? Connect with 63 Percent Scottish on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram or contact us at 63percentscottish.com.Music by RomanSenykMusic from Pixabay.

Mark hears about how Atlantic salmon will soon be able to access parts of the River Dee for the first time in a century following the removal of Garlogie Dam. Linda visits the Clyde Valley to hear about how a group of enthusiasts are reviving the orchards that once dominated the area. Rachel heads into the hills of the Inshriach National Nature Reserve in the Cairngorms to hear about a major new study which has recently been published looking at the relationship between controlling deer numbers and woodland restoration. Mark hears about the fascinating history of the oldest beam engine in Scotland that was once responsible for powering Garlogie Mill. Producer Phil goes pumpkin picking in the Highlands to hear about how climate change has affected this year's harvest. We chat live to Vivian Bisset, a National Trust for Scotland Ranger about post-storm clean up and the impact that Storm Babet has had on nature in the North East. Rachel hears all about a Pictish-inspired Millennial stone in Fife. Linda climbs aboard the world's largest seagoing paddle steamer, The Waverley, to hear about how this summer has seen record breaking passenger numbers in its almost 50 years of sailing.

Rachel Stewart presents Scotland Outdoors

Struggling to sleep? Let me talk you into dozy snoozy sleep land. In this episode we talk about Apple Day and Trafalgar Day. We mention the Big Grey Man of Ben MacDui in the Cairngorms. I dote on Justin Hopper's book The Old Weird Albion and Danny Robin's Uncanny.. We have some more Alice in Wonderland as a bedtime story. Many aimless meandering conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Helen Needham meets Graeme Warren and others during a dig in Glen Dee

This week's show is with Wendy Dooner. Wendy Dooner is a Medical Herbalist and Shamanic Practitioner from Scotland who is passionate about reconnecting women with the innate healing wisdom of nature and their bodies. Wendy graduated from university in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science (honours) degree in Herbal Medicine (Phytotherapy) and, more recently, a 3-year advanced Shamanic Practitioner course. Weaving back together the threads of science, magic and spirituality in herbal medicine has been a major focus of her practice recently and is a cornerstone of her teachings; she now practices what she has called Shamanic Herbalism. Through her online courses, workshops, or one-on-one consultations, Wendy ensures that this wonderful blend of ancient wisdom and modern science reaches all her students. At the heart of Wendy's practice is her profound connection with her native medicinal plants. She believes that these plants hold the answers to many of our modern ailments. In her practice, Wendy doesn't just prescribe herbs; she introduces her clients to a world where plants are people; they are teachers, guides, allies and elders. She believes that every plant has a story to tell and a lesson to impart, and it's her mission to facilitate these transformative conversations between nature and the individual. She lives happily in a small community in the foothills of the Cairngorms in Scotland with her husband and 2 young sons, where she forages in the wilds of the moorlands, grows herbs in her messy garden and skateboards at every spare opportunity. In this show, Lian and Wendy explored how we as healers and guides serving others can connect with and work with the healing spirits of the plants in our local land, the life-changing impact that's had on us both, reciprocity and permission, and how plants can show us the maps of life and the way back to ourselves. I'd love to know what YOU think about this week's show. Let's carry on the conversation…  please leave a comment below. What you'll learn from this episode: Wendy's story of beginning with a scientific, materialist approach to healing before then being called into a deeper spiritual connection is an arc that so many of us seem to be called to as healers and guides When we pay attention, the plant of our land are communicating with us constantly, they can teach us deep truths about the universe (such as Wendy's experience with the hawthorn giving her an embodied teaching about death and rebirth) or show us important breadcrumbs on our path (as the oak did for me, propelling me onto the shamanic path) Creating a true relationship between humans and other beings and spirits based on respect and reciprocity is vital - making offerings, asking permission, and asking what plants are beautiful ways to begin this kind of relationship Resources and stuff that we spoke about Visit Wendy's Website: wendydooner.com The Center for Shamanism: Shamanic Herbal 1:1 with Wendy Follow The Center of Shamanism in Social Media: Facebook: Wendy Dooner Instagram: @wendy.shamanicherbalist Thank you for listening! There's a fresh episode each week, if you subscribe you'll receive every show as soon as it's released (that way you'll never miss an episode): Subscribe on Apple Subscribe on Android Thank you! Lian and Jonathan

The Cairngorms National Park has inspired writing by Merryn Glover, whose books include The Hidden Fires: A Cairngorms Journey with Nan Shepherd. Writer and artist Amanda Thomson's book Belonging is on the longlist for the 2023 James Cropper Wainwright Prize for nature writing. As the BBC Proms broadcasts a concert from Perth, they talk to Radio 3's Kate Molleson about place and capturing Scottish nature in their work. Producer Ruth Watts You can find out more about Amanda Thomson at https://passingplace.com/home.html You can find out more about Merryn Glover at https://merrynglover.com/ This is part of a series of conversations about writing and place recorded for BBC Proms around the UK in summer 2023. You can find more conversations about writing and about nature and green thinking on the website for BBC Radio 3's arts and ideas programme Free Thinking.

Likewise with the Anglo-Scottish composer William Wordsworth (1908–88), great-great-grandnephew of the poet, with whom I occasionally exchanged letters and phone calls in the pre-e-mail late 1970s and early 1980s: I never could have predicted that his reputation might be restored by a series of Toccata Classics albums of his orchestral music, and I confess to an inordinate degree of pleasure in having helped right that injustice. Wordsworth's piano music, too, was poorly known before now, none of it recorded since a handful of pieces appeared on LP 60 years ago – though his epic Piano Sonata is a work of major importance. The first-ever complete recording, on this release, reveals an honest, unfussy approach to the keyboard akin to that of two other major symphonists, Sibelius and Rubbra: like them, Wordsworth's primary concern seems to have been the expression of deep feeling – which makes the gentle story-telling of his miniatures for children all the more surprising. The pianist is that stalwart defender of Scottish piano composers, Christopher Guild – who grew up just a few miles along the Moray Firth from Wordsworth's Highland home overlooking Glen Feshie in the Cairngorms.TracksPiano Sonata in D Minor, Op. 13 (1938-39) (27:04) I. Maestoso (13:21) II. Largamente e calmato – (6:13) III. Allegro molto – Poco adagio – Tempo I (7:30) Three Pieces for Piano* (10:35) Prelude (1932) (4:40) Scherzo (undated) (2:04) Rhapsody (spring 1934) (3:51) Cheesecombe Suite, Op. 27 (1945) (13:18) I. Prelude (4:35) II. Scherzo (1:34) III. Nocturne (4:58) IV. Fughetta (2:11) Ballade, Op. 41 (1949) (7:55) A Tale from Long Ago (publ. 1952)* (1:48) March of the Giants (publ. 1952)* (1:16) Ding Dong Bell (publ. 1952)* (1:19) Snowflakes (publ. 1952)* (1:38) Fireside Story (publ. 1952)* (2:28) Bedtime (Six O'Clock) (publ. 1952)* (1:13) Bedtime Story (publ. 1952)* (1:25) Hornpipe (publ. 1952)* (1:03) Valediction, Op. 82 (1967)* (10:00) - First RecordingsHelp support our show by purchasing this album  at:Downloads (classicalmusicdiscoveries.store) Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by Uber and Apple Classical. @CMDHedgecock#ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans#CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain#ClassicalMusicLivesOn#Uber#AppleClassical Please consider supporting our show, thank you!Donate (classicalmusicdiscoveries.store) staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.comThis album is broadcast with the permission of Sean Dacy from Rosebrook Media.

Welcome to Fireside Folklore, an enchanting wee episode, where Annie and Jenny take us deep into the heart of the Cairngorms in the Scottish Highlands. We unearthing tales of the mystical fairy dogs that roam the majestic mountainous landscapes. Ensure your sheep are safe and secure, cuddle your four-legged companions, and hold a wee piece of metal to protect yourself from fairy frolics. Whether you're a folklore enthusiast or simply looking to experience the magic of Scotland's natural wonders, this episode promises to captivate your heart and imagination. Content warning: This episode includes a description of a person with suicidal thoughts. If you are based in Scotland and require mental health support, check resources here: www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/mental-health/mental-health-support/mental-health-services-at-nhs-24 Independently made in the Highlands, Stories of Scotland is gratefully funded through listener support on Patreon. www.patreon.com/storiesofscotland Thank you all so much for listening to Scotland's most popular history and folklore podcast. 

Helen Needham discusses the Cairngorms and Nan Shepherd with writer Merryn Glover

Welcome to Episode 51 of the We Are Makers podcast.  In this episode, we are back in the UK, specifically in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where we sit down with Laura Sherriffs, the owner and operator of Fernweh. Fernweh is known for its high-quality, purpose-driven goods for the modern-day explorer.Laura's passion for adventure and exploring off the beaten path, particularly in the Scottish landscape and the Cairngorms, serves as the driving force behind Fernweh. With this inspiration, Laura creates handmade products that infuse a sense of adventure into everyday life.The journey of Fernweh began when Laura, a graduate of Grays School of Art with a degree in Fashion Design, found herself at a crossroads in life. Amidst this uncertainty, she discovered her love for rock climbing. While missing the creative aspect of her life, Laura decided to make her own chalk bag using waxed canvas, deviating from the mass-produced polyester designs available in the market. The positive feedback and requests she received propelled her to establish Fernweh through an online store.Fernweh was born out of Laura's desire to create artisan products of exceptional quality for adventurers and explorers. From bags to knitted hats and various accessories, Laura draws inspiration from the Scottish wilderness and the breathtaking landscapes that surround her. Her goal is to inspire customers to embrace the outdoors and embark on their own explorations.Laura believes in responsible stewardship of the land, and sustainability is at the core of Fernweh's values. By prioritizing longevity, utilizing traditional and quality fabrics, and minimizing waste, Fernweh strives to create ethical products that stand the test of time. Each Fernweh piece is meticulously handcrafted by Laura herself in her studio in Aberdeen, ensuring the utmost care and attention to detail.Join us as we  delve into the world of Fernweh, its commitment to sustainability, and the remarkable journey of an entrepreneur driven by a passion for adventure and a love for Scotland's natural beauty. We Are MakersInsta: @weare_makersWebsite: https://wearemakers.shopFernweh UKInsta: @fernwehukWebsite: https: www.fernwehuk.comNomonoInsta: @nomonosoundWebsite: https://nomono.co/Youtube: @NomonoSoundLike this podcast and want to watch it? Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Or, Like to read? Discover our biannual publication that includes stories of makers worldwide! (We ship worldwide too!)

Communities in the Scottish Highlands are facing a housing crisis so bad, it's been described as a clearance for the 21st century. According to the Convenor of the Highland Council, Bill Lobban, “the species most under threat in the Cairngorms National Park isn't the Capercaillie but the young family trying to find a home”. Ironically one key cause of the problem is also what brings most into the local economy – tourism. Across the region the growth of the tourism and hospitality industry is driving the demand for 2nd homes and many houses are now used for short-term holiday lets, with the result that very little accommodation remains for locals searching for somewhere to live, what does remain is usually unaffordable or unsuitable. The knock-on effect is that businesses across the Highlands are struggling to find staff and even when they manage to find them, they often lose them because there's no rental accommodation locally. A sector which has been particularly hard hit is hospitality where low wages exacerbate the issue with the result that hotels and restaurants find themselves in the unenviable position of having plenty of customers but not enough staff to serve them. Often, the only way many businesses can secure staff is if they provide accommodation but that's not always suitable for long term employees and skilled staff who might have young families plus not all businesses can afford to buy or manage housing for their staff. It's not just the hospitality sector either which is suffering, the salmon farming industry is being hit hard too and its not just low paid workers, all professions are being priced out of the housing market by too many people chasing too few properties. In Rental Health: All Work No Homes Pennie Stuart heads first to the northwest Highland village of Ullapool to hear how the business community is responding to the unintended consequences of the tourism boom while further south in Aviemore, in the heart of the Cairngorms national park, she hears about the radical solutions being proposed to bring staff, homes and tourism back into some kind of balance. Produced by Dan Holland Presented by Pennie Stuart

Mark Stephen visits Glen Derry with Shaila Rao

A true mystery from history. In 1938 two gamekeepers found the headless body of a man dressed in a business suit on the South East slopes of Ben Avon, one of the most isolated and remote locations of the Cairngorms.

Mark Stephen and Rachel Stewart with stories from around Braemar and the Cairngorms.

Artist Neil Stewart speaks with Mark Stephen about his cycling adventure.

Join Annie and Jenny deep in the Cairngorms, as they climb Ben Avon, but the summit isn't the goal, instead, they take a detour to an astounding rock formation called Clach Bhan, or in English, the Women's Stone. This rock formation overlooks the surrounding glens, and has been a place of pilgrimage for hundreds of years. Pregnant women from miles around would undertake an arduous trek to this point and ask the stone for a safe childbirth. But why this stone, three-quarters of the way up a mountain? What caused it to be here? Why are there numerous bowl-shaped holes, perfect for sitting? And most importantly, what drew women to this spot, in search of solace and safety? This episode is sponsored by WeeBox - go to www.weebox.com and enter the code ‘Story10' for an exclusive discount! You can support Stories of Scotland on patreon, visit www.patreon.com/storiesofscotland to join up! References: Aberdeen Press and Journal. Old North Country Superstitions. 1877. Gordon J, Wignall R, Brazier N, Bruneau P, ‘Cairngorms, A landscape Fashioned by Geology', Scottish National Heritage, 2006. Mason D. Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, volume xiv, 1887-1888. Inverness: Gaelic Society of Inverness; 1889. Northern Scot and Moray & Nairn Express. A Highland Village in the 18th Century. 1911. Sinclair J. Statistical Accounts of Scotland. Edinburgh: William Creech; 1794. Smith A. The history and antiquities of new and old Aberdeen. Aberdeen: A. Murray; 1882.