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Issue 13, the walk to the cabin

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The roads less travelled that take you to places that matter. The adventures that gather you up and sweep you away. The blend of the wild and the artistic that makes Scotland what it is. We'd love for you to join us.

Live from ScotlandGlenfinnan Cloudy in Lochaber, and the sun sets at 16:55.Watch Scotland live
  1. FoghornMull of Galloway LighthouseThe old foghorn at the Mull of Galloway is due to sound today.
  2. Due this weekWatch Scotland liveGrey seal pups are being born about now, in white coats, on quiet beaches and islands round the coast.
  3. Just openedCaithnessCastletown Mill in Caithness, built in 1818, is a whisky distillery now.
  4. On todaySutherlandAutumn Highland Festival is on in Dornoch today.
  5. WildlifeOuter HebridesA golden eagle was seen near Driftwood, Isle of Lewis, on Wednesday.
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Did you know

On the island of Barra, in the Outer Hebrides, scheduled passenger planes land on a beach, and the flight times move with the tide.

Barra Airport's three runways are marked out on the sand of Tràigh Mhòr, the beach known in English as the Cockle Strand, with wooden poles at each end. At high tide all three are under the sea, so the times of the flights to Glasgow change with the tide. Because the runways point three different ways, the little Twin Otter planes can almost always land into the wind. The first official service touched down on the sands in August 1936, and Barra is still the only scheduled beach runway in the world.

See Barra Airport · Outer Hebrides
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Just addedAdded today

We've just added Leslie Odom in Jr. in concert to the website.

Leslie Odom, Jr., the Tony-winning Aaron Burr of Hamilton, sings at the Edinburgh Playhouse on Sunday 25 October.

Find out more about Leslie Odom in Jr. in concert
Did you know

Skara Brae, a stone village on the Bay of Skaill in Orkney, was a thriving community before Stonehenge or the Egyptian pyramids were built.

People lived in the village from roughly 3180 BC to about 2500 BC. That is earlier than the Great Pyramid, built around 2560 BC, and earlier than the main building at Stonehenge, begun around 3000 BC. Once its people had gone, the village was lost from sight until a storm uncovered it in 1850. The houses still have their stone dressers and box-beds, and Historic Environment Scotland calls it the best-preserved Neolithic, or New Stone Age, settlement in Western Europe. Today you can walk among ten of its buildings and four of its passageways, five thousand years after they were built.

See Skara Brae · Orkney
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TodayFor today's weatherLochaberKnoydart Ranger ServiceTourEdinburghEdinburgh Gin DistilleryTourDumfries and GallowayGretna Green Guided TourTourPerthshireBlair Athol DistilleryTourFort WilliamBen Nevis DistilleryTourIsle of MullTobermory distilleryTour

Today calls for a guide and a roof.

7° and light rain across Scotland. Wet across Scotland: the tours that keep you dry, and the ones that do not care.

See them all
Did you knowJess MacdonaldWritten byJess MacdonaldRead Jess’s piece

Glenhurich Lodge, a former hunting lodge in a remote glen near Strontian, in Lochaber, has also served as a schoolhouse.

‘Over breakfast, a quick read through the provided history of Glenhurich revealed that the trees were planted in the 1860s at the same time as the earliest part of the house was built. The second wing came some four decades later and was originally intended as separate accommodation for Forestry Commission staff. In the 90s after a period of serving as a schoolhouse (enrolment included 13 children at its peak), the two were renovated and joined to create a single family home.’

Jess MacdonaldWritten byJess MacdonaldRead Jess’s pieceSee Glenhurich Lodge · Lochaber
Hidden Scotland, the magazineThe magazine

Issue 13

The autumn and winter issue is here.

Get Issue 13
WildlifeThis weekSeen 7 timesDipperSeen 5 times · DriftwoodGolden eagleSeen 4 times · KillinRed deerSeen 3 times · Dumfries and GallowayWhooper swanSeen twice · AngusPine martenSeen twiceOtterSeen once · FortroseGannetSeen once · Dunain CottageRed kiteSeen onceWhite-tailed eagleSeen once · John Muir WayPink-footed gooseSeen once · Dumfries and GallowayBarnacle gooseSeen onceMinke whaleSeen once · Perthshire and KinrossBeaverSeen onceRed squirrelSeen onceMountain hare

The wildlife people spotted in Scotland this week.

The dipper is a small brown river bird with a white bib that walks underwater along the beds of fast rivers, hunting for insects, and this week the dipper was the animal reported most often in Scotland: 7 sightings. These are the animals people have reported most in the last seven days, the most seen first. Every sighting is logged with a photograph or a recording on iNaturalist, the wildlife recording site, and each card opens them on its map.

Where to see wildlife in Scotland
Did you know

Scotland's national animal is the unicorn, and on the old Scottish royal arms two crowned unicorns hold up the shield, bound in golden chains.

The oldest surviving version of the arms with unicorns is a weather-worn carving above the gateway of Rothesay Castle, on the Isle of Bute, made no later than the reign of Robert III, which ended in 1406. In about 1484 James III went further and issued gold coins called the unicorn and the half-unicorn. The chain is usually read as a sign of royal strength: the unicorn was thought too wild for anyone to tame, and only a Scottish king was strong enough to hold it. You can still spot unicorns across the country, from the top of the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh to the gate of the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

Just addedAdded today

We've just added Royal Mile International Piano Series: The Beethoven Sonatas to the website.

Ariel Lanyi plays Beethoven's Diabelli Variations by candlelight in St Giles' Cathedral on Monday 26 October.

Find out more about Royal Mile International Piano Series: The Beethoven Sonatas
Did you know

Loch Ness, in the Highlands near Inverness, holds more water than all the lakes of England and Wales put together.

Loch Ness isn't the biggest loch in Scotland by area: that is Loch Lomond, at 71 square kilometres. What Loch Ness has is depth. It runs for about 37 kilometres and reaches around 230 metres at its deepest, so it holds 7,452 million cubic metres of water, more than any other loch in Scotland. The water is murky too, because of the peat in the soil around it. And for all that depth, it is not the deepest loch in the country: that is Loch Morar, further west, at 310 metres.

See Loch Ness · Inverness-shire
FoghornToday

The old foghorn at the Mull of Galloway is due to sound today.

On a few Sundays a year the lighthouse at Scotland's most southerly point starts its old engines and blows the horn, and this is one of them. The exhibition is open from eleven until five. The lighthouse does not print the hour of the blast, the engines are old enough to refuse, and the horn is never blown in fog, so go hoping to hear it and not counting on it.

See Mull of Galloway Lighthouse
Did you knowGraeme JohncockWritten byGraeme JohncockMore from Graeme

Graeme Johncock, who travels Scotland for Hidden Scotland, fitted a broch, a cathedral and a castle into a single day on the island of Lismore, off Oban.

‘The next day took me to Lismore, a longer ferry ride but almost equally overlooked. It was once one of the most important religious sites in Scotland, established by St Moluag and at the centre of busy shipping lanes. In one day I managed to hike to an Iron Age broch, explore the Cathedral of Argyll, climb into a ruined castle on the coast and visit the Gaelic heritage centre.’

Graeme JohncockWritten byGraeme JohncockMore from GraemeRead the full story
Seal pupsThis week

Grey seal pups are being born about now, in white coats, on quiet beaches and islands round the coast.

Grey seals come ashore to have their pups from October to December, and each pup stays on the beach for its first weeks. Watch from a long way back, from a clifftop or a signed viewpoint, and never walk up to one.

Watch Scotland live