Loveofscotland

Along the north-east coast of Buchan lie a string of castles, more than you were probably aware of: Findlater Castle, Boyne Castle, Banff Castle, Castle of Findon, Troup Castle, Dundarg, Pitsligo Castle, Pittulie Castle, Kinnaird Castle, Cairnbulg Castle, Inverallochy Castle, Lonmay Castle, Rattray Castle, Ravenscraig Castle (*not* the one in Kirkcaldy), Cheyne's Tower, Old Inve...

I was at conference a while ago and asked a journalist what I thought was quite a good question. What sort of data would she like to see from a public institution like the Scottish Parliament? Her answer was even better than the question, and it gave me an idea. What did Ema Sabljak reckon would interest punters?Something hyper-local, map based, and health related. It occurred to

I recently discovered Dave Hewitt died at the end of last year, and found the news genuinely saddening. If you didn't know Dave but are into the outdoors, there's a good chance you've heard of The Angry Corrie, the hillwalking fanzine he co-founded in 1991. I grew up in the hills with TAC: it came out at a formative time, just as I was taking my first steps into the hills, and i...

We got up at 5am for sunrise. There was nobody else about. An orangey-red glow shone on the world out of the eastern quarter of a grey sky.What were we doing? Heading down to the beach to see the seals. This is the great 24km stretch of sand between Fraserburgh and Peterhead, centred on Rattray Head, visited by few folk except locals. It can feel desert-island-y when there's nob...

If you were to draw a map of Scotland's most common tourist itinerary, it would look something like this:Edinburgh - Glencoe - Isle of Skye - Inverness - Aviemore - Stirling - Edinburgh:But this leaves out large swathes of the country, most obviously the entire southern third of Scotland and the northeast wedge of Buchan. What is the area round Fraserburgh and Peterhead like? A ...