Neil Reid
@cairngormwanderer.bsky.social
Hill walker, ex-climber. Love the Cairngorms. Retired editor of Scottish Mountaineer mag, MO & Hon Life Member w MBA & trustee w Bob Scott's Bothy Assoc. High altitude lavvy cleaner at Corrour Bothy. Mountain litter picker.
A missed summit. Sometimes it hurts, but can still be a glorious day.
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2026/02/16/a...
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2026/02/16/a...
February 16, 2026 at 11:11 PM
A missed summit. Sometimes it hurts, but can still be a glorious day.
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2026/02/16/a...
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2026/02/16/a...
Reposted by Neil Reid
It's @walkhighlands.co.uk time! And in my latest column I'm taking a closer look at the weirdness that is Fata Morgana. I've only seen this bizarre mirage a couple of times, and this particular sighting was on 27th December on Carn na Drochaide. My brain hurts after writing it though! 😆
Fata Morgana: when Morgan le Fay comes out to play
At first it was subtle, barely enough to suggest anything was amiss - a long, flat-topped plateau in the distance, somewhere over towards Drumochter, and I was struggling to identify it.
We do of c...
www.walkhighlands.co.uk
February 3, 2026 at 10:06 AM
It's @walkhighlands.co.uk time! And in my latest column I'm taking a closer look at the weirdness that is Fata Morgana. I've only seen this bizarre mirage a couple of times, and this particular sighting was on 27th December on Carn na Drochaide. My brain hurts after writing it though! 😆
Another toilet change at Corrour Bothy in the #Cairngorms. Heavy going in the snow, especially with one MO jet-lagged and one just old, but, hey, you take the good with the not so good.
February 3, 2026 at 9:28 PM
Another toilet change at Corrour Bothy in the #Cairngorms. Heavy going in the snow, especially with one MO jet-lagged and one just old, but, hey, you take the good with the not so good.
Reposted by Neil Reid
New post Parkswatchscotland: Recent research, Scots Pine and the montane woodland planting in Coire na Ciste at Cairn Gorm https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/?p=32229
January 31, 2026 at 10:17 AM
New post Parkswatchscotland: Recent research, Scots Pine and the montane woodland planting in Coire na Ciste at Cairn Gorm https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/?p=32229
Amazing shapes revealed when the landscape is reduced to winter's black and white. #Cairngorms
Nice shapes and patterns under these conditions 🙂
January 18, 2026 at 9:50 PM
Amazing shapes revealed when the landscape is reduced to winter's black and white. #Cairngorms
Merry Christmas to all who live, work in and visit the Cairngorms National Park. Nice to see 'my' bothy featured in @cairngormsnews.bsky.social 's Xmas post. (Although that snow certainly wasn't there this Christmas.)
Nollaig Chridheil 💫 Merry Christmas 💫
Wishing everyone a joyous festive season from the Cairngorms National Park❄️
As another year draws to a close, we’re thankful to the people, communities and partners that make this place so special 💜
📸 SCOTLAND: The Big Picture
Wishing everyone a joyous festive season from the Cairngorms National Park❄️
As another year draws to a close, we’re thankful to the people, communities and partners that make this place so special 💜
📸 SCOTLAND: The Big Picture
December 25, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Merry Christmas to all who live, work in and visit the Cairngorms National Park. Nice to see 'my' bothy featured in @cairngormsnews.bsky.social 's Xmas post. (Although that snow certainly wasn't there this Christmas.)
Reposted by Neil Reid
Fingers crossed for a classic winter - we're long overdue one. Here's a great guide for the off-piste and mountain skiers amongst you.
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/11/15/a...
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/11/15/a...
November 15, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Fingers crossed for a classic winter - we're long overdue one. Here's a great guide for the off-piste and mountain skiers amongst you.
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/11/15/a...
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/11/15/a...
Fingers crossed for a classic winter - we're long overdue one. Here's a great guide for the off-piste and mountain skiers amongst you.
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/11/15/a...
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/11/15/a...
November 15, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Fingers crossed for a classic winter - we're long overdue one. Here's a great guide for the off-piste and mountain skiers amongst you.
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/11/15/a...
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/11/15/a...
Reposted by Neil Reid
Come on ScotGov, this is unforgivable - and stupid! Funding for paths, etc, has always been part of the agricultural funding farmers could bid for, since 2005. It’s a tiny proportion of the overall farming budget. If land managers can’t get £££, why should they pay for this public good themselves? 😡
Quality trails = more healthy, happy walking people. 🚶
So we're shocked to learn that ScotGov’s post-Brexit farm subsidy system will fail to replace lost funding for paths and access. ➡️ www.ramblers.org.uk/post-brexit-...
Scotland will be left with the worst funding for outdoor access in Britain.🤦🏻♀️
So we're shocked to learn that ScotGov’s post-Brexit farm subsidy system will fail to replace lost funding for paths and access. ➡️ www.ramblers.org.uk/post-brexit-...
Scotland will be left with the worst funding for outdoor access in Britain.🤦🏻♀️
November 12, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Come on ScotGov, this is unforgivable - and stupid! Funding for paths, etc, has always been part of the agricultural funding farmers could bid for, since 2005. It’s a tiny proportion of the overall farming budget. If land managers can’t get £££, why should they pay for this public good themselves? 😡
A fine night for eight at Corrour with a braw fire thanks to the MOs' coal and two other guests with the foresight (and shoulders!) to take in extra logs. Bothy TV, a wee dram and some great blethers: what it's all about.
#Cairngorms #Bothylife
#Cairngorms #Bothylife
There's a lot to be said for 'Bothy TV' . Comforting, warming...in this case, when two cheap fancy dress tartan skirt/scarf/bonnet and chambermaid outfits left in Corrour bothy have acted as firelighters.
November 1, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A fine night for eight at Corrour with a braw fire thanks to the MOs' coal and two other guests with the foresight (and shoulders!) to take in extra logs. Bothy TV, a wee dram and some great blethers: what it's all about.
#Cairngorms #Bothylife
#Cairngorms #Bothylife
From a lonely place to die to views to die for. The murder of Sgt Arthur Davies. #Cairngorms
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/10/24/s...
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/10/24/s...
Scene of the crime
There’s not, to be honest, much of a view from the site. The foreground is all low-growing heather and heath, with a couple of rounded heathery hills framing an unremarkable glen disappearing down …
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com
October 24, 2025 at 8:49 PM
From a lonely place to die to views to die for. The murder of Sgt Arthur Davies. #Cairngorms
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/10/24/s...
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/10/24/s...
A fascinating paper on recent Mesolithic archaeology in the #Cairngorms. I was lucky enough to attend a couple of the digs & even found a couple of wee flints. Exciting discoveries & interpretations, & who knows what else there is to uncover. www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/...
www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk
October 23, 2025 at 7:48 AM
A fascinating paper on recent Mesolithic archaeology in the #Cairngorms. I was lucky enough to attend a couple of the digs & even found a couple of wee flints. Exciting discoveries & interpretations, & who knows what else there is to uncover. www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/...
Reposted by Neil Reid
Euan Philipps, head of media at Labour Against Antisemitism, adopted a Jewish sounding name to file antisemitism complaints to Labour.
The activities of this faux Jewish activist encapsulate the absurdity of the antisemitism hysteria under Corbyn👇
www.declassifieduk.org/how-keir-sta...
The activities of this faux Jewish activist encapsulate the absurdity of the antisemitism hysteria under Corbyn👇
www.declassifieduk.org/how-keir-sta...
How Keir Starmer conned the British electorate
Book review: ‘The Fraud’ offers the most damning portrayal yet of the Starmer project.
www.declassifieduk.org
October 20, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Euan Philipps, head of media at Labour Against Antisemitism, adopted a Jewish sounding name to file antisemitism complaints to Labour.
The activities of this faux Jewish activist encapsulate the absurdity of the antisemitism hysteria under Corbyn👇
www.declassifieduk.org/how-keir-sta...
The activities of this faux Jewish activist encapsulate the absurdity of the antisemitism hysteria under Corbyn👇
www.declassifieduk.org/how-keir-sta...
A lesson learned and a day of utter joy in the #Cairngorms.
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/c...
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/c...
Climb each hill like it’s your last
The picture shows an old man lying in the heather looking across a loch at a great cliff face. The cliff is the massive Creag an Dubh Loch and the man is Dod Thomson, a bothy pal of many years stan…
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com
October 13, 2025 at 8:50 PM
A lesson learned and a day of utter joy in the #Cairngorms.
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/c...
cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/c...
One of those perfect days. Several times almost moved to tears by the beauty.
October 12, 2025 at 7:30 PM
One of those perfect days. Several times almost moved to tears by the beauty.
Muirburn should be banned - yet the @snp.org Scottish Government don't even have the guts to enforce the licensing system they claim to have agreed.
October 10, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Muirburn should be banned - yet the @snp.org Scottish Government don't even have the guts to enforce the licensing system they claim to have agreed.
I still think the campfire ban in the @cairngormsnews.bsky.social Cairngorms National Park is right, but it's long past time landowners were held to account too and made to behave responsibly themselves.
Prof Douglas MacMillan's post earlier this week on the cause of fires in the Cairngorms National Park shows the Scottish Government's sleekit announcement today that muirburn licensing will be delayed for another nine months is highly political parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/10/08/w...
Why the ban on camp fires in the Cairngorms National Park maybe political rather than sustainable..... - parkswatchscotland
NIMBYism’ and ‘Park politics’ rather than fire risk is probably behind the move to ban camp fires (see here). My bet is that the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNP) has caved in to pressure from...
parkswatchscotland.co.uk
October 9, 2025 at 6:19 PM
I still think the campfire ban in the @cairngormsnews.bsky.social Cairngorms National Park is right, but it's long past time landowners were held to account too and made to behave responsibly themselves.
Reposted by Neil Reid
Just published 🙂 I've been wanting to write about the rut for years but never had the piccies to back it up till last autum 🦌. It certainly helps when it's happening right outside your house.
In his latest column, @countrysideben.bsky.social listens to one of the most dramatic sounds and spectacles of the Highlands.
Read all about the Rut:
www.walkhighlands.co.uk/news/the-rut/
Read all about the Rut:
www.walkhighlands.co.uk/news/the-rut/
The rut
I always look forwards to the first subzero morning. Coming so early in the autumn season, when summer still holds the days, it typically occurs after a clear night, which means the subsequent morning...
www.walkhighlands.co.uk
October 4, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Just published 🙂 I've been wanting to write about the rut for years but never had the piccies to back it up till last autum 🦌. It certainly helps when it's happening right outside your house.
Given that these people can reasonably be seen as Israel's agents in Britain, surely all members should be charged with both treason and assistance to genocide.
Before Labour Friends of Israel removed its webpage, we found 73 of Labour’s 197 MPs were parliamentary supporters or officers of the group
Dozens of MPs have been funded by LFI. But it refuses to disclose its donors.
For how much longer can this go on❓
www.declassifieduk.org/who-funds-la...
Dozens of MPs have been funded by LFI. But it refuses to disclose its donors.
For how much longer can this go on❓
www.declassifieduk.org/who-funds-la...
Who funds Labour Friends of Israel – and why won’t it say?
LFI is one of the largest lobbying forces in British politics, but refuses to disclose its sources of income. What is it hiding?
www.declassifieduk.org
September 25, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Given that these people can reasonably be seen as Israel's agents in Britain, surely all members should be charged with both treason and assistance to genocide.
Reposted by Neil Reid
ScotWays is proud to be part of the Scottish Outdoor Recreation Alliance (SORA)
SORA’s new 2026–31 manifesto calls for a £50m “Paths into Nature” fund to improve the quality, accessibility, and visibility of Scotland’s paths.
Read the full manifesto (link in our bio)
SORA’s new 2026–31 manifesto calls for a £50m “Paths into Nature” fund to improve the quality, accessibility, and visibility of Scotland’s paths.
Read the full manifesto (link in our bio)
September 24, 2025 at 9:01 AM
ScotWays is proud to be part of the Scottish Outdoor Recreation Alliance (SORA)
SORA’s new 2026–31 manifesto calls for a £50m “Paths into Nature” fund to improve the quality, accessibility, and visibility of Scotland’s paths.
Read the full manifesto (link in our bio)
SORA’s new 2026–31 manifesto calls for a £50m “Paths into Nature” fund to improve the quality, accessibility, and visibility of Scotland’s paths.
Read the full manifesto (link in our bio)
Reposted by Neil Reid
Some recent headlines:
"UK hottest summer ever, with drought across much of England"
"Deadly floods in Pakistan"
"Scientists warn of Atlantic current collapse if we don't stop burning fossil fuels"
We can't afford to expand airports in a climate emergency - please sign and share this petition.
"UK hottest summer ever, with drought across much of England"
"Deadly floods in Pakistan"
"Scientists warn of Atlantic current collapse if we don't stop burning fossil fuels"
We can't afford to expand airports in a climate emergency - please sign and share this petition.
Petition: Stop airport expansion: halt all airport expansion plans across the UK
More than 20 airports across the UK have expansion plans, which will result in a combined increase of 60%+ capacity. More flights means more emissions, at a time when we should be doing everything we ...
petition.parliament.uk
September 5, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Some recent headlines:
"UK hottest summer ever, with drought across much of England"
"Deadly floods in Pakistan"
"Scientists warn of Atlantic current collapse if we don't stop burning fossil fuels"
We can't afford to expand airports in a climate emergency - please sign and share this petition.
"UK hottest summer ever, with drought across much of England"
"Deadly floods in Pakistan"
"Scientists warn of Atlantic current collapse if we don't stop burning fossil fuels"
We can't afford to expand airports in a climate emergency - please sign and share this petition.
Always interesting to catch up with what Mountaineering Scotland have been up to. Read their annual report here.
www.mountaineering.scot/about-us/bus...
www.mountaineering.scot/about-us/bus...
September 9, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Always interesting to catch up with what Mountaineering Scotland have been up to. Read their annual report here.
www.mountaineering.scot/about-us/bus...
www.mountaineering.scot/about-us/bus...
So thrilled and moved to receive this for my birthday. It's a lovely piece of art in its own right, but especially important to me because I've known Corrour Bothy for almost 60 years and been privileged to help look after it for almost 20.
#CorrourBothy #Cairngorms
#CorrourBothy #Cairngorms
September 8, 2025 at 1:32 PM
So thrilled and moved to receive this for my birthday. It's a lovely piece of art in its own right, but especially important to me because I've known Corrour Bothy for almost 60 years and been privileged to help look after it for almost 20.
#CorrourBothy #Cairngorms
#CorrourBothy #Cairngorms
Reposted by Neil Reid
Police saved the UK from 890 retired and disabled terrorists and a mannequin this weekend
Police saved the UK from 890 retired and disabled terrorists and a mannequin this weekend
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: Before I begin this article, I must point out that I fully support the police dragging away old ladies on zimmerframes.
www.councilestatemedia.uk
September 8, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Police saved the UK from 890 retired and disabled terrorists and a mannequin this weekend
To think this was mostly bare hillside when I was a kid - and even until very recently. Top marks to the National Trust @n-t-s.bsky.social and dedicated staff at Mar Lodge Estate.
Doire Bhraghad is probably the most uplifting corner of the estate, as it's where the woodland regeneration has really surged in the last decade or so. I was up there today snapping some seasonal fixed-point piccies on my day off 🙂
August 19, 2025 at 8:02 AM
To think this was mostly bare hillside when I was a kid - and even until very recently. Top marks to the National Trust @n-t-s.bsky.social and dedicated staff at Mar Lodge Estate.