Whitefront
Well-Known Member
I wonder what people regard as the finest hill stalking land?
I ask because I was watching a video of stalking in Scotland and the commentator was enthusing about the scenery, yet to me it looked distinctly mundane: dull, flat ground with grim, straight-edged Sitka spruce plantations cut by a regular grid of boggy rides and gravel forestry roads, with an array of hideous wind turbines dominating the skyline. I personally wouldn't want to spend a single hour in such a place, no matter how many deer it held.
Ideally, when stalking on the hill, I don't want to see roads or traffic, caravans or campsites, wind turbines, commercial forestry plantations, fences, car parks, pylons, towns, telecom masts, unsightly dams/hydro installations or reservoirs with exposed shorelines - all the more blatant and intrusive works of man, in other words.
What I do want are tremendous mountain vistas, a mix of steep ground and flats, corries and glens, smatterings of self-sown native trees among the crags, waterfalls and torrents, untamed rivers, hill lochans and so forth. The sort of lonely place where you might see eagles, ptarmigan and mountain hares and just being there is a joy.
NatureScot has a map showing so-called "wild land" areas in Scotland. All the finest hill stalking estates I know of seem to lie within such designated areas. I would be interested to know what others think.
I ask because I was watching a video of stalking in Scotland and the commentator was enthusing about the scenery, yet to me it looked distinctly mundane: dull, flat ground with grim, straight-edged Sitka spruce plantations cut by a regular grid of boggy rides and gravel forestry roads, with an array of hideous wind turbines dominating the skyline. I personally wouldn't want to spend a single hour in such a place, no matter how many deer it held.
Ideally, when stalking on the hill, I don't want to see roads or traffic, caravans or campsites, wind turbines, commercial forestry plantations, fences, car parks, pylons, towns, telecom masts, unsightly dams/hydro installations or reservoirs with exposed shorelines - all the more blatant and intrusive works of man, in other words.
What I do want are tremendous mountain vistas, a mix of steep ground and flats, corries and glens, smatterings of self-sown native trees among the crags, waterfalls and torrents, untamed rivers, hill lochans and so forth. The sort of lonely place where you might see eagles, ptarmigan and mountain hares and just being there is a joy.
NatureScot has a map showing so-called "wild land" areas in Scotland. All the finest hill stalking estates I know of seem to lie within such designated areas. I would be interested to know what others think.
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wait until you walk it ,flat it won’t be.Up hill and down dale just doesn’t cover it .Give it a go it’s an amazing never to be forgotten experience.
