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The Caledonia Collective

People Inspired by the Scottish Landscape

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Uncategorized

What Capercaillie Mean to Me

What I can’t face is the thought of walking through Highland forests, knowing that these majestic birds are not silently … Continue reading What Capercaillie Mean to Me

Up and Down Days, Part Eight: Commitment
Art, Painting, Prose, Writing

Up and Down Days, Part Eight: Commitment

“…one never quite knows the mountain, nor oneself in relation to it.” “One walks among elementals, and elementals are not … Continue reading Up and Down Days, Part Eight: Commitment

Up and Down Days, Part Seven: The Bad Day
Hillwalking, Long Form, Prose, Writing

Up and Down Days, Part Seven: The Bad Day

I think that when people talk about having ‘adventures’ we generally mean doing something active, bold, possibly a little risky, … Continue reading Up and Down Days, Part Seven: The Bad Day

Up and Down Days, Part Six: Cold Forged
Hillwalking, Landscape, Long Form, Photography, Prose, Writing

Up and Down Days, Part Six: Cold Forged

The day I enjoyed on An Teallach with Doug, Jack and the others was one of the best hill days … Continue reading Up and Down Days, Part Six: Cold Forged

Up and Down Days, Part Five: The Smiddy and The Forge
Hillwalking, Long Form, Photography, Prose, Writing

Up and Down Days, Part Five: The Smiddy and The Forge

Part Five: The Smiddy and The Forge In the morning gloom of another tiny hut somewhere in the Highlands, I … Continue reading Up and Down Days, Part Five: The Smiddy and The Forge

Up and Down Days, Part Four: Cold Mountain
Painting, Prose, Writing

Up and Down Days, Part Four: Cold Mountain

Cold Mountain’s full of strange sights Men who go there end by being scared. Water glints and gleams in the … Continue reading Up and Down Days, Part Four: Cold Mountain

Up and Down Days Part Three: Zero to Hero
Hillwalking, Landscape, Long Form, Photography, Writing

Up and Down Days Part Three: Zero to Hero

The annual Burns Night trip to Skye was usually the highlight of the mountaineering club calendar. The third weekend in … Continue reading Up and Down Days Part Three: Zero to Hero

Long Form, Painting, Prose, Writing

Up and Down Days, Part Two: Muppets on a Mountain

If you’re going to do any hillwalking or mountaineering at all in Scotland, then one of the most fundamental things … Continue reading Up and Down Days, Part Two: Muppets on a Mountain

Hillwalking, Landscape, Long Form, Painting, People, Photography, Writing

Up and Down Days, Part One: The Bay of Water

For many years I’ve liked to tell people that I have an ‘up and down’ relationship with Scotland’s hills. Partly … Continue reading Up and Down Days, Part One: The Bay of Water

Hillwalking, Landscape, Photography, Video

Lost in the Highlands

Scotland’s mountains have the power to make you feel a certain way, a way many describe as magical. The way … Continue reading Lost in the Highlands

Poetry

The Silence of the Birds

In June, 1960, a group of Moray House students from Edinburgh University went on a week’s field trip to Glenmore … Continue reading The Silence of the Birds

Hillwalking, Landscape, Photography, Prose, Writing

The House of the Father, in the Valley of the Mother

David Lintern makes a personal journey to the oldest surviving Celtic ritual site in Europe, and bags a few Munros … Continue reading The House of the Father, in the Valley of the Mother

Art, Painting

My Heart’s In The Highlands

Reflections on my Art December 2020  If you are fortunate enough to be away from cities and COVID clusters, the … Continue reading My Heart’s In The Highlands

People, Writing

Thoughts on The Darkest Day

Hi. If you’d rather listen to this post than read it, then here is an audio recording. The full text … Continue reading Thoughts on The Darkest Day

Hillwalking, Landscape, Photography, Prose, Writing

A Winter Camp in the Cairngorms

The night was cold but still as we left the Sugarbowl, crossing the rushing Allt Mor in darkness. Nothing stirred … Continue reading A Winter Camp in the Cairngorms

Hillwalking, Writing

Connecting with the Mountains – A Personal Journey

“Traditionally approached from either Speyside in the north or Deeside in the south, I would not have to think too … Continue reading Connecting with the Mountains – A Personal Journey

Landscape, Photography, Prose, Writing

Adventures in Miniature

No no nooooo! Arms windmilling wildly, I pull my left foot out of the thick goopy bog and try to … Continue reading Adventures in Miniature

Landscape, Photography, Writing

Today Was a Gift

A few days ago the first snows of winter arrived on the mountains. There was a hard edged clarity of … Continue reading Today Was a Gift

Hillwalking, Landscape, Photography

A Glorious Cairngorms Trip Above The Clouds

Sometimes tiny details in the weather forecast are worth pursuing. Towards the end of last week the gloomy outlook was … Continue reading A Glorious Cairngorms Trip Above The Clouds

Camping

Stealing Adventures from my Back Yard

Since moving to Strathspey from Wester Ross I have taken many overnight bike trips to the glens, rivers, moors and … Continue reading Stealing Adventures from my Back Yard

Uncategorized

Music Transcends Borders

The relationship between Scottish heritage and landscape is heavily romanticised, and it only takes a glimpse of Scotland’s beautiful locations … Continue reading Music Transcends Borders

Art, Painting

Fishing Rods and Paintbrushes

My elder son is now old enough that I can take him out on a boat and share one of … Continue reading Fishing Rods and Paintbrushes

Prose, Wild Swimming, Writing

Swimming High in the Cairngorms

The Cairngorms National Park is a wild swimmer’s paradise. Famous for having some of the cleanest rivers in Europe, as … Continue reading Swimming High in the Cairngorms

Landscape, Long Form, Prose

Come Further Up, Come Further In

“Over the garden fence, behind the railway and the cherry trees, the Cairngorms are waiting. They should be more than a mere background to life.” Continue reading Come Further Up, Come Further In

Blog

Thoughts on Launching the Caledonia Collective

It’s a few days since we launched this new thing called the Caledonia Collective. After months of chat, set-up work … Continue reading Thoughts on Launching the Caledonia Collective

Environment, Rewilding

Kirklandbank: Our Rewilding Story

The process of rewilding is no quick fix. It’s a slow process. Rewilding is handing the reins back over to … Continue reading Kirklandbank: Our Rewilding Story

Environment, Long Form, Prose, Writing

Upstream, Downstream

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it attached to everything else in the universe.” John … Continue reading Upstream, Downstream

Music, Video

If You Look Deep Enough You Will See Music

The relationship between landscape, nature and our own human creativity has always intrigued me, it has indeed formed much of … Continue reading If You Look Deep Enough You Will See Music

Craft, Music

Woods, Wood and Woodwork.

If I source, cut, split and stack wood myself, I feel I’ve earned the right to be warm in winter.  … Continue reading Woods, Wood and Woodwork.

Music, Video

The Rothiemurchus Rant

The tune that you hear in this video is a strathspey called the Rothiemurchus Rant, taken from Angus Cumming’s book, … Continue reading The Rothiemurchus Rant

The Elder has Flowered!
Blog, Music, Video

The Elder has Flowered!

Another magical tree of the Scottish Highlands, the elder has just come into bloom in Strathspey. Elder is represented by … Continue reading The Elder has Flowered!

The Oaks of Sunart
Landscape, Photography, Prose, Writing

The Oaks of Sunart

As soon as the man on the phone stopped shouting at me and hung up, I made up my mind … Continue reading The Oaks of Sunart

The Grey Coast
Music, Poetry

The Grey Coast

The Cateran Ecomuseum · The Grey Coast by Hamish Napier A poem about where my father’s side of the family … Continue reading The Grey Coast

Land the Person
Prose, Writing

Land the Person

It occurred to me the other day, while I was walking up a hill through long grass beneath shady birch … Continue reading Land the Person

Music, Poetry, Video

Summer is Here

‘The House in Rose Valley’ & ‘This is July’ ‪It was wonderful to join ace Highland fiddle player Duncan Chisholm … Continue reading Summer is Here

Glen Torridon and the Awe of Time
Landscape, Photography, Prose, Writing

Glen Torridon and the Awe of Time

On a cloudy October morning in 2008, I quietly opened the door of Ling Hut, where we had arrived in … Continue reading Glen Torridon and the Awe of Time

The Whirlpool
Music, Video

The Whirlpool

Looping, Eddies & Pictish Words Writing about your creations and how they connect with nature inevitably throws up some unusual, specialist … Continue reading The Whirlpool

Looking Closely at Things
Landscape, Photography, Prose, Writing

Looking Closely at Things

One of the great joys that photography can bring you is the ability to notice things that other people can’t … Continue reading Looking Closely at Things

Elm: The Tree of the Underworld
Music, Prose, Writing

Elm: The Tree of the Underworld

The Woods by Hamish Napier Hmmm, I wonder what kind of tree that is? The one on the corner of … Continue reading Elm: The Tree of the Underworld

A Portfolio of Water
Landscape, Photography

A Portfolio of Water

A while ago I wrote about the wonderful way in which looking at the natural world will teach you to … Continue reading A Portfolio of Water

‘The Woods’ Video – A Collaboration between David and Hamish
Music, Video

‘The Woods’ Video – A Collaboration between David and Hamish

This is where it all began, the first collaboration between David and Hamish on Hamish’s latest album – The Woods. Continue reading ‘The Woods’ Video – A Collaboration between David and Hamish

Wood and Water: A Passion Project from the Caledonian Forest
Video

Wood and Water: A Passion Project from the Caledonian Forest

Over the course of a year I collected footage from the Caledonian Forest of the Cairngorms National Park to compile into a short film. I wanted to show the unbelievable diverse beauty of Scotland’s ancient woodlands, in every season and type of weather. Continue reading Wood and Water: A Passion Project from the Caledonian Forest

Introducing The Caledonia Collective
Blog

Introducing The Caledonia Collective

Well hello there! We figured we have to start somewhere, so we decided to write a post about who we are, how we came together, and what this is all about. Continue reading Introducing The Caledonia Collective

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