Munros and Other Walks

  "I care to live only to entice people to look at Nature’s loveliness."   John Muir   This book contains 10 different essays by John Muir which cover a time period of around 30 years. This is the first book I have read by Muir and overall he does well to describe the different hikes and travels he took part in. The essays were published in different magazines or journals in the States from around 1870-1904. The first 2 cover his adventures in Alaska before moving on to Hollow Hill and Mount Ritter. It's with the Ritter essay I found myself becoming more interested in the journey. Some of the essays can be difficult to get into and it's a credit to Muir and his writing style that stuck with the stories. There are some essays which describe the flora and fauna of the landscape that I just wasn't in to. I had perceived the book to be more like a description on different hikes which, the Mount Ritter one is and I feel is the highlight of this book.  "No other ex...

If you search for Backmuir woods you'll probably find the one in Dundee, this isn't it. The correct name for this is Whitehill walk and it is located on the outskirts of Hamilton, near the Whitehill centre.  We started at the basketball court and walked up the slope which took us to a walkway behind a school. From there we took a left and headed into the woods. Time wasn't on our side, with the nights drawn in and the rain clouds advancing, but we walked on hoping that the cover of the woods would shelter us from the elements.  The plan was to try and walk around in a loop. The ground is rather marshy and in one area there is a large puddle that is difficult to negotiate, so we were forced to take a right turn up near the industrial estate. The woods are sandwiched between this estate and the expressway.  We had reached the pipes as the rain finally began to fall. Unsure about going further and having to cross th...