My Personal Blog

"I sang a cover of Odyssey's Inside Out in France and it went on Youtube," said Eska, Baaba Maal's support act at Celtic Connections. "The writer got in touch with me to say he liked my version. So here he is today to duet with me. Ladies and gentlemen - Jesse Rae!" What?? This Jesse Rae? Wrote this African-American 70s funk classic?? A Celtic Connection indeed! It has been at least 15

Scotland is a land of many waters. While a few rivers were bridged in the middle ages or earlier, it was well into the 20th century before many of the ferries across Scotland's firths and kyles were made redundant - the fords of Benbecula, the islands of Skye and South Ronaldsay, the kyles of Ballachulish, Connel and Kylesku, the firths of Beauly, Dornoch, Forth, Clyde and Tay. These bridges

Not so long ago bothies were a trade secret. Your best chance of discovering them was to gain the trust of a hillwalker or other gangrel, usually by buying them a drink. Tongue loosened, if they liked the look of you they'd start to ask questions. "Have you ever been to Bob Scotts? Shenavall? Rowchoish?" "No," you'd say, wide-eyed, "I've only ever camped," hoping they would tell you about the

Creach Bheinn is awkward, despite being close to Oban. It sits round the back of the hills if you know what I mean. This doesn't matter if you want to stay at Eriska Hotel, canoe the Falls of Lora, see mirror-calm reflections in Loch Creran or ogle Castle Stalker. But to most hill-baggers, the A828 is the road less travelled - despite sights like this. Castle Stalker: Yet Creach Bheinn isn't