The Sutherland Trail

Book excerpt: The Sutherland Trail - a journey through north-west Scotland, is the long awaited latest book by the UK's best known hillwalker and backpacker, Cameron McNeish. In partnership with award-winning photographer and film maker Richard Else, Cameron has developed a superb week-long walking route through one of the finest landscapes in Europe. Sutherland, in the far north-west of Scotland, has long been described as 'the empty lands'. Much of the land is magnificently untamed and unpopulated, and the grandeur of the landscape attracts hillwalkers and backpackers from throughout the world. The Sutherland Trail between Lochinver and Tongue follows ancient pathways, stalker's routes and hill tracks through one of the most geologically fascinating regions of the UK. It passes caves, chambered cairns and the remains of ancient shielings, follows river banks and loch-sides, climbs iconic hills and visits the highest waterfall in Britain. Along the way, the voices of the local people are heard loud and clear. The passions of the crofters, hoteliers, fishermen, climbers and hillwalkers give a new momentum to life in the region, looking forward to a positive future for these spectacular northern lands. Sutherland is revealed as a land rich in glorious scenery, wildlife and natural resources, a region that was once vastly more populated than it is today, but is slowly regaining some of its lost population - a region that belies its common perception as 'the empty lands'.