Books by Hamish M. Brown

The West Highland Way is Scotland's first official Long Distance Route and runs near 100 miles from Milngavie to Fort William. It was nicknamed the 'Way Way' by a trio from Fife who set off to walk it in the year of the Millennium. This is not a guidebook but an account of their experiences, the highs and lows which any challenge presents of their marvellous, surprising, amusing and weird memories. They met many hundreds of people along the way but, naturally, those they recall were the more eccentric. Although the trio never managed another bigger trip together they realize how lucky, and wise, they had been to grab the chance when it came. There is remarkably pleasant rural walking at the start to reach the Highlands at Loch Lomond, fine woodland on its banks and later, the contrast of lonely, empty miles across Rannoch Moor, the Devil's Staircase and the great pass of the Lairig Mor to finish. Encounters with other people are an important part of Long Distance Routes. Anyone who has walked the Way Way (or is planning to do so) will enjoy this story, bringing back plenty of similar memories of people and places, adventures and misadventures. The illustrations too give a wonderful idea of the rich variety of country traversed and well capture the atmosphere of this walk through Scotland's fine landscapes.

Seton Gordon was only a boy when he began exploring the Cairngorms, fascinated by its wildlife and seeking to photograph all he saw - he later became a pioneer naturalist, photographer and folklorist. He wrote about the land that is Scotland, her flora and fauna, her people, her spirits, her often violent past. He took the earliest pictures of golden eagles at their eyries and throughout the first half of the 20th century came to know Scotland's remotest corners, amassing a unique photographic record, recording the changing social life of the islands, collecting a mass of folklore and historical stories, lecturing and writing both for regular publications and in 27 books. Like John Muir, he was a wanderer and a guide. We walk with him through pinewoods, to eyries, to the corries of the Cairngorms, we follow him trying to recreate the greenshank's song on his bagpipe chanter; and see him holding a snowball windward of a nesting dotterel to cool its panting. Welcomed in croft or palace, a keen piper, inevitably dressed in kilt and bunnet, Seton Gordon was one of the age's great characters. This selection from his writings gives a fascinating insight of the man and his great versatility. The author, himself a Scottish outdoors enthusiast and well-known author, has been a lifelong admirer of Seton Gordon and his books and has created a book to treasure.