When you've seen a place in your dreams, and 100 times on YouTube, it's truly special to then see it in front of you. Indeed few things compare to the realization of a dream.​ This is an article about some of the things it takes to realize your best moments among the highest mountains in the world. Kumar, my guide, was concerned so he stopped me an...

​From my first encounter during a lull in Army Training to more recent ascents of the mountains surrounding it, Dalwhinnie has been a landmark surrounded by happy memories. The whisky produced here, a favourite dram of mine for the best part of 30 years. ​I first leapt onto the tarmac of the carpark of the Dalwhinnie Distillery out of the back of a...

The people who greet us, the greetings they use and the cultures they represent​ ​As I travel the world, one of the first things I always love to do is learn how to greet the people I meet in their own language. 'Hello' becomes so much more mysterious and interesting when you hear it said, and speak it, in different tongues. It almost becomes a gat...

With the season of the winter storms battering Scotland, I took a wander onto the promenade at Prestwick Beach to see the latest storm roll in. Though we may not get the monster waves that roll into the south of England from the Channel or the coast of Ireland from the Atlantic, the scene was still wild and beautiful.​ ​It was the lure of...

My first two trips to the Himalayas, to Poon Hill and Everest Base Camp, were magical yet inexperience and fear held me back from living them to the full. During my third trip, this time to Mera Peak, I gained all the confidence and experience I needed. That's why I'm going back next year to cover two iconic Himalayan Treks and live them to the max...

Climbing wearily up onto the Deurali La above the small settlement of Goripani we stood amongst lines of Buddhist Prayer Flags strewn among the rocks and fluttering in the morning breeze. This was my first trek to Nepal and the first time I had come upon these flags in the mountains. As Thakur, my guide, told me all about them I found myself contem...