Isle of Arran Library

Caisteal Abhail via North Glen Sannox: Arran Route Guide

Climb Caisteal Abhail through North Glen Sannox, gaining the northwest ridge and summit tors without committing to the Witch’s Step.

24 Aug 2026Read Guide

Cìr Mhòr via Glen Rosa and The Saddle: Arran Route Guide

Follow Glen Rosa to The Saddle and climb Cìr Mhòr’s steep southern ridge on a serious out-and-back into Arran’s granite heart.

10 Aug 2026Read Guide

Beinn Tarsuinn via Glen Rosa: Arran Route Guide

Climb Beinn Tarsuinn through Glen Rosa, crossing Beinn Nuis and the rocky ridge past the Old Man of Tarsuinn before returning the same way.

10 Aug 2026Read Guide

Goatfell from Cladach

A strenuous 9.0 km out-and-back from Cladach to Arran's highest summit, climbing 725 m on the maintained tourist path and rocky upper slopes.

06 Aug 2026Read Guide

Hill Lists and People

The Dodds: When Three Regional Lists Became One Metric Classification

Between 500 and 600 metres sits a collection of hills that used to be split across Deweys, Donald Deweys and Highland Fives—until the idea emerged in 2014 to unify them under a single name that works across Britain.

02 Nov 2026Read

Simms: the hill category that tidied up the lists

If you've ever wondered why British hill lists seem unnecessarily complicated, Simms offer a rare moment of clarity. Introduced by Alan Dawson in 2010, a Simm is any summit over 600 metres with at least 30 metres of drop all round – a definition that consolidated several older, overlapping lists like Murdos, Corbett Tops, Graham Tops and Hewitts into something more coherent.

28 Sept 2026Read

Marilyns: Why a 150-Metre Drop is the Real Test of a Hill

Think altitude is everything? See why a 150-metre drop identifies Britain’s 1,550 Marilyns, and how the list changed in 2025.

The HuMPs: The Geography of Independence

Forget the highest peaks and look at the hills that stand on their own—this is the fascinating, mathematical world of the HuMPs.

The Corbetts: Scotland’s 500-Foot Hill Climbing Obsession

While the Munros get the headlines, the 222 Corbetts offer a quieter route into the Scottish hills, each meeting a clear height and 500ft drop rule.

John Rooke Corbett

The man who gave Scotland’s overlooked 2,500-foot peaks a name: the Corbetts.

Simms: the hill category that tidied up the lists

28 Sept 2026Read

History and Heritage

1 guide

Ancient Beaches That Forgot to Stay by the Water

Around Britain are wave-cut platforms and beach terraces that now sit stubbornly above the sea. Rising water and land rebounding after the last Ice Age moved at different speeds, stranding former shorelines at varying heights.

12 Oct 2026Read

Landscape and Place Names

Why Scotland's Mountains Are Full of Mòrs and Beags

Once you know that "mòr" means big and "beag" means small in Scottish Gaelic, you'll spot this wonderfully pragmatic naming system all over Highland maps—because when you've got two similar lumps of rock next to each other, calling one the big version and one the wee version does the job without requiring ancient warrior legends or any particular imagination.

24 Oct 2026Read

Why Scottish mountains are called sgòr, sgùrr and stob

Ever wondered why Scottish mountains are called sgòr, sgùrr and stob? They're not random—they're Gaelic descriptions of what the peak actually looks like from below.

07 Oct 2026Read

What Volcanoes Left Behind in Britain

Extinct volcanoes left lava flows, ash deposits, intrusions and collapsed calderas across parts of Britain. Their resistant volcanic rocks now form familiar crags, ridges and mountain landscapes.

08 Sept 2026Read

How Britain’s Mountains Were Made

Britain’s mountains were created by ancient plate collisions, volcanic activity and movement along faults. Millions of years of weathering, rivers and ice then shaped them into the ranges and isolated hills hikers see today.

27 Aug 2026Read

The Language of Water

A guide to the Norse and regional water terms found across the British uplands—and what they can, and cannot, tell you about the terrain.

16 Jul 2026Read

Is it a hill, is it a fell, is it a mountain?

The UK’s names for high places—hills, fells, mountains and tors—reflect language and local custom, while the familiar 2,000-foot line is a hill-list convention rather than an official OS rule.

15 Jul 2026Read

Why Scotland's Mountains Are Full of Mòrs and Beags

24 Oct 2026Read

Access and Mountain Safety

1 guide

The Wild Camping Grey Area: Where You Can, Where You Can't, and Why Scotland's Different

Britain's wild camping laws are a proper muddle: you generally need permission in England and Wales, Dartmoor's commons offer a genuine legal right to pitch, and Scotland grants access across most land under its own statute. The confusion comes from assuming that permission to walk somewhere includes permission to sleep there, which it usually doesn't, and the legal ground shifts beneath your boots without so much as a signpost to warn you.

16 Aug 2026Read

Wildlife and Working Landscapes

1 guide