I’m a bit late with this and you may have already found these maps, but they are well worth studying. they certainly add a new dimension to TGO Challenge planning.

I was up in the freezing Scottish Borders this weekend visiting Challenger Humphrey Weightman and he bought these to my attention.

Scottish Natural Heritage has recently undertaken some new mapping work to refine our understanding of wild land.  Phase I of the work, which maps relative levels of wildness for the whole of Scotland, is now online on this page.  Phase II of the work is intended to identify and define more precisely areas of wild land.

The phase 1 maps are well worth examining. The cover:

• the perceived naturalness of the land cover,
• the ruggedness of the terrain which is therefore challenging to cross,
• remoteness from public roads or ferries, and
• the visible lack of buildings, roads, pylons and other modern artefacts.

Fascinating stuff. Much of it what you would imagine but there will also be some surprises.

For those of you who know Humphrey and can confirm that he is well and in good spirits. He put on a weekend of gourmet meals that started with home made hummus and a wonderful mushroom bake and concluded with a sublime Eggs Benedict for breakfast on Sunday. This is, of course, a Challenger who insists on high culinary standards in the field and who can often be found in the wilderness cooking himself a delicious rare steak.

Sadly, the weather effected out outdoor itinerary. We did stumble around near the Tweed a bit and walked around the walls of Berwick in absolutely foul weather. On Saturday we took off to Holly Island and Lindisfarne. By this time the weather was truly dreadful. So, Humphrey devised an alternative. We took his 4 wheel drive Skoda Yetti over the causeway and romped over all kinds of farm tracks and past no entry signs in order to get the best view of Lindisfarne. Not exactly what we had in mind but great fun.

Thanks again Humph.