- BECAUSE THEY'RE THERE is about climbing mountains – nothing else. Well, actually, there are one or two other things. But it's mostly about climbing mountains. And fish and chips. And politics. And doing a bit of fell running. And wondering where the hell your life's gone – and where it might be going next. And cooking kippers in a wet tent. And people you bump into who do similar things. Actually, that last one doesn't happen very often . . .
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Recent Posts
- Days like this, No 27: The Old Man of Hoy
- An Uneasy Night on Cerro de la Salchicha
- Rivers and Rocks, Tracks and Tunnels
- Of Mice, Men, Mountains and Motors
- Days Like This, No 26: Following Footsteps in France
- Days Like This, No 25: The Constant Mountains
- Stranger in Paradise
- Karst Adrift
- Day’s Like This, No 24: Beinn Alligin – Horns and All
- Days Like This, No 23: Slioch – The Unseen Mountain
- In the Valley of the Toril
- The High and Mighty Mines of Lújar
- Close Encounter with Wild Boar
- Happy Valleys
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© Alen McFadzean and Because They’re There, 2009-2017. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Alen McFadzean and Because They’re There with appropriate and specific direction to the original content
Tag Archives: Scotland
Days like this, No 27: The Old Man of Hoy
ROBERT Louis Stevenson; John Buchan; Enid Blyton; Daniel Defoe; Jules Verne; William Golding; Arthur Ransome; CS Lewis: Jonathan Swift; RM Ballantyne. They had many things in common. But the link that draws this diverse scattering of authors into one archipelago … Continue reading
Posted in Archaeology, Camping, Childhood, Climbing, Environment, Hiking, History, Ruins, Second World War, Shipping Forecast, Vikings, Walking, Weather
Tagged outdoors, Scotland, transportation, Travel, WPLongform
23 Comments
Of Mice, Men, Mountains and Motors
AS the celebrated Scottish poet Rabbie Burns scribbled in the year 1785: “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley/an’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain for promis’d joy.” How true. In early July, amid the heat … Continue reading
Posted in Camping, Climbing, Hiking, History, Mountains, Poetry, Walking
Tagged Alpujarra, Alpujarras, outdoors, Scotland, Sierra Nevada, Spain, transportation
18 Comments
Days Like This, No 26: Following Footsteps in France
CHILDREN. We encourage them to be like us and share our interests. We expect them to grow into the shoes of their parents and reach for the heights we failed to attain. Sometimes they become images of ourselves. Sometimes they … Continue reading
Posted in Butterflies, Camping, Childhood, Climbing, Environment, Footpaths, Geology, Hiking, Mountains, Napes Needle, Rivers, Walking
Tagged Cumbria, France, Lake District, outdoors, Scotland
22 Comments
Days Like This, No 25: The Constant Mountains
JUNE 2000: The most noble of plans sinks into dregs outside the Bridge of Orchy Hotel. I’m walking the West Highland Way, and today I’ve hiked the few miles along General Wade’s military road from Tyndrum to the scattering of … Continue reading
Posted in Beer, Camping, Climbing, Environment, Footpaths, Hiking, Life, Mountains, Railways, Walking
Tagged Munros, outdoors, Scotland, The Munros, West Highland Way, WPLongform
22 Comments
Day’s Like This, No 24: Beinn Alligin – Horns and All
BEINN Alligin lifts itself out of Upper Loch Torridon with the casual assurance of a big beast among a clan of big beasts. With walls of bare striated sandstone and ridges that slice the wind, Alligin is a monument to … Continue reading
Posted in Camping, Climbing, Environment, Fish and chips, Footpaths, Geology, Hiking, Mountains, Walking, Weather
Tagged Munros, outdoors, Scotland, The Munros, WPLongform
22 Comments
Days Like This, No 23: Slioch – The Unseen Mountain
A LONG drive through the night to a lay-by on the shores of Loch Maree. A snatch of sleep broken by an airless dawn. Noodles and tea for breakfast while midges sting eyelids and ears. Then to gaze into an … Continue reading
In the Valley of the Toril
PATHS. They begin at our door and run through our lives. They rise and buckle and lead us to unknown places. They appear in all guises: woodland paths; coastal paths; moorland paths; paths of righteousness; paths of destiny. Sometimes they … Continue reading
Posted in Climbing, Environment, Footpaths, Gerald Brenan, Hiking, History, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Rivers, Ruins, Spanish Civil War, Threshing floors, Walking, Weather
Tagged Alpujarra, Alpujarras, general francisco franco, Munros, outdoors, Scotland, Sierra Nevada, Spain, The Munros, WPLongform
31 Comments
Forgive Them Their Trespasses?
IT’S a perfect spring morning in 1982. Arkengarthdale slumbers green and shadowy beneath a blue sky as we sit in damp grass and drink tea from tartan Thermos flasks. Nothing moves except the wind in the heather and the birds … Continue reading
Posted in Archaeology, Caving, Climbing, Country Land and Business Association, Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, Environment, Footpaths, Highland Clearances, Hiking, History, Hunting, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Politics, Potholing, Ranting, Rivers, Walking
Tagged Cumbria, Lake District, Mining History, outdoors, Pennines, Scotland, Snowdonia, The Lakes, Wales, WPLongform
34 Comments
Days like This, No 22: An August Bank Holiday Secret
I HAVE resolved to leave my hiking boots in the back of the Mini Estate this August Bank Holiday and avoid the Lake District fells. The reason is simple. The roads will be crammed with Vauxhall Vivas, Morris 1300s, and … Continue reading
Posted in Butterflies, Childhood, Climbing, English language, Footpaths, Hiking, History, Life, Mountains, Traditions, Walking, Weather, Wildlife
Tagged Cumbria, Lake District, outdoors, Scotland, The Lakes
19 Comments
A Big Adventure
SO I’m off to live in Spain. Just thought I’d slip that into the conversation. I’ve been thinking for some time that I need a new challenge – a big challenge. And although I won’t be embarking on a really, … Continue reading
Posted in Climbing, Environment, Hiking, Life, Mountains, Walking
Tagged Cumbria, Lake District, outdoors, Pennines, Scotland, Sierra Nevada, Sierra Tejeda y Almijara, Spain, The Lakes, The Munros
70 Comments
Days Like This, No 17: Sleeping Giants of Assynt
CONIVAL and Ben More Assynt are mountains with majesty. I read an article a long time ago about these northern giants glimpsed in the rays of the setting sun, and the quartzite stones on their summits glowing golden in the … Continue reading
Posted in Beer, Camping, Climbing, Environment, Fish and chips, Food, Hiking, Mountains, Walking, Weather
Tagged Cape Wrath Trail, Munros, outdoors, Scotland, The Munros
51 Comments
Days Like This, No 14: Travellers and the Cluanie Ridge
THE roaring of stags is an unearthly sound that sends shivers across skin. It echoes from the rock walls of corries like the groans of the tortured. People passing along the A87 are unaware that a few hundred feet above … Continue reading
Posted in Climbing, Environment, Hiking, Life, Mountains, Recycling, Weather
Tagged Munros, outdoors, Scotland, The Munros
14 Comments