Explore our remarkable mountain landscapes

The uplands account for around 85% of the National Trust for Scotland’s total landholding. That’s some 250 square miles of high and wild places, including 46 of the country’s 282 Munros (mountains over 3,000ft). These are places with rich histories, charismatic wildlife, complex geology and a unique culture.

Perhaps there’s really only one place to begin: Glencoe. Drive north on the A82 from Glasgow, past Bridge of Orchy and over Rannoch Moor with its breathtaking feeling of openness and space, to meet Buachaille Etive Mor, the ‘big shepherd of Etive’ – that iconic sentry at the entrance to the Highlands.

Do you remember the first time you saw it? I do, as if it was yesterday – equal parts shock and awe as my father drove us out from under endless sky and we were corralled into the glen’s narrow pass. I get the shivers still, every time I make that journey.

Like so much of the uplands in the Trust’s care, Glencoe is truly a world-class landscape, a remarkable natural architecture of steep-sided mountains and dramatic waterfalls, carved by fire and ice and, thankfully, protected in perpetuity by the Trust and its members.

For hillwalkers and mountaineers, there are few finer places to explore. My own inaugural Munro is perhaps the glen’s grandest, tucked away with the usual Scots modesty at the back. Bidean nam Bian’s northern ridges splay out like the fingers of a hand to become the Three Sisters of Glencoe. On my first visit, we ascended to the summit via a scramble called the Zig-Zags; quite a challenge for someone new to Scottish mountains.

Glencoe is important culturally, too. Home to the Clan MacDonald for centuries, in 1692 it witnessed their infamous massacre at the hands of government troops. Hidden between the Three Sisters are two coires, one of which is the Hidden Valley, Coire Gabhail, where the MacDonalds hid cattle they had rustled from neighbouring clans. They also fled up here to escape their armed pursuers on that bloody day.

The Trust has looked after Glencoe since 1935, after passionate mountaineer Percy Unna headed a national appeal for the glen’s purchase. Unna was important in the early days of mountain management because of his famous ‘Principles’ that aimed to balance access with conservation. It remains a delicate balance to strike, but one that the Trust takes seriously, maintaining footpaths and repairing erosion on the eight Munros here, while keeping other intervention in the landscape to a minimum. Glencoe’s mountain paths attract more than 150,000 hillwalkers a year.

Places of restoration

Next, we’ll head east to Ben Lawers. The namesake mountain at the heart of the ridge is the tenth highest Munro, but the nature reserve also encompasses six more peaks above 3,000ft. It was bought in 1950 and is significant as the first site procured for the purposes of nature conservation, specifically its rich flora including rare arctic-alpines such as drooping saxifrage. Decades of pioneering active restoration of woodland and associated natural plant communities on the lower slopes provide a unique experience for visitors heading for the Munros here. Ben Lawers is a deservedly popular hillwalking destination, and there has been plenty of carefully executed pathwork, too.

Now onto other places where the Trust is regenerating native flora and fauna: let’s go by way of West Affric, where the Trust is working in partnership with the charity Trees for Life to bring back broadleaf species and provide a more secure home for the eagles, black grouse and water voles that live in the area. From here, we could saunter west on the Affric Kintail Way to access Kintail’s magnificent hills, with views to the sea and the south all the way back to the distant Aonach Eagach – perhaps the country’s finest mainland scramble – hanging over the north side of our starting point, Glencoe.

Kintail has been in the care of the Trust since 1944 and includes the superb Five Sisters ridge. Along the way is the ‘minor top’ of Sgurr nan Spainteach, a refuge to Spanish soldiers who fled over the hills after the 1719 Battle of Glenshiel. The site of that famous battle, far below in the glen itself, is also in the care of the Trust. There are ten Munros here, including Beinn Fhada, but as you’ll have gathered by now, it’s not just about the mountains themselves. Tucked away behind Beinn Fhada, there’s a wonderful balcony path alongside the dramatic Falls of Glomach, a perfect day trip in its own right from Morvich.

Let’s head north, past Loch Carron, to Torridon and some of the finest mountain terrain in the world. The Trust cares for five colossal Munros here, including the sublimely rugged Liathach, as well as Beinn Alligin and part of the Beinn Eighe massif. These majestic peaks resemble Viking longships rising almost vertically from a landscape of pools and bogs and rocky, hummocky outcrops. But here, too, conservation efforts extend far beyond footpath work.

The Trust shares ground with the Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve, the first NNR in the country and a hugely important site for the development of UK conservation practice. It was here that ecologists and foresters tested different methods of reducing deer numbers and regenerating woodland, work that now informs current thinking and practice for Mar Lodge Estate and others, both inside the Trust and beyond. It’s a land of dwarf juniper, crowberry, pine marten and golden eagle, and of geological rifts and thrusts, where red gneiss, grey and red sandstone and white quartzite screes meet.

The Trust’s largest mountain property, and the country’s biggest National Nature Reserve, is to be found south and east of here, at Mar Lodge Estate. If you’re Munro-minded, there are a whopping 15 peaks above 3,000ft here, including many of the very highest in the country. But this vast estate is also a test bed for conservation for everything from montane scrub to rare alpines and Caledonian pinewood regeneration. This is a place that continues to refine how it works with neighbours to improve habitats for both wildlife and the people of the Dee estuary. It’s an inspiring, wild and remote place, and the upland plateau has a special character that’s unlike any other Trust property – or indeed anywhere else in the world.

Before we go, we should return all the way south, to where so many Scots begin their hill-walking journey: beloved Ben Lomond. It’s such a significant mountain for many, and given the ease of access from Glasgow and the central belt, there’s always path work to be done here too!

We may not have been able to visit the mountains as much recently, but if the past few months have proved anything in relation to our much-loved Scottish hills, it’s that absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder.

The Trust has this balance at its heart – a stewardship of both natural and cultural heritage. The mountains I’ve briefly described have changed my own life immeasurably for the better, and I’ve been able to draw on memories of these places to help me through these recent challenging times. They have become part of my story, and perhaps yours too, so I want to thank you for your support of the Trust and your help in keeping these hills in good stead for the common good, now and into the future.