tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:23:19 +0000bouldering ScotlandBoulderingclimbing ScotlandScotlandScottish Climbing & BoulderinglandscapeDumbarton Rockarchaeologyphilosophyclimbingbouldering FontainebleauScottish Mountainsbouldersport climbingGlasgowDumbartonbouldering UKbouldering. DumbyArranDumbyRumScottish boulderingclearancesnaturesport climbing ScotlandstoneswalkingFontainebleaubouldering Irelandbouldering Scotland archaeologycochno stoneheritagehistoryice climbinglifescapesmountains Scotlandneolithicscottish historytraditional climbingwalking scotlandwildernesswinter climbingArdgourArisaigArrocharAyrshireBeinn UdlaidhBen NevisClochodrick StoneCraig ParnabyCraigmaddieCraigmoreCrianlarichCulbin SandsCuningarDave MacLeodDumbnarton RockEiggElderslie climbingEnaiglairFrancis SanzaroGighaGlen LednockGrulinHallaigIonaIrelandIslands of ScotlandJohn GillKintyreMullNorthern LightsOuter HebridesRaasayRathlinRathlin IslandRossRuthven BoulderScotland booksScotland climbingScots PineScottish ForestsScottish archaeologyScottish landscapeScottish literatureSt BridesStrathearnTorridonTrossachsWest Dunbartonshire CouncilWhangieWindyhillardnamurchanbloc stonesbouldering Europebouldering USbouldering scotland philosophybrochscave cragclassicscleaningcorncrakecup and ring markscyclingdisplayessentialethicsfilms Scotlandfolkloregaelicgeologyglobalgraffitigranitegravuresguidehandbookislandsland ownershiplitter clean upmonographmountaineeringmunrosnew bouldersnew problemsplace namesrock artsciencesheilingsskillsskysport and philosophysporting heritagestanding stonesstone countrythe Mushroomthe boulder bookvenues石の国 http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)Blogger427125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-7689252774874093458Fri, 26 Mar 2021 12:55:00 +00002021-03-26T13:18:26.296+00:00archaeologyFontainebleaugravureslandscaperock artShamanistic zoomorphs, lithic graffiti, hallucinogenic tableaux, territory markings, knife-sharpeners … rock art – l'art rupestre – is so far beyond our traditional 'linguistic' history, it does not have an interpretative alphabet or a single line of confirmed meaning. There are many interpretations of the 'gravures' (carvings) and 'abris ornés' (decorated caves) in the hidden bivouacs throughouthttp://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-metadata-of-being-human.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)Route de la Plaine Verte, 77300 Fontainebleau, France48.354029999999987 2.729224348.34832646302894 2.7206412311523436 48.359733536971035 2.7378073688476561tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-8583057215342037877Tue, 07 Jul 2020 13:06:00 +00002020-07-07T13:06:15.798+00:00Scottish literature          Viaduct and Beinn DorainOnce you cross the bealach under Beinn Odhar north of Tyndrum, the shapely peak of Beinn Dòrain is a visual fanfare to the Highlands. The mountain and its environs are richly detailed in the poet Duncan Ban MacIntyre’s poem Moladh Beinn Dòbhrain (‘In Praise of Beinn Dòrain’).[i] Its symmetrical convexity, deeply gullied flanks like http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2020/07/beinn-dorain.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-729421908438417543Thu, 07 Nov 2019 14:55:00 +00002019-11-11T14:33:23.696+00:00archaeologyardnamurchanclearanceslandscapescottish history Glencoe by Horatio McCulloch Landscape is a notoriously slippery thing to capture. It seems simple enough and is usually framed with the romantic grammar of dramatic vistas, through photography, painting and film. The modern thrill is delivered by drone's-eye view as you whir smoothly through mist and cloud over a Highland loch or corrie, when you might feel the similar emotional rapture http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2019/11/bourblaige-and-landscape-of-outrage.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-3583702224316179572Sun, 06 Oct 2019 11:51:00 +00002019-10-06T12:06:39.358+00:00Boulderinglandscapephilosophy Living Stones ‘For although we are accustomed to separate nature and human perception into two different realms, that are in fact indivisible. Before it can ever be a repose for the senses, landscape is a work of the mind. Its scenery is built up as much from strata of memory as from layers of rock.’ Simon Schama, Landscape & Memory The American anthropologist A. Irving http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2019/10/a-handful-of-stones-extract.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-7708093686285310017Wed, 03 Jul 2019 12:13:00 +00002019-10-06T05:40:57.058+00:00Scottish Mountains Ben Lawers: a montane habitat Ben Lawers is the parent peak of the Breadalbane mountain range, which stretches like a breaking wave in an east-west tumble between Loch Tay and Glen Lyon. Indeed, geologists often refer to the metamorphosed schistose mass as a vast 'recumbent fold' from the Caledonian Orogeny, a Highland mountain-building era of unimaginable slow-motion collision and http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2019/07/ben-lawersa-montane-habitat.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-7360279541971574579Sat, 02 Mar 2019 16:35:00 +00002019-10-05T15:36:13.335+00:00Scottish Forests The wood of Allt Broighleachan - a remnant Caledonian Forest Reserve  Tèarmann na Coile Cailleannaich – Allt Broighleachan.   Glen Orchy is well known for its roaring falls and kayaking challenges, and in spate the dramatic Eas Urchaidh boils through a narrow gorge, which in quieter conditions reveals great swirl-holes full of pebbles. The bedrock schist geology of http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-wood-of-allt-broighleachan-remnant.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-6486815988462177569Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:15:00 +00002019-10-05T15:40:26.391+00:00HallaiglandscapeRaasay 'Tha tìm, am fiadh, an coille Hallaig ...' Hallaig - the lost village of Raasay - is a powerful place. Arguably, it has become a shibboleth for the soul of Gaelic culture. To visit it, to just be there momentarily and feel the resonance of the place, is to know the fragility of place and home, of how kinship can be shattered and how loss can invade a land. Aptly, Hallaig is now a site of http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2018/09/timeline-walks-hallaig-to-screapadal-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-1687591920537062888Wed, 05 Sep 2018 12:52:00 +00002019-10-05T15:41:14.874+00:00Culbin Sandslandscapenature The Moray Firth’s sand-bitten southern coast, between Findhorn and Nairn, is home to Scotland’s most cautionary tract of land. Now a wilderness of maritime forest, dunes, salt marsh and spits of sand, its human history has been dated to the Bronze Age, around 1300 BC, but it is a territory that since glacial times would have been mobile and mutable. The Laich of Moray is the fertile striphttp://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2018/09/timelines-walks-culbin-sands.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-1621705985641569878Mon, 13 Aug 2018 09:13:00 +00002019-10-05T15:41:45.178+00:00clearancesscottish history Edinburgh University Press is the home of scholarship for Scottish history, in particular the history of the Highlands, having published the likes of Eric Richards' Debating The Highland Clearances, Tom Furniss's Discovering the Footsteps of Time, Robert Dodgshon's history of the rural environment called No Stone Unturned, and John Roberts' history of the Highland clans Feuds, Forays and http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2018/08/highlands-history-from-edinburgh.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)Sinclair Dr, Glasgow G42 9PU, UK55.8255446 -4.267603000000008355.8244296 -4.2701245000000085 55.8266596 -4.265081500000008tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-8984356525229085887Sat, 07 Jul 2018 10:25:00 +00002019-10-05T16:42:58.253+00:00Scottish Climbing & BoulderingScottish Mountains BROAD LAW The rolling hills east of the modern motorway of the M74 hold much more character and history than they appear from the west, where they are now flanked by forestries of spruce and wind-farms. In medieval times this was a Scottish royal hunting ground – the ‘Ettrick Forest’.  Further east towards the Tweed valley, there are echoes of a deeper Scottish history in the http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2018/07/landscape-notes-broad-law.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-5486657872651365644Thu, 05 Apr 2018 17:23:00 +00002019-10-06T05:34:19.784+00:00Scottish Climbing & BoulderingTrossachs The boulders sit on a small wooded alp under the crag overlooking the Achray Water sliding by below, a ribbon of invisible clarity full of spring's snow-melt. It's early April in Scotland. A dipper's song rings out as it scouts downstream, a metallic squirt of noise like a kid's water-pistol. It's a religiously regular little corner of the bouldering world for me. The big beech tree http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2018/04/spring-again.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-452087958960524007Sun, 25 Mar 2018 11:04:00 +00002019-10-05T15:50:14.787+00:00Ben NevisScottish Climbing & Bouldering The second volume in the Scottish Mountaineering Trust's epic history of Scotting climbing - Scottish Mountaineering: Years of Change - is another essential addition to the mountaineer's bookshelf. Written by author and climber Ken Crocket, who also penned the first volume ('The Early Years'), Ken Crocket's long involvement with the SMC makes him a reliable leader in this complex territoryhttp://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2018/03/mountaineering-in-scotland-years-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-8026159832577586196Wed, 17 Jan 2018 06:31:00 +00002019-10-05T15:51:35.700+00:00landscapephilosophy Many volumes have been written on risk from the point of view of Economics, Evolutionary Theory, Society, etc.but risk on the hills is becoming a lot more topical with the sheer volume of people approaching mountains as something akin to 'instant freedom' from the urban world or as a monetised escape. The recent criticism of mountaineering as rich people building their CV and measures to http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2018/01/mountains-risk-and-volume.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-256097480349893823Fri, 12 Jan 2018 12:16:00 +00002019-10-05T15:51:52.755+00:00Scottish Climbing & Bouldering We've just signed a deal with Vertical Life to license Stone Country guides on their terrific app. Check it out and download to IOS or Android. Buyers of the book will soon find a stickered code inside the book which allows them a free download of the app. It's very functional, clean and easy to use, plus they have dozens of other guidebooks available to use on the app. We hope http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2018/01/boulder-scotland-bouldering-app.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-1131773642327050859Thu, 16 Nov 2017 16:20:00 +00002019-10-05T16:53:43.068+00:00Dumbarton Rocklandscape Bouldering might feel just appear to be just a bit of athletic fun on some rock, but some take it very seriously indeed ... even archaeologists. The latest issue of the academic journal 'World Archaeology' features an article on the idea of 'counter archaeology', as practised by boulderers at Dumbarton Rock (amongst other visitors such as graffiti taggers/artists). It's always worthwhile http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2017/11/dumbarton-rock-article-in-world.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-5834603563882772002Mon, 23 Oct 2017 06:32:00 +00002019-10-05T16:39:12.771+00:00RumScottish Climbing & Bouldering Hamish Fraser's energies and enthusiasm for king lines has added to the burgeoning wealth of bouldering on Rum over the last 5 years. Despite the weather, midges and difficult logistics of approaching these allivalite giants, high under the looming presence of Hallival, it's all truly worth it! Some of the first ascents from this year's trips can be viewed on this video. Rum Bouldering 2017 http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2017/10/rum-bouldering-2017.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-2017274289622404952Fri, 18 Aug 2017 10:02:00 +00002019-10-05T16:39:40.623+00:00CuningarGlasgowphilosophyScottish bouldering In his famous 'allegory of the cave', the Greek philosopher Plato pondered the artificiality of reality in imagining how we could be fooled into thinking shadows on the wall (i.e. virtual reality) could be seen as 'real' life. I'm paraphrasing, of course. What has this got to do with climbing? Well, I was pondering this myself recently while sitting on an artificial concrete boulder at the http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2017/08/platos-cave.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-7332370045178097034Fri, 23 Jun 2017 09:19:00 +00002019-10-05T16:41:47.605+00:00archaeologyDumbarton RockheritageScottish Climbing & Bouldering Dumby gets an academic approach in this article published by World Archaeology. This multi-authored article was the result of archaeologists, climbers and heritage professionals examining the meaning of Dumby for those who frequent the place, especially climbers. Abstract The notion of counter-archaeology is echoed by the opposing faces of the volcanic plug of Dumbarton Rock, Scotland. On the http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2017/06/dumbarton-rock-article-in-world.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-1193024418590905336Mon, 24 Apr 2017 07:28:00 +00002019-10-05T16:40:50.539+00:00cochno stoneGlasgowScottish archaeology Sketch of fake (?) runes, Whitehill, 2011 The Whitehill 'runes' - real or fake, it matters ... The danger with fakes, if they are done well, is that they legitimise every construct built upon them. Any archaeology, but especially one with faded logics and contexts, is susceptible to imagination. A few years ago I found this petroglyph beside a grouping of cup and ring marks in http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2017/04/fakes-and-archaeology-whitehill-runes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-791113562942012221Fri, 27 Jan 2017 15:45:00 +00002019-10-05T16:42:04.533+00:00Scottish Climbing & Bouldering 'The hill of the Caledonian pixies', if you like, is the classic pyramidal mountain - a stalwart of Scottish Munroists and regal in its isolation amongst the feeder lochs for the Tay and Tummel rivers. In 1774 its isolation was what attracted Nevil Maskelyne and Charles Hutton as they sought a regular and massive part of the earth they could measure, weigh and extrapolate the weight of thehttp://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2017/01/schiehallion.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-6932603615904588809Fri, 06 Jan 2017 08:50:00 +00002019-10-05T16:45:08.735+00:00landscapelifescapesphilosophy Sound mirrors at Denge, Dungeness I have perched on icy ledges in a winter storm, listening to the main-sail buffeting of a wind against a large rock buttress. It creates deep booming sounds on impact and surreal whistles and songs as it howls through fingered gaps in the shattered rock rims of corries. There is a high lonely corrie to the east of the summit of Ben Dorainn called Coire http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2017/01/lifescapes-2-sound-and-landscape.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-3427932174332844119Mon, 02 Jan 2017 16:56:00 +00002019-10-05T16:44:51.360+00:00landscapelifescapesScottish Mountains As counterpoint to a new series of books coming from Stone Country Press, I thought I'd introduce a few more elements of landscape theory and philosophy on this blog. The new series - Lifescapes - will reflect the mix of outdoor activity and philosophy as a means of expressing contemporary thoughts on various ways of 'being' in the outdoors.  After the mechanisation of farming, thehttp://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2017/01/lifescapes-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-4833637739053537467Wed, 28 Dec 2016 18:20:00 +00002019-10-05T16:43:55.067+00:00Scottish Climbing & BoulderingScottish Mountains Loch Lomond, Wednesday 28th December 2016 Mist, water and silvery light: a very Gaelic palette in midwinter between the storms, which these days all have names - we've been through Barbara's tantrums and Conor's backlash, but today was one of those steamed-up car sort of days. Warmish air from the southwest is rolling about Loch Lomond and gathering a chill as it picks up speed towards http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2016/12/ben-lomond-gaelic-palette.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-554277293180228963Thu, 17 Nov 2016 16:34:00 +00002019-10-05T16:44:34.890+00:00landscapephilosophy ...move lightly, trace the rock like shadow, let it return  I was struck by one sentence in Robert MacFarlane's darkly sparkling article on Generation Anthropocene in the Guardian recently, when he is pointing us to the artistic response to living in a new geological era created by our own presence and detritus: '...salvation and self-knowledge can no longer be found in a mountain peakhttp://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2016/11/outwith-anthropocene.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10918511.post-5501208500094428755Sun, 13 Dec 2015 15:55:00 +00002019-10-05T16:49:50.624+00:00ArrocharScottish Climbing & BoulderingScottish Mountains The south peak ('Jean') on The Cobbler, 12th December 2015 Here's an interesting round-song of place-names for Arrochar, in cartullaries and statistical and printed records since 1395: Arrochar/Arochar/Arrochquhair/Arrochquhare/Arroquhar/Arachar/An Tairbeart Iar/An t-Àra ... I was walking uphill wondering what sticks, what's in a name, why do they change, does the landscape care, who http://stonecountry.blogspot.com/2015/12/cobbled-together.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (JS Watson)