"People couldn’t hear their telenovelas. Others couldn’t get to hospital appointments because the escalators and stairways were blocked." I spoke to locals about the issues in Comuna 13, a story of positive urban transformation tipping into overtourism. www.muchbetteradventures.com/magazine/no-...

Another excellent edition of 🪦The Graveyard Shift 🪦open mic night at Diggers last night! As ever, thanks to all who came along for a pie, a pint and some music and poetry - and particularly to those who performed 🎙️ ⏭️ Next on: Tues 21 July - get in touch for an open mic slot!

Our next Graveyard Shift open mic is TODAY at the Diggers! 🎤 Feature sets from @anniebrechin.bsky.social , @strongmisgiving.bsky.social and Grant B. robertson 🎤 Start time 7pm, running till 9pm. See you there?

My latest, on how tourism can put people and place first 👇 “It’s really about fairness,” says Rebecca Armstrong. “The value that #tourism generates doesn’t always reach as far as we might expect - or as far as we know is possible.” www.muchbetteradventures.com/magazine/equ...

next poetry open mic at the Diggers, a week today 👇

Beinn Eighe, ya beaut! ✨✍️ If you missed it in print on Saturday, my piece from Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve - which became Britain's first NNR when it was created 75 years ago - is on @theguardian.com today. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/...

A piece I don't think I've posted. From my 130km trek along the GR-R2 on Réunion Island - coast to coast through mountain cirques and jungle, on an island of sharks and volcanoes... www.muchbetteradventures.com/magazine/reu...

I will be jumping on the BBC Radio Scotland Good Morning show at 8.50am with music maestro Grant Robertson to talk about our new Scotland song - 'Steve Clarke's American Dream'! Tune into the radio and - give the song a whirl 👇🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 open.spotify.com/track/4gVQf2...

The *bleakest* Beinn Eighe story from my reading that i was unable to fit in the article was about the origin of the name of 'Anancaun', which is now the base for the NNR and NatureScot staff. It concerns the "most colourful of the MacKenzies", Black Murdo of the Cave... (1/4) 👇🧵🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Beinn Eighe, ya beaut! ✨✍️ If you missed it in print on Saturday, my piece from Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve - which became Britain's first NNR when it was created 75 years ago - is on @theguardian.com today. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/...

I headed out to La Réunion - a farflung island born when the shield volcano Piton des Neiges erupted out of the Indian Ocean - to trek the GR-R2. 130km coast to coast via cirque walls, jungle and volcanic summits 🇷🇪 👉 full feature in JRNY Issue 12 - jrnymag.com/product/jrny...

they didn't have a leg to stand on

Our line up for the March edition of The Graveyard Shift - our poetry open mic night at the legendary Diggers pub 👇 E-mail for an open mic slot or come down and watch!

another night at table-topping Tynecastle Park 🇱🇻

"but you said you'd give me the gold medal?"

me? yeah, i love the stones (the curling stones)

This excellent feature from Lucy was the latest in our #UnlockingAdventure series, which is aimed at breaking down any and all barriers to getting exploring outdoors. We have some budget for commissioning for this series, so if have an idea do send me a pitch at: [email protected]

What a night at the Diggers! Thanks to everyone who packed out the room 🎤 Great open mic-ers, two top sets from Jack Hinks - and I got to share a set of new material with a room of extremely lovely people 🙏🎸 📌 Next GYS open mic: Mon 23 March. Features TBC 🍺

My first night co-hosting the Graveyard Shift at Diggers! Expecting a good turnout so get down early if you're coming along 👇🍺

A little bit more on Kosovo's Via Dinarica trail from me! In the company of some wonderful travel writers here: www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...

Beinn Eighe and Liathach, from Loch Clair 🍂

Tynecastle has been a rare treat this season! The dream start continues. The angry guy who sits behind me and hates short corners is beginning to concede that we may, in fact, be quite good this year.

Autumn in the Torridon hills - dream stuff!

On the mountain trail on Beinn Eighe 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Lovely article in The Guardian newspaper highlighting Scotland's new UNESCO Geopark on Arran. Some light weekend reading to inspire your next geological adventure. www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...

"There are stone bunkers shrouded in the mist on the hillside to my right, just shy of the ridgeline marking the Albanian-Kosovo border. To my left, the view is not just clear but startlingly beautiful." From my hike on the Via Dinarica Kosovo, with the mountaineer Uta Ibrahimi.

I spent a week in #Kosovo hiking with Uta Ibrahimi, who recently became the first woman from the Balkans to climb every 8,000m peak. We walked the Via Dinarica Kosovo, criss-crossing borders with Montenegro & Albania. 👉 On @theguardian.com now: www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...

"why not use a co-working space?" The public library:

really interesting listen, this - particularly for the Edinburgh-based amongst us👇 open.spotify.com/episode/1o7Z...

What's sleepin' in our soul 🫨🤩🎶 I had *unreasonably* high expectations for Oasis last night and they went and exceeded every single one of them. #oasis #acquiesce #murrayfield #edinburgh

Up to the summit of Gjeravica (2,656m) - the highest mountain solely in Kosovo, a stone's throw from the Albanian border 🇽🇰🇦🇱

Along we go... 🇽🇰🇲🇪🇦🇱 A few more shots from the Via Dinarica Kosovo trail. Moving along from the border with Montenegro to the border with Albania and so, to highest mountains in Kosovo.

A taster of yesterday on the Via Dinarica Kosovo - walking the border with Montenegro 🥾

My next story brings me out to Kosovo 🇽🇰 I'm going to be hiking on the Via Dinarica this week, and with a bit of weather luck, getting up Gjeravica - the country's highest peak. Photographs below from Pristina.

I took a voyage along the 26 bus route, down to Portobello, for my latest piece for @theguardian.com. 👉 on why people can’t stay away from Porty, and a community fighting to stop a (now-but-not-always) trendy seaside town from becoming a “holiday let”. In the Saturday pull-out today ⛱️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

The latest edition of Scottish Wildlife dropped through the door today, featuring my cover story on the grey seals of Little Linga and Linga Holm, the northernmost reserves of the Wildlife Trust movement 🦭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

can't make it on BBC Sco this morning to talk tourist tax unfortunately, but my view is that they're commonplace now for good reason - not a fix-all solution but one extremely effective way to ensure local communities benefit from tourism, preventing overtourism & ill will to tourists

I recently walked the Arran Coastal Way – around Scotland's newest UNESCO Geopark for @theguardian.com. The island route is a journey through 600 million years of history, from tectonic plate collisions and stretching oceans to pre-dinosaur footprints and fossilised lightning strikes 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I recently walked the Arran Coastal Way – around Scotland's newest UNESCO Geopark for @theguardian.com. The island route is a journey through 600 million years of history, from tectonic plate collisions and stretching oceans to pre-dinosaur footprints and fossilised lightning strikes 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

tennis might just survive without the big 4

victory goes to the most tenacious at Roland Garros and that was EXTREMELY tenacious from Carlos Alcaraz

Nighttime feel at #RolandGarros 🇫🇷

so they say they can't schedule women's matches in the night session at #RolandGarros because fans won't get enough tennis, yet 5/6 of the women's matches in the past 2 days were longer than the 1hr 32 mins it took Alcaraz to beat Paul. Hmmm....

Roland Garros meets the PSG Champions League homecoming celebrations last night - during the Rune vs. Musetti night session 🇫🇷

Badosa vs. Naomi Osaka, the biggest match of R1 at Rolland Garros, and the stadium is... completely empty. Despite the fact that tickets are like gold dust. I simply do not understand

good evening Asturias 🍻

"We paddle past Scots pines. Buzzards circle above our canoe and forests and mountains layer and lap into the distance behind." It's always a pleasure to be back up in the Cairngorms - this time with a paddle in hand on the Spey 👇🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Morning read? Ten years ago, the late land artist Charles Jencks created Crawick Multiverse out of ugly open-cast mine in southern Scotland. Today, it is an exploration of the universe 👇✨ www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...

Thursday weather forecast for Arran: ☀️

Day 4 of the Coastal Way 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿☀️ Gently broken now, but the good views keep on coming - and 2 x pod of dolphin and this lovely otter dropped by to keep us going (a flight of Lagg whisky helped too)!