In today’s Blogger Network post, Andy Howell makes sobering observations about industrial developments in the Scottish Highlands – and how they are affecting the TGO Challenge
Andy Howell is a well-established and well-respected outdoor blogger, whose site ‘Must be This Way’ is an invaluable resource on all aspects of backpacking, especially the TGO Challenge and the Pyrenees.
His latest post has an emotive title but raises important points about the future of wild land. Many backpackers in Scotland have noticed the proliferation of industrial developments such as windfarms, hill tracks and other structures – developments that have accelerated over the last few years. Backpackers – especially TGO Challengers – face an ever more difficult task planning routes that avoid these encroachments. Andy is keen to point out that there’s much more to the TGO Challenge than simply wild land, but he does call for more people to speak out in its defence.
Read the full post here.
“I’m not against wind power or hydro power, far from it. But the issue of sensitivity when planning is key. Some like seeing turbines gently rolling in the wind. Some don’t. But for me the turbines are the least of our problems. The access roads cut though the hills to build the farms will last forever. The concrete bases of the turbines will surely I’ve longer than the turbines themselves. These concrete foundations will stand as a latter day henge. In centuries to come will visitors stand and wonder at the these strange standing objects?”