The Ochils Mountaineering Club

having instigated this , i am going to pacify it ,
I am confident the individual who confronted me was an exception ,

as i found most people on the island really nice

I have publicised this incident on another website , but my aim was to prevent other people using this route up the hill not to shame this individual

I just wish he had been honest and not used the MOD as his excuse .

I have a lot of respect for the MOD and feel they get bad press on occasions with regard to access issues , the have a job to do and its very nature can preclude land access for genuine reasons , using them as a lame excuse to bar access only makes it harder for them when they actually need to prevent people going on their land

I wonder what they would have to say about this

If memory serves me right there's a even a big sign for Tormisdale Croft on the Kilchiaran to Portnahaven Road

But that's by far not all, I've written about crofting on Islay and Jura in my blog a while ago:

http://www.islayb...m/2007entries/20071218-crofting.shtml

The link to the report in The Herald still works (unfortunately not always the case with articles in The Herald)

Alison Fox wrote:
I am confident the individual who confronted me was an exception,
as i found most people on the island really nice


From my experience I'd have to agree. As long as you behave responsibly the vast majority of landowners won't have a problem with hillwalkers. Several even actively support them.

Closing gates again, not disturbing livestock (especially around the lambing season), checking that there are no hunts in the area, leaving no traces, the usual things the countrycode asks you to do.

I'm off to Islay again shortly and am looking forward to some nice walking. Weather permitting...

he was the first git I had come across in many years of hills

nearly everyone else will is fine , even assisting you should you genuinely not realise there is stalking on because you set off too early for the hillphones info