Hay's Way: Back on the road after being Stateside

I write this in a moment of reflection as I resume my walk with my tent around Scotland, in the rain, from the Isle of Bute, where I made it on the trail before having to go Stateside.

As my readers will know, my role as rural affairs specialist for The Scotsman temporarily switched to Tartan Army correspondent during the World Cup, during which I followed Scotland fans across the US in June. My usual beat covering wildlife switched to documenting wild life for about two weeks.

The trip demanded similar stamina to my ongoing circumambulation. Between Scotland games, I embarked on a gruelling 42-hour, 1,500-mile Greyhound bus journey from Boston to Miami. A little physical rest over the past month to recover has therefore been much needed.

But while Scotland's World Cup campaign came to an abrupt end, another loss unfolded in parallel for me and that was the sudden death of a very close friend. The grief has hit me in a way that I still cannot comprehend. Walking usually helps me process difficult moments in life, but losing my beautiful friend hit a little different. The last few weeks, I found myself truly suspended by his absence.

A kindred spirit and a fisherman, he loved to be on the move. Yet the roots of his forebears, the MacPhails, lie in the north-west of Scotland, the very place I happen to be heading on Hay’s Way over the coming months. After Bute, I plan to make my way up through Argyll to Inveraray before dropping down to the Mull of Kintyre, then hopping between the Inner Hebrides and the Morven and Ardnamurchan peninsulas. At least that’s the plan for now.

While I may be carrying a little more than usual, I am resuming the walk to continue documenting the lives of the people who make up rural Scotland and the challenges they face. Every day I am reminded how important those communities are, whether it is seeing locally produced food exchange hands or watching people head into the hills in search of a little respite from the daily grind.

A tragic reminder of that has come over the past fortnight while I have been reporting on the Cairngorms wildfire. I spent time speaking to gamekeepers, land managers and firefighters battling the flames in what some described as "apocalyptic" conditions. I say tragic not only because the fire has scorched vast areas of sensitive habitat and forced hundreds of people from their homes, but because it has also exposed deep frustrations over Scotland’s response, or lack of, to an increasing risk of more devastating wildfires. The handling of the incident at government level has been criticised by many on the ground as too little, too late, reigniting questions about whether rural communities and the growing threat they face from wildfires receive the attention they deserve.

As much-needed rain finally falls, bringing hope to those still fighting to contain the blaze, I return to walking Scotland. The people I meet and speak to along the way don’t always make headlines, but you can meet them through my free Hay’s Way/Scotsman Rural newsletter. You can also follow my Instagram page: @rural_kat for updates and follow rural affairs daily news on The Scotsman under the section Hay’s Way.