FOR anyone who missed the television programme the Ultimate Marathon Man is now available on DVD.

This is the story of Andrew Murray, a doctor from Edinburgh, who ran an ultra-marathon (biggest day was 45 miles) every day for 78 days to run between John O’ Groats and the Sahara.

Starting in the middle of a Scottish winter Andrew had to negotiate some horrendous conditions not only in the north of Scotland but right down through England and into northern France. In total contrast he had to endure searing temperatures in Morocco.

Helped by family and friends, those he meets along the way and a fiancée he’s shortly to marry, this is the story of one man’s determination to run in the history books.

A donation from the sale of each DVD will be given to the Yamaa Trust to support their work on the amelioration of poverty in the south Gobi region of Mongolia. (www.yamaatrust.com)

This amazing story will be released by Mountain Media as a book in the Autumn .

A recent survey by Scottish Natural Heritage has found that the number Scottish adults visiting the outdoors for leisure or recreation at least once a week has increased. The figure has increased from 46% of the population in 2009 to 48% last year.

And perhaps not surprisingly, walking was the most popular outdoor activity, being the main activity on 73% of visits to the outdoors. The survey also estimated that Scots spent around £2.5 billion on trips to the outdoors in 2010.

Richard Davison, of the SNH’s people and landscapes programme, said: “This is great news. The reasons for the increase will be many and varied but we believe our work on encouraging more people to visit the outdoors and the excellent work being done by local authorities and many others is helping to inspire people to get outdoors.

The report is also great news for people like me who have spent years trying to encourage people to go walking in the bens and glens of Scotland but such numbers also pose potential problems for our hard-pressed mountain rescue teams.

Organisations like our local Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team have to raise considerable amounts of money every year to function at the very high standard that is expected of MR teams nowadays, and they have to rely very heavily on voluntary donations to maintain their services to walkers and climbers. A small amount of funding comes from Government sources but, as we expect our modern teams to be well equipped, well trained and offer a 24 hour, seven day a week service, they have to raise the vast majority of their not inconsiderable expenditure themselves.

That’s why I’ve signed up for this year’s Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team sponsored walk in Glen Feshie and I sincerely hope they will be plenty of others signing up too, particularly some of those who have just taking up hillwalking in the past year or so.

Not only is this an opportunity to enjoy a fabulous challenge walk in the incomparable surroundings of Glen Feshie, but it’s also a great chance to meet team members, see how they operate as a team, and learn that they are just ordinary walkers and climbers who come together on a regular basis to offer their time and commitment to help those often like-minded souls who get caught out in bad weather or bad luck in the mountains. I know there are those who get into trouble because of some stupid actions but you’ll very rarely hear mountain rescue team members criticise anyone.

The Cairngorm team’s bi-annual sponsored walk goes a long way to provide much of the income that required to keep the team functioning. And, touch wood, you never know when you’ll need their expert services…

The walk will start and finish at Corarnstilbeg in lower Glen Feshie and will climb through woodland before heading south through a remote heather glen where the remains of old settlements can be seen. The track then descends into Glen Feshie with spectacular views across the Moine Mhor to the high tops of Braeriach and Cairn Toul. The final stretch passes close to the estate house and circles back to join the start of the route south of Corarnstilbeg.

I hope you’ll join me and dozens of others on the sponsored walk on June 25^th, and enjoy the natural and magnificent beauty of Glen Feshie for yourself. Walk through woods of Scots pine, rowan, alder, birch and oak, home to red squirrel, pine marten, cresties and crossbill. You might even see golden eagle rise high above the highest natural treeline in Britain. It’s going to be a great day out, an 18-mile walk for a very good purpose.

You’ll get more information from www.cmrt.org.uk See you there…

WOW, I’ve just noticed I haven’t written anything here in the diary for a while, probably because I’ve been away so much in the past few weeks. Making the most of the great spring weather I hear you ask? Well, partly. Working too, although it’s sometimes difficult to know where my work ends and where play begins.

Had a long weekend in Torridon recently, but didn’t catch much good weather. I was writing a piece  for a future TGO and that entailed climbing some of the Torridon hills, including Beinn Eighe, definitely one of my favourite Munros. Also took the opportunity when I was in that neck of the woods to visit my friend Paul Tattersall who lives in Melvaig near Gairloch. Paul does quite a lot of work with us when we’re filming and it was only recently I discovered that he was the first person to take a mountain bike to the summit of all Scotland’s Munros. Mad or what? I thought it might make a good piece for my column in the Scots Magazine so I called in on him and did a full interview. And what a great story it was. It’ll appear in the July issue of the Scots Magazine and that should be out at the end of this month.

Incidentally, my piece in the Scots Mag this month is a bit of plug for Newtonmore’s wildcats. At the moment we have about a hundred wildcats scattered throughout the village and its environs and the idea is that people should try and spot them all. It’s becoming a great and very popular family activity and is certainly bringing people to the village. It’s also increasing awareness of the Scottish Wildcat which is facing extinction faster than the Bengal tiger!

Last weekend Richard Else and I visited my good friends Jamie and Ailsa Reynolds at their wonderful organic farm in the Apuane Alps of north Tuscany. We made a couple of films for a new series in the Adventure Show called Wild Weekends, looking at some great adventure activity spots that are within a 2-3 flight of Scotland. Enjoyed some great walking on the Apuane’s, some mountain biking on the Appenines, and thoroughly enjoyed Ailsa’s cooking. We got her to teach me how to maker pizza in their outdoors pizza oven. It was fantastic!

I’m typing this out just before heading south for the Backpackers’ Club AGM weekend in Weardale. Hope to get a couple of decent hikes in the fells there before Gina and I head south to North Wales for a few days. Looking to get some routes done in the Carneddau and around there. Fingers crossed that the great weather we’ve been enjoying lasts a bit longer! After that it’ll be home for a while to get it all written up, definitely the down side to my job.