John D Burns

Tear the compass from my cold dead hand.

December 22, 2013John D Burns 36

I’m in the forest, it’s dark, I’m on a path that didn’t exist when they made the map I’m using. I can see [...]

November 24, 2013John D Burns 28

Part two of my Glencoul odyssey Sometimes you know in advance that things are not going to go your way. My plan is [...]

November 16, 2013John D Burns 5

It’s dark and I’m miles from anywhere in one of the Highland’s remotest glens, Glencoul, and the bothy in nowhere to be seen. [...]

October 12, 2013John D Burns 3

Mountains are big. I’ve noticed. In fact they are really big at the bottom and always very small at the top, that’s how [...]

September 15, 2013John D Burns 16

As I wake from the cocoon of my sleeping bag, the first thing I do is feel my legs. Sure enough, they remember [...]

August 23, 2013John D Burns 24

The next thing I know I’m sprawled on my back in the heather. A few moments ago, or so it seems, I was [...]

July 22, 2013John D Burns 4

If you are in the Scottish hills one winter’s day and you see a Victorian climber step cutting his way up an ice [...]

July 9, 2013John D Burns 7

I’m getting soft, I realise, as I stand looking at the icy waters and contemplating the idea that I may actually have to [...]

June 12, 2013John D Burns 2

Almost 90 years ago George Mallory, Britain’s leading climber, and Sandy Irvine, a young powerful oarsman, vanished into the mist close to the [...]

June 1, 2013John D Burns 2

From my hiding place in the heather I anxiously I scan the horizon for incoming walkers. I strain my eyes for the slightest [...]