Hi there Mr. Grumpy. Things ok. on the hill then.
A very interesting book, not too well known is
" Burn On The Hill". The story of the first "Compleat Monroist"
Written by Elizabeth Allan 1995. An amazing account of one man's
round of the munroes in 1923.Acknowledged by the SMC. as the first
compleat munroist having scaled 558 tops over 3000ft..
Terrific historical photos of Highland places and people.
Even the Matheson family home at Lochivraon. Photos of many
of todays bothies when habited by workers and their families in
times gone by. Cheers

For Challengers passing through the Cairngorms, I would like to recommend the Kindle book "Lowdown on the Uplands of Mar" by Joe Dorward. The information in the book is also available on a website: http://theuplandofmar.squarespace.com/. Joe's writing gives us a fascinating insight into the people who lived and worked in the South Eastern Cairngorms and into the history of the paths and buildings they left behind. A free app is available that enables you to read Kindle books on your computer.

Thanks for the 2 suggestions. For next year I think that I shall divide the list into two sections. One dealing with routes and technical information and the second with general interest, history and geography. For me the history of an area is as interesting as the flora & fauna and scenery. Background information from these sources can help construct a more interesting walk than just picking a route from the map or walking guide book.

As an incidental aside on the history: aren't modern communications amazing?

Courtesy of the wonderful Phil Lambert, I've just been having an e-correspondence with a man in Western Australia who was evacuated to the tiny village of Salachill during World War II. An archaeology documentary on TV inspired him to google the name, and among other things he found Phil's doodlecat site, with my tale of my Ancient History Challenge route in 2011, and a couple of pics of Salachill. It was great to be able to send him a few more - although very sad that only ruins remain of what must have been a lovely place to live.

How the world is shrinking!
And thank you, Phil.

Bit extreme for Scotland, but at the moment Kindle has.

Home of The Blizzard by Sir Douglas Mawson available for free.
Yep, that's £0