Scott’s walking story

“The memories you make and the ideas that you can have by simply going for a walk can have a great impact on your life.”

Scott is a Glasgow-based Creative Director and Graphic Designer. When he’s not walking, he’s running a creative agency in Glasgow with his wife.

My background with walking began when I was around 7 or 8, when my dad introduced me to hiking. We would walk up our local hill called “Tinto Hill,” standing at 2,333ft at the summit, not quite a Munro but a fair trek up a steep path for a young lad. The best thing was though if you went up when it had been snowing the way down was to slide down.

A couple of years later we joined a hill-walking group. We met up in George Square in Glasgow and a minibus took us to various different mountains throughout Scotland, including some Munros. I can’t remember which ones to tick off the old Munro-bagging list. I do remember that the guide got us all lost once, and we ended up freestyling it down a gully, a great adventure for a 10-year-old!

My dad and I continued our love for hiking, bagging Corbetts and Munros. We also completed the West Highland Way with some friends, which is an amazing way to see how beautiful Scotland really is. Amazing memories.

My dad was a MOD salvage diver, so he got to see all over the world with his job. Even though he spent a lot of time under the sea, walking around Scotland was what he loved to do in his spare time, and I am grateful we shared that love.

Our last Munro adventure was in 2012 when we completed Bidean nam Bian and Stob Coire Sgreamhach in Glencoe. My dad unfortunately passed away from cancer in 2015 only 57 years old, and in his memory I organised “The Watson’s Way” – a weekend of walking taking in part of the West Highland Way and again walking Bidean nam Bian and Stob Coire Sgreamhach. Around 30 family and friends came and we all had a brilliant time. We continued meeting up in Glencoe for a few years after that hiking various Munros and trails around Glencoe.

In recent times, along with my wife and our 2-and-a-half-year-old son, we all love getting out and going for a walk. We are spoiled where we live and only need to walk around the corner and there are some country trails. And if my son enjoys it as he is growing up, who knows maybe we will bag all the Munros together, now that really would complete my story with walking.

Walking for me is about memories; it’s also about ideas. Whether it’s bagging a Munro or walking to catch the train, whether it’s with friends or family, the memories you make and the ideas that you can have by simply going for a walk can have a great impact on your life. It certainly has for me.

My message for others is to put your phone away, look up and around you, and if you are able to go for a walk every day, even if it’s just around the block, you will soon