Challenge Kev Outdoors

More New Year Bothy Therapy

The last time I made a plan of adventures for the year ahead was 2020. And you’ll remember how that year turned out. New adventure ideas present themselves all the time and I find it easier now to make one or maybe two plans at a time for the months directly in front of me.…

03/01/2024

Kevin Johnston

Bothies, Kev’s Hill Walking Challenges, Microadventures, Old Buildings

Camping, challenge kev outdoors, dalnaspidal, hiking, hill walking, hungry media, loch garry, mountains, scotland, travel
2023 in Three

Nacreous clouds are everywhere to be seen as 2023 finishes her spin cycle. And spinning is an appropriate metaphor as it feels like the year has barely started and yet it’s almost in the laundry basket, ready to hang up. Those beautiful rainbows clouds in the sky lent our local school an almost sci-fi edge.…

26/12/2023

Kevin Johnston

Camping, Fatherhood, Microadventures, Writing and Musings

beach, Camping, challenge kev outdoors, forests, glass, hungry media, islands, seaham, St Kilda
Storm Babet’s Bothy

A photo of my grandad can still be found on the wall in the restaurant area of the Cross Keys Hotel in Ettrick Bridge. What he is doing in the picture I can’t quite remember as I saw the picture about 12 years ago on a quick stop through the village. The Ettrick Valley was…

23/10/2023

Kevin Johnston

Bothies, Kev’s Hill Walking Challenges, Old Buildings, Photos, Writing and Musings

adventure, bothy, challenge kev outdoors, Ettrick, hill walking, hills, hungry media, over Phawhope, scotland, walking, wood
Roger and Out

Parting ways with a friend is always going to cause you some discomfort. Roger, our T5, is moving on to pastures new. But there are two reasons we can live with that discomfort and accept that Roger’s departure is ok. One. We sold to a friend and they are mega excited to be taking on…

03/09/2023

Kevin Johnston

Photos, Vanlife

adventure, challenge kev outdoors, driving, exploration, hungry media, scotland, t5, van, Vanlife, Volkswagen
When can I go back to St Kilda?

What do you do when you’ve been on that “Top of my Bucket List” adventure? A trip to the St Kilda archipelago has been at the top of my adventure wish list for years. My 4am alarm call on Friday last week fired the gun on my excitement for the day ahead, while also giving…

07/08/2023

Kevin Johnston

Film making, Kev’s Hill Walking Challenges, Microadventures, Nature at its Best, Old Buildings, Outdoor Swimming, Photos, Writing and Musings

abandoned, Boreray, challenge kev outdoors, Dun, hill walking, hills, Hirta, hungry media, open water swimming, sea, Soay, St Kilda, Stac an Armin, Stac Lee, village bay, walking
Grid Square Journeys no. 5 – NN 9931 (Montreal)

I’ve never been to Canada, but when I do I hope it’s as lovely as Montreal in Perthshire in the sun. Yes, that’s right, Montreal in Perthshire. It’s no metropolis but rather is an old croft near Harrietfield with the same name as the largest city in Quebec. And yet for such a lovely area,…

23/07/2023

Kevin Johnston

Grid Square Journeys, Kev’s Hill Walking Challenges, Microadventures, Nature at its Best, Old Buildings

abandoned, challenge kev outdoors, cottage, harrietfield, hills, hungry media, Montreal, ruins, scotland, walking
Loch Con and the Field of the Flat Stones

With its single track roads and remote spaces, I’ve always been a fan of Highland Perthshire. So when by a total fluke I found an article online about Loch Con, it’s bothy and the walk in, I immediately added it to my ever-growing wish list of places to visit and waited for the ideal opportunity.…

05/06/2023

Kevin Johnston

Bothies, Camping, Kev’s Hill Walking Challenges, Microadventures, Old Buildings, Outdoor Swimming

bothy, Camping, challenge kev outdoors, con, highland Perthshire, hill walking, hills, hungry media, loch, Outdoor Swimming, scotland, walking, wood
“Where are you from?”

Our landscape doesn’t owe us humans anything. It has no obligations to us. Beneath our feet it’s heart beats as surely as ours. It is free. And we have, until our recent creation of climate change, lived in relative harmony. It didn’t feel like harmony as the snow blew at me from every direction, in…

02/02/2023

Kevin Johnston

Writing and Musings

borders, challenge kev outdoors, connection, duncan chisolm, highlands, home, hungry media, scotland, walking