Cairngorms, The Living Mountain - Nan Shepherd
Macfarlane's account of Shepherd's work highlights how she dwells less on the practical objectives and means of climbing to the summits, as male writers tend to do, and much more on the sensual aspects of walking - and just being - in wild mountain areas.
He draws a link to Buddhist thinking, with Shepherd's interest in what lies beneath the surface of the mountains and rivers and the connection between the mind, the body and the landscape.
The reference to tricks of the light in the mountains are also thought-provoking, reminding us of situations where we have been fooled into thinking we can see the top of the hill, or a person approaching us through the drifting mist.
It really gets into the depths of our own feelings and thoughts as we walk, gaining some kind of fulfilment which no other experiences can provide.
Read the article from the "Guardian Review" of 30 August 2008.
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