IT'S probably something to do with the worst summer in living memory, but I've spent an inordinate number of days in recent months walking parts of Scotland's coastline rather than its mountain-tops.
It's been something of a revelation.
While we have nothing to compare with the wonderful 600-mile-plus South West Coast Path from Minehead in Somerset to Poole Harbour in Dorset, we can boast a coastline that is in excess of 7,000 miles.
Add on the islands that lie off the west coast and the northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland and that figure rises to well in excess of 10,000 miles. And much of it is wild, challenging and remote, with remarkable similarities to mountain walking.
Both types of landscape can be uncompromisingly wild and yet ruggedly beautiful. There is majesty in a far-flung view from a mountain and also from a cliff top.
The humbling awareness of human insignificance can be experienced when confronted by the vast expanse of the ocean, just as it can be felt below towering crags, and the physical challenge of following a stretch of coastline can be as exhausting as climbing a clutch of Munros.
And yet Scotland has only a handful of official coastal trails, and fairly gentle offerings at that.
One of the highlights of a long walk that my wife, Gina, and I did a few years ago, from Fort William to Cape Wrath, was the northern section from Sandwood Bay to Cape Wrath.
There, miles from any road, we felt as exposed as we would have felt on a remote mountain. The weather wasn't particularly kind, and we found it tough going. I clearly recall the relief at eventually spotting the slim tower of the Cape Wrath lighthouse.
In almost total contrast, I walked the 20-odd miles of the Machair Way in South Uist last summer. Beside a Meditteranean blue sea, and on white sand virtually all the way, it was an idyllic experience, and I am surprised this route didn't make it into a book I have been reading about Scotland's classic coastal walks.
Despite that omission, walkers with a little adventure in their soul should be grateful to Andrew Dempster for putting together this new book, called '100 Classic Coastal Walks in Scotland'.
He describes a fantastic variety of coastal walks, and variety is the key to this book. Having said that, there are various features that form constituent parts of a 'classic' coastal walk - stacks and natural arches, headlands, castles, beaches, islands and picturesque villages.
Add to that list the constant sound of thundering waves, the feel of wind on an upturned face, and the chatter and cry of a huge variety of seabirds.
All the walks in this book can be achieved in a day, although some multi-day routes are listed too - the John Muir Way, the Fife Coastal Path, the Moray Coast Trail, the Ayrshire Coastal Path and the Isle of Arran Coast Path.
Mentioned, too, is the dream of MSP Alasdair Morgan to "fill in the gaps" and create a Scottish Coastal Path from Dumfries and Galloway to Berwick on Tweed.
But until that happens, there is a wealth of coastal walks to be explored, and this book is the perfect companion. A number of routes have already caught my imagination - Glen Brittle to Loch Eynort on the Isle of Skye; Barnhill and the Corryvreckan on Jura; the Grenitote Peninsula on North Uist; the circuit of Mousa in the Shetlands, and the old Postie's route from Blughasdary to Culnacraig in Coigach.
I think it's maybe time I came down from the heights and spent a bit more time on the edge - the crumbling edge of a phenomenal coastline that Andrew Dempster has described so well.
www.cameronmcneish.co.uk
