Cairngorms Revolt Against Pylons (C.R.A.P.) is planning to sell their designer badges and printed cartoon tea towels to help fund a planning expert to appear on their behalf at the Beauly to Denny power line inquiry when it moves to Newtonmore later this month.

Community leaders from Dalwhinnie and Laggan have set up a new website and online PayPal account to accept sales and credit card donations from around the world. Badges, towels and car stickers will also be sold on e-Bay, the online auction site.

The revitalised campaign plans to tap into the thousands of visitors to the Cairngorms National Park and 'Monarch of the Glen' country this summer.

The Loch Laggan location for the hit BBC TV series seen in more than 80 countries is likely to be one of the areas worst affected by the giant pylons proposed to carry the 400kV power line through the south end of the Cairngorms National Park.

Highland games organisers in Badenoch and Strathspey have been approached for permission to hand out information sheets and membership forms.

Campaign organisers say many visitors are unaware the giant pylons destined for the new national park, at up to 65 metres, are more than double the height of the existing towers by the A9 Inverness-Perth road at Drumochter, the gateway to the Highlands.

C.R.A.P. chairman Jo Cumming, from Laggan, said the inquiry which opens at Newtonmore on August 28 is the last chance the Cairngorms will have to argue that the power line must be buried.

"We need shops and businesses to sell badges and tea towels, and everyone else to get on their computers and tell the world about our website and how a few pounds will help us pay for the best advice we can afford," she said.

But Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) says that burying the power line will be too expensive, and has hired a £10,000 a day legal team to argue in favour of running the cables above ground. Last month SSE applied to put up electricity prices to help pay for its costs, say campaigners.

The planning application submitted last year by the power giant proposes that the power line cuts cross the national park from the end of the Corrieyairack Pass, down through Glen Shirra to Kinloch Laggan and Inver Pattack. From here, the route would cross over the hill to Cathar Mor and Dalwhinnie and then down the A9 to the Drumochter Pass.

C.R.A.P. is not the only organisation fighting the pylons. Others include Highland Council, Scottish Natural Heritage, Cairngorms National Park and the John Muir Trust.

The council's final submission urged the reporter to find that SSE should lay large portions of the power line under ground to help preserve the Highlands.

It has already been claimed by Ardverikie Estate and other campaigners that blockbuster movies and hit TV shows could be lost from the area if the plans get the go-ahead.

There are hopes that a major film by Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson, about a dragon trained in the Highlands defeating Napoleon's forces, could be winging its way to Loch Laggan.

Rosemary van der Byl, from Leicester, and twins Victoria and Kathryn (9), show off their C.R.A.P. badges. "We are all 'Monarch' fans and came up to visit the location, but we had no idea about the giant pylons," she said. "It's incredible. They wouldn't allow it in the Lake District National Park in England."

The man who so successfully brought The Lord of the Rings trilogy and a re-make of King Kong to the big screen has snapped up the rights to a series of fantasy novels by Naomi Novik, a so-far little-known American writer who features Scotland heavily in her work.

Novik's first book which could be in line for a lavish multi-million pound make-over by Jackson is His Majesty's Dragon, which sets key chapters on the shores of Loch Laggan. The beauty spot was also used for scenes in the movies 'Mrs Brown' and 'The Missionary'.

SSE have claimed there would be many advantages to the new power line, including the removal of the existing 132kV line.

There would be eight kilometres less of the new line, 40% of the current pylons would be removed, and the number of crossings of the line over the A9 arterial road would be reduced from seven to one.

The third stage of the inquiry for the Cairngorms National Park section will take place at the Highlander Hotel in Newtonmore.

The process is expected to draw to a close at the end of December, and a final decision is expected from Scottish Ministers around autumn next year.

To buy C.R.A.P. badges, tea towels and stickers to sell in your shop, hotel or café, contact nopylons@glentruim.com The specially designed badges are available for just £2.50, but C.R.A.P. is asking website visitors to alert friends and relations at home and abroad to leave a little bit extra when they hit the Pay Now button.

What's in a name?

CREATING a campaign badge for Cairngorms Revolt Against Pylons was a real challenge, says designer Fiona Hill.

Fiona, who used to run trans-Scotland trail riding company Highland Horseback, said: "The full name of the organisation is too long for a badge, but the initials are, shall we say, not to everyone's taste."

The solution was to "sanitise" the offending initials by turning the A into a pylon and introducing heavy full stops to emphasise the letters rather than the word.

"By doing that people will look past the actual word that the initials spell out and focus on the pylon in the A. It minimises possible offence but it holds the attention long enough to read the name."

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