Cairngorms Celebrates National Parks Week

Organisations throughout the Cairngorms National Park joining forces this week to celebrate National Parks Week 2006. A series of events took place throughout the Park with something to suit all ages and abilities.

National Parks Week is being marked at National Parks the length and breadth of Great Britain and this year's theme is 'Stretch your legs, stretch your mind'. One of the Cairngorms National Park's highlights this year was Journey for the Wild 2006. The John Muir Trust; - the country's leading wild land conservation organisation - is behind the Journey for the Wild, which consists of four routes totaling about 2,500 miles. Participants walk, run, cycle, paddle kayaks and canoes, and sail yachts to complete the journey, traveling light and with the least possible impact on the environment through some of Britain's wildest places and most spectacular scenery. Their aim is to pass on a message baton across 70 legs of the journey and four different routes. The eastern route baton entered the Park on the 24 July near Dinnet.

Staff from the Cairngorms National Park Authority also took part in their own Journey for the Wild to celebrate National Parks Week by walking the four tops - Cairngorm, Ben Macdui, Cairn Toul, and Braeriach - on Thursday 27 July.

National Parks Week is for everyone however and a whole range of events took place for all abilities and ages. Event ranged from easy guided walks like the one at the Invercauld Estate, near Braemar to the Anagach Woodland Festival, Grantown-on-Spey where the Anagach Woods Trust hosted an afternoon of games and activities including archery, pole lathe turning and demonstrations of chainsaw carving from British champion, Pete Bowsher.

For the more experienced there were more challenging events aswell including a High Top Walk organized by the National Trust for Scotland.  This challenging walk took in the 'Blue Hill of Derry'.

Other activities included walks around the grounds of Balmoral Castle, a wild woods mystery hunt and a Landover safari. The event has been heralded as a huge success which has showcased the national parks vast variety of uses and activities.