The story of Active Outdoors – adventure and exploration across the Highlands and Moray

Here at Active Outdoors we aim to bring you tales of our own adventures – from family outings to backpacking and mountain biking trips – which we hope will inspire you to get out and discover more of the north of Scotland for yourself.

Our features appear every week in the Inverness Courier, Strathspey & Badenoch Herald, Ross-shire Journal, Northern Scot, John O'Groat Journal and Northern Times.

We also publish a special Active Outdoors supplement which appears in our newspaper titles every spring. You can read back issues of this via the link on our webpage.

Combined, our print readership extends to more than 85,000 – with more people accessing our articles and features online.

Active Outdoors is edited by John Davidson, who also works for the newspaper publisher Highland News & Media as editorial services manager.

John is a summer Mountain Leader who has a real passion for the outdoors, particularly in the Highlands. He has written two books of walking and cycling routes in the area.

You can read his personal blog at www.johndavidsonoutdoors.com

History

Active Outdoors began as a monthly column in the Inverness Courier when John – then working a sub-editor for the newspaper group – suggested the idea to the editor.

That was in May 2008 and since then the column has grown in popularity, becoming a weekly feature in April 2010 with either a walking route, cycling route, mountain walk or special feature.

This is when Peter Evans, a former editor of TGO and Climber magazines, joined the team after he moved north from Dollar and made it his mission to finish his round of the Munros (which he was already well on the way to doing!).

Peter 'compleated' his Munros in June 2012, climbing Sgurr na Sgine in Kintail.

In November 2011 Active Outdoors expanded and now appears weekly in the six local newspapers across the Highlands and Moray. It still contains a great regular piece on a walking, cycling or mountain route or a special feature, along with a selection of photographs.

Jenny Gillies, a hill runner from Lossiemouth, joined the team in 2014 and shares her passion for the mountains every month.

Contact

• You can get in touch with John and the rest of the team on activeoutdoors@hnmedia.co.uk
• Our website is at www.inverness-courier.co.uk/lifestyle/active-outdoors
• Follow us on Twitter @active_outdoors and on Facebook @activeoutdoors

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