Hiking and folk high school in the Scottish Highlands

Day-by-day programme

Day 1: Sunday 19.7: Travel to the Glen Clova valley in Cairngorms National Park

• 15.20 Departure with Norwegian from Copenhagen Airport to Edinburgh, where we arrive at 16.15 local time. We drive two hours by bus to Glen Clova and the folk high school. Along the way we visit a supermarket, where you can choose to buy snacks, fruit and energy bars for the hikes on the following days.
• 20.00 Dinner at the folk high school with cosy company and songs.

Day 2: Monday 20.7: Hike in the Glen Doll valley in Cairngorms NP

• 8:15 Morning exercises and morning song outdoors.
• 8:45 Breakfast and change into the day's hiking clothes.
• 10:00 Introduction to the day's hike and The Glens by Camilla
• 10:30 Grab a packed lunch and then departure by bus 10 minutes down to Glen Doll where our hike begins. We hike through the coniferous forest up onto a corrie, a large open green "amphitheatre", where we suddenly stand surrounded by high mountain walls. We experience how nature has been shaped by volcanoes and ice ages. A winding stream forces its way across the plateau between boggy peat and blocks of greyish granite, solidified lava, heather and alpine plants, and leads us up to Glen Doll's waterfall, which roars when it has rained. The area is fantastically beautiful, and a wonderful introduction to the area. We walk up to the waterfall, and eat packed lunches along the way, before we hike back to the Ranger Station, where the bus waits

Along the way we walk for at least 60 minutes in silence; we do this because silent walks help create presence, calm and immersion by shifting attention from conversation to the nature, the body and one's own thoughts.

• 15:00 The bus drives back to the folk high school. You can also choose to extend the hike and walk the 5 km home to the folk high school along the more or less flat, quiet country road.
• 15.30 At the folk high school there will be coffee/tea and cake on arrival.
• 18:30 Dinner at the folk high school.
• 19:30 Talk about the history of Glen Clova Hotel (by Mhairi, manager). Then a talk: "Scotland's Highlands", by Camilla. We end the evening with an intro to tomorrow's hiking day and an evening song.

Driving: 5 km out and 5 km home.

Hike: 10 km, about 3 1/2 - 4 hours.

Difficulty: Medium with a climb of 300 m. Can be extended 5 km if you walk home from Glen Doll to the folk high school.

Day 3: Tuesday 21.7: Hike up to the mountain lakes Loch Brandy and Loch Wharral in Cairngorms

• 7:45 Morning exercises and morning song outdoors.
• 8:15 Breakfast.
• 9:15 Grab a packed lunch and depart. We lace our boots up well, for today we're hiking up in the mountains around the folk high school. We begin with a steep climb up to the mountain lake Loch Brandy along a path with a view over the Glen Clova valley and heather-clad slopes with free-roaming sheep, and if we're lucky we'll see grouse, birds of prey and red deer. We move slowly upwards and enjoy the view along the way before we rest at the lake's cool shore, where we eat packed lunches. From here we continue, depending on wind and weather, over the Green Hill mountain (870 m above sea level) down to Loch Wharral. Then we walk down to the country road and end up at the folk high school again in the afternoon. The hike can be shortened along the way for those who find it too strenuous. Along the way we walk for at least 60 minutes in silence; we do this because silent walks help create presence, calm and immersion by shifting attention from conversation to the nature, the body and one's own thoughts.
• After the hike there will be shared stretching exercises in the garden, and coffee, tea and cake.
• 18:30 Dinner at the folk high school.
• 19:45 Intro to tomorrow's hike by Camilla.
• 20.00 We end the day by singing songs from the Folk High School Songbook and hearing a little about the individual songs.

Driving: none.

Hike: 15 - 17 km, 6 - 7 hours.

Difficulty: hard with a climb of 650 metres. The weather decides today how far we go.

Day 4: Wednesday 22.7: Hike along a cliff coast and lunch in Arbroath

• 7:30 Morning exercises and morning song in the garden.
• 8:00 Breakfast.
• 9:00 Departure for the harbour in Auchmithie
• Approx. 10.15: arrival at Auchmithie and hike down along the coast to Arbroath. The route runs along the coast southwards, on red sandstone cliffs that rise steeply from the sea. We hike along the cliff path with huge strawberry plantations on the land side and the North Sea on the sea side. The route continues through the nature reserve Seaton Cliffs with seabirds such as terns and guillemots, before we reach the harbour town of Arbroath around midday.

Arbroath is an old fishing town where Arbroath Smokie, smoked haddock, which is the area's speciality, is traded, and the smokehouses' aromas meet us as we approach the harbour. In Arbroath we eat lunch together at a restaurant.

• 15:00 The bus drives us back to the folk high school.
• 18:30 Dinner at the folk high school.
• 20:00 Whisky tasting at the folk high school with whisky connoisseur John Lees. We taste 5 of Scotland's finer single malt whiskies, from both the Highlands and the Lowlands. Meanwhile we're well entertained by John's stories about whisky and its special place in Scottish hearts.

Driving: a good hour's drive out and the same home.

Hike: 8-9 km, 3 hours.

Difficulty: Easy, with slight climbs.

Day 5: Thursday 23.7: Hike through Glen Clova to Glen Prosen in Cairngorms NP

• 8:00 Morning exercises with stretching and warm-up, and morning song in the garden.
• 8:30 Breakfast and grab a packed lunch.
• 9:45 We start the day in the little chapel opposite the folk high school, Glen Clova Kirk. Here Camilla tells us a little about the day's hike, which goes onwards from the folk high school to the neighbouring valley Glen Prosen along the minister's old route, The Minister's Path. In the old days the minister served both valleys and walked between the churches along this path when he was to give a sermon. The route leads us through forest and over hills and moor. We eat packed lunches along the way, enjoy our last day in the Highlands and continue to Glen Prosen Village with the church, where the bus waits. Along the way we walk for at least 60 minutes in silence; we do this because silent walks help create presence, calm and immersion by shifting attention from conversation to the nature, the body and one's own thoughts.
• 14:30 The bus drives us half an hour back to the folk high school.
• 16:00 We enjoy cosy company with home-baked Scottish scones and tea, coffee and folk high school songs in the folk high school's garden.
• 19:00 Farewell dinner at the folk high school in the marquee.
• 20:30 Scottish folk music with dance lessons by the local band "Zetor in the Kailyard", who play festive Scottish folk music.

Driving: none out, half an hour home.

Hike: 12 km, about 4 hours.

Difficulty: Medium, climb 200 m.

Day 6: Friday 24.7: Departure

• 8.30 Morning exercises and stretching exercises in the garden.
• 9.00 Breakfast. Then check out of rooms.
• 10.00 Morning song outdoors + we say goodbye to the folk high school's staff.
• 10.30 Departure by bus 2 hours to Edinburgh Airport.
• 15.10 Departure with Norwegian from Edinburgh.
• 17.55 Arrival local time at Copenhagen Airport.

**We reserve the right to make changes.

For this summer course in the Scottish Highlands, we have chosen to stay in the United Kingdom's largest national park, Cairngorms. The park offers a wealth of hiking routes, magnificent highland nature with wildlife, mountains, mountain lakes, valleys, rivers and forest, plus farming with sheep, cattle and grain. We hold folk high school at the cosy, family-owned Glen Clova Hotel deep inside the Glen Clova valley surrounded by nature. Several of our hikes set out from here. The folk high school lies down by a river and has a large garden and its own small farm, which supplies the kitchen with meat and vegetables from the kitchen garden. The only neighbours are a couple of farms scattered around the area, and it's a 20-minute drive to the nearest town, Kirriemuir.

The folk high school has a two-storey main building with rooms, a dining hall, a lecture hall and a cosy bar with rustic long tables and local beer and whisky. In the garden there's an annexe with rooms, and there's plenty of space to sit outdoors and enjoy the view of the surrounding mountains, which rise up around the folk high school. When the weather allows, we eat outdoors in the evening.

Camilla Kornerup

The course leader will be Camilla Kornerup. Camilla holds a Master's degree and has travelled through large parts of the world and now lives in Edinburgh with her English husband John.

Camilla runs the lecture business Cosmopolit, where she tells stories and shows pictures from her travels about people's lives and living conditions around the globe. Alongside this she is a tour leader on hikes in Scotland and has a background in the travel industry as a guide and as a teacher.

In recent years she has also worked with HR and competence development and as an independent consultant in sustainability.

In her spare time Camilla enjoys getting to know Scotland and the Scots better, and she hikes and cycles and takes pictures and looks forward to exploring the more remote and windswept parts such as the Shetland Islands and the Hebrides. Camilla will give several talks and lead the hikes during the week.

John Lees

John is a historian, born in England and living in Edinburgh, where he is a passionate whisky collector. John has tasted over 500 whiskies from all over the world, and among his favourites are some of the rarer whiskies from far-flung small Scottish distilleries.

For our whisky evening we taste 6 of Scotland's finer single malt whiskies, the real deal, from both the Highlands and the Lowlands. We'll no doubt recognise flavour notes of peat, smoke, leather, oil and vanilla while we're well entertained by John's stories about whisky and its special place in Scottish hearts, not to mention its significance in the endless conflicts between England and Scotland through the ages.

Zetor in the Kailyard

The local duo consists of Kate Badcock and Roddy Johnston, who play and sing traditional Scottish folk music from the Highlands. The duo are multi-instrumental and reach for anything from fiddle, guitar, flute, bagpipes and saxophone as they travel around the Highlands entertaining.

Between the numbers they teach us to dance folk dances and tell us about their music.