In February ‘25, following the launch of Northern Horizons at the Fort William Mountain Festival, Kim and I had set out for Sgurr Nan Coireachan intent on completing the classic horseshoe including Sgurr Thuilm. In the event, rapidly deteriorating weather and a painful back spasm resulted in an early retreat from the first Munro. I’d run over both summits previously but having yet to join the two, I was keen to complete the round.

The most southerly Munro and a more popular hill than those I would typically choose to run, but it suited our purpose on this day, and with the corries full of snow, it seemed a good day on which to do it.

A minor classic, the round of Lochnagar and the White Mounth, more often referred to simply as ‘The Circuit’, offers the runner that peculiar combination of high summits and remarkably easy ground so characteristic of the Cairngorms. Which is not to say that more difficult, technical running does not exist, nor that a few boulder fields will not have to be crossed. But in general, the going is good, and fast — unless attempted on day when a rapid thaw is in progress and the hard névé of weeks gone by is consigned to memory.

A sublime morning - though the clag met us in cold embrace at the top of the crag - testing a new lens on the perfect rock of Wistow Crags, a grade 2 /3 scramble on the southern flank of Pillar above Mosedale.

My last trip north didn't go well. It didn't go at all actually. The apparently annual back spasm while loading the car left me watching in dismay as one of the best winter weather windows in years slipped away. Nearly two months later and I'm just getting back to it...so despite its brevity, there was no way I was missing this one.

The publication of Northern Horizons was in many ways, the realisation of a lifetime’s ambition. And if being shortlisted for an award at Banff seemed surreal, taking the guidebook category win was simply beyond anything I’d imagined at any point in the years of graft that went into its production.

There is a long list of people who deserve my thanks, not only for their help and guidance during those years, but for contributing to what culminated in an incredible week in Banff and the chance to meet some of those who have inspired me since childhood.

Northern Horizons has been selected as the Guidebook category winner in the 2025 Banff Mountain Book Competition.

Paul Scully, Banff jury member, said: “A lyrical and inspiring journey into the heart of the Cumbrian and Scottish mountains. Will Herman’s beautifully crafted work is as much a memoir as it is a guidebook — a seamless blend of essays and exploration. With stunning photographs and evocative descriptions, it invites readers not just to see the landscape, but to feel it.

“At its core, the book centres the deep and evolving relationship between person and place, encouraging a reflective, almost meditative engagement with the mountains. It stirs a longing for wild spaces and makes you dream of setting off into the hills yourself.”

Today, I met Bob.

I’ve said it before, but here it is again: the further from the road you meet people, the more interesting a story they are likely to tell.

It is a relative thing. In this case, merely two miles. But two steep miles. And the first two of many more for Bob, who’d caught a bus, run to the top of Great Whernside - where Kim and I met him at the trig in glorious autumnal sunshine - and would continue alone for many more across the Dales before catching a different bus home. Bob is 70 something.

The Fisherfield 6 - the round of five Munros and one Corbett, is something akin to a rite of passage among hill goers. It’s a big day out and traditionally the distance is reduced by spending a night or two at Shenavall after approaching from Dundonnell. The alternative, and a good one if intent solely on Mullach Coire Mhic Fearchair and Beinn Tarsuinn, is to ride in from Kinlochewe. I didn’t have the bike, but decided a few miles running on the flat wouldn’t do me any harm. I also decided at the last minute to take the summits in an anticlockwise direction, and approach Mullach Coire Mhic Fearchair via Sgurr Dubh, which would be a new top for me. It proved to be the best of the day with a short section of airy scrambling reminiscent of the Aonach Eagach and a lovely ridge between the summits.

In another seemingly surreal turn of events, Northern Horizons has been shortlisted as a finalist among the eight categories that will be recognised at the 50th anniversary Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival.

The idea was one of those that wormed its way into my subconscious over a number of years after first reading of Alec Keith’s round, completed in 1998. Rather unexpectedly, and in what might generously be described as sub-optimal condition for such a route, I found myself setting out to repeat this, the most northerly of the long distance rounds documented by Scottish Hill Runners, almost exactly 27 years after Keith’s inaugural round.

Overshadowed by the Aiguille du Chardonnet, Bec Rouge Supérieur is easily overlooked, but offers a challenging run from Argentière, including some 6,000ft of ascent and wonderful views across the Aiguille Verte and Les Droites to one side, and the Aiguille du Tour on the other.

I’d glimpsed the north ridge of Mont Buet years ago while climbing in the lower valley and while any aspiration to climb it was dulled by the many more obvious challenges on the other side of the valley, it was perhaps inevitable I’d return one day to run over this popular summit. If I thought it was going to be an easy day however, I was mistaken…

While researching, writing and photographing the routes included in Northern Horizons, I remember reflecting on the stats noted by Gordon Stainforth in his book, The Cuillin. He recorded a total of 150 days on the hill, 115 rolls of film shot, the use of five cameras including medium format Hasselblad and Fuji rangefinders, and no less than eight lenses. I could neither carry such equipment while running, nor justify its expense

The format of Northern Horizons was inspired in part by the series of books by Ken Wilson and Richard Gilbert including The Big Walks as well as the climbing classics also compiled by Ken Wilson which included Hard Rock. For each of those books many thousands of images were submitted by talented photographers - more than 10,000 for Wild Walks alone which resulted in a shortlist of 2,000, and a final selection of 270…

A partial recce of the old classic which has been resurrected for 2025…

The hills of Galloway are something of an acquired taste. Much of the land here is blanketed with sitka spruce and where it is not, the running is often hard, granite outcrops and tussocks the dominant features. Corserine offers something a little different…

It’s rare that I’ll run the same route twice, motivation often being noticeably absent at the prospect of covering all too familiar ground, though inspiration can be found even in some slight variation when options are limited. Unsurprisingly, despite having climbed the Dubh Ridge on almost a score of occasions, inspiration and motivation to go again, are rarely lacking.

By far the finest way to approach Beinn Eighe, Lawson, Ling & Glover’s route takes what appears to be an improbable line, barred in its upper reaches by an imposing pinnacle. In fact, the scrambling is mostly straightforward and not overly exposed. Given Grade 2 in every guide, some may feel the crux moves a little hard for the grade, but it is a short section which tops out on the pinnacle, this in turn being revealed as a remarkable flat slab …

With the publication of Northern Horizons came many emotions - relief, satisfaction, a little pride, but also a sense of loss. The project had lent purpose to so many trips, steered my running and taken me to places which in some cases I had not seen for too long. The first of the routes described in Northern Horizons to which I returned, was in Torridon. But it was perhaps the hills of Sutherland, pictured here, that proved most elusive, the Cuillin of Rum the most memorable, and those of South Uist and Harris the most enchanting …