Over the past year, I have been working on something of a dream project.
Since I was a kid, I have absolutely adored writing, with a PC full of half-started or half-finished works of prose. As I grew up and worked as a journalist for a bit, my interests moved towards non-fiction and reportage, but still with a passion for the art of writing compelling stories.
Whether it was fiction or non-fiction, landscape and the experience of it has always captivated me. Whether I was world building in my own stories or avidly analysing Nan Shepherd’s works, I always loved playing with landscape.
Of course, my passions of running and cycling are fuelled mostly through this love, in particular thanks to a childhood growing up in the wild places of Scotland as my parents took us around in their caravan every school holiday.
Eventually, I developed such an encyclopaedic knowledge of Scotland’s geography that I began taking people around the country or sending them itineraries for their holidays.
Everything about Scotland fascinates me: It’s history, culture, landscape, language – you name it! To share that fascination with others is always a joy and now I have been given my biggest opportunity yet…
I met up with Kirsty Read, Vertebrate Publishing‘s Commissioning Editor, last December to chat about potential books. One stuck out at me immediately: Running in Scotland.
It wasn’t a ‘guidebook’ per se, more of an inspiration book with lots of other nuggets of information about the area, the route and the country. And this wasn’t just trail running or easy jogging trails – these were grander; a mix of trail, hill and ultra running.
I will go into more detail in future blogs/vlogs about how I came to decide on the 25 routes. Naturally, I ran more than those 25 routes, filtering out the good, the bad and those just didn’t fit, so I was kept busy this year!
Now, I get to share the exciting news that is the potential front cover! I have to send a massive thanks to my friend and hill runner-extraordinaire Finlay Wild for his neat snaps that adorn the cover.
The book will be out in May 2022. Keep an eye on my social media outlets for more information about the book!
Ross Runs Wild 