Highland Dancing is a very energetic and physical form of Dancing, it takes a lot of hard work and determination to excell as well as the necessity to be very very fit. My wife Donna in her time was an extremely successful Highland Dancer and now my Daughter Heather
is following in her footsteps. As well as finishing in the top 6 in numerous championships in Scotland she has finished 7th in the Canadian Championships,
was 16 years English Champion and was the 2016,2018 and 2019 to 2022 Adult English Champion and
also in 2015 she became one of the top 20
Highland Dancers in the World by merit of qualifiying for the finals of the
World Championships.
Taking Heather to competitions almost every weekend means; with the odd exception, a trip up to Scotland to places such as Aberdeen, Inverness, Glasgow and Dumfries in our faithfull old Pug, named Blueberry esmerelda Muffin II by Heather.
Blueberry Esmerelda Muffin II parked at the head of Glen Doll,Angus
A Highland Dancing Competition usually lasts all day and as it was impractical to nip home I needed something to fill my day in after I dropped the girls at their competition
Before I was married and had a family my favourite passtime was heading off
into the Cheviot Hills or the Lake District to look for any remaining
wreckage of Aircraft which had crashed, usually during WWII. I enjoyed doing this instead of simply heading for the summits as it was more of a navigational challenge, it gave me a target and it got me off the beaten track, allowing me to see sights otherwise overlooked by the masses;
more importantly it also allowed me to pay my respects to any crew
lost in these all but forgotten incidents and I always spend a minute or so
in silence to contemplate what happened at these places before I leave. The first
crash site I visited with my Dad way back in 1979, was Lancaster KB745 on the Cheviot.
Crash site of Lancaster KB745 on the Cheviot, only tiny fragments remain on the surface.
Thus when my Daughter started travelling to Highland
Dancing competitions every weekend in Scotland I was able to resume my
hillwalking and once I find out where she is competing I will research if there
was any Plane crashes in the area which I can visit to fill my day in.
Including my first shift of wreck hunting in the 1980's/90's I have now
visited over 290 crash sites.
Cheatah Engine from Avro Anson on Ben Mcdui
This website is about my days out walking in the Hills and in some cases is written in a light hearted manner which is meant as no disrespect to any of the crews lost in these events. I am busy moving all wreckage photos to a seperate page which will have a link from the main page, please do not click the link if you do not wish to see images of the wreckage, I photograph it purely as an attempt to record what is left at these rapidly disappearing sites.
My website it is not intended as a walkers guide or as an in depth account of the circumstances behind the crashes, there's plenty of other publications dealing with those subjects. My website came into being as simply an account of what I did to pass the time when My daughter was Highland Dancing.
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Heather after winning a trophy at the 2015 Aberdeen Championships
I have now added the mileage I walked and the total altitude climbed onto the webpages. I work this out by entering waypoints of my route into a gps map which then tells me the distance covered.
I would like to thank all the researchers and Aviation Archaeology experts whose books and publications have provided me with valuable information about the locations of these crashsites. I would also like to thank in particular Alan Leishman of the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum, Jim Corbett of ACIA and Stuart Whittaker.
Further information about most of the Aircraft involved can be found by visiting
www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk