Kellan MacInnes really needs to get away. Newly divorced, HIV-positive, flat broke and with a house full of Airbnb guests driving him crazy, he badly needs to find himself again. Inspired by the little-known poet and mountaineer Brenda G Macrow, who quit London for the Scottish Highlands in the summer of 1946, Kellan takes the night train north.
As he follows in Macrow’s footsteps and sets off in search of the 28 hill lochs that lie within the boundaries of the parish of Kintail, Kellan intertwines Macrow’s life-story with his own, recalling scenes from the past, some funny, some poignant, some shocking.
Far more than a mere travelogue, much more than simply nature writing, The Wild Swimmer of Kintail offers both practical and emotional insight into taking on Scotland’s ultimate high-altitude wild swimming challenge. Laugh-out-loud in some places, painfully honest in others, The Wild Swimmer of Kintail is a bitter-sweet account of a journey through water to self-discovery. |
