I think a few might be interested in this - both for for the scenery and the lifestyle.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m ... t-of-treig

Thanks for the reminder Colin, I went past there earlier this year and wondered what his tale was.

Richpips wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 12:11 am Thanks for the reminder Colin, I went past there earlier this year and wondered what his tale was.

I've been planning a packraft trip along there. I might have to pop in for a cuppa.

Really enjoyed the program, seemed a lovely bloke.

He obviously enjoys what company comes along, but I hope he's not inundated with people after the program, but if I was in the area I'd like a cuppa with him too. Maybe take him a cake or a bottle.

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 12:06 am I think a few might be interested in this - both for for the scenery and the lifestyle.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m ... t-of-treig

Loved that.

And I won't lie, I've thought about doing this many a time.

As a kid I grew up in and out of care, children homes etc, I've never found my way, so used to run a way often.

46 now, and still really struggling in this world.

Often think I should just get up and walk out, and not look back.

Ta, enjoyed that.

Makes me think, if I was single, lived alone and no one to depend on me (that’s not a great term but you know what I’m getting at), would I live my life differently?

Great prog, lovely chap in a fantastic part of the world.

Have had idle musings about doing similar. I don't know about Scotland but down here you can't even buy a patch of woodland or similar and live on it for more than 28 days, let alone rock up on somebody's huge estate. I imagine it's actually pretty difficult to opt out of mainstream living, sadly.

Enjoyed that, cheers for the link Colin
Wonder if Spot give him a good deal on his subscription?!

Ken Smith… wonder what prompted him to “go public” ?

And… big question:
What about the midges ?

Liked that a definite tinge of sadness to it,got the feeling that he thought he might only have a couple of years left. Did look like he wanted his wake to be a drunken affair

I think that at the start of the programme it stated that it took seven years from meeting Lizzie the camerawoman to letting her film him.

There was a guy around here that lived in a similar manner- he’d had an industrial accident many years ago and taken a monthly compensation payment for the rest of his life. He would just wander between various deserted properties stopping a night or two in each

I wonder what that birch sap wine tastes like...

Did he say he had 60 gallons of it?!

There's a guy, Jake Williams, lives in Clashindarroch Forest in Aberdeenshire, also described as a hermit. He featured in a Ben Fogle documentary - 'New Lives in the Wild'. Also a short film by Ben Rivers called 'Two Years at Sea'. Probably not as extreme, he has a cottage on a forestry road about 3/4 mile off the tarmac.

NewRetroTom wrote: ↑Fri Nov 12, 2021 1:55 pm I wonder what that birch sap wine tastes like...

Did he say he had 60 gallons of it?!

Birch sap itself tastes quite nice - sweet, vaguely woody flavoured water. I'm sure the wine will be fabulous!

Just spied his gaff on aerial photos. I see that someone has punched a big track to within a shout of it - not marked on maps (or on the ground when I last went past in 2015)

Is that his place in the trees about 1/2 way up the loch on the East side?

Yes.

The track that ends just short of the forest is fairly new and certainly wouldn't have been there when he first settled.

I bet he doesn't even have planning permission

Thoroughly enjoyed that

Just watched this (the silver lining of injuring yourself, see Cheery Friday thread). Really interesting. Perhaps unfairly, I expected him to be a bit more... odd. You'd think spending your life almost entirely alone (not to mention having had a severe brain injury) would make you just a bit socially awkward, but he seems pretty "normal", if a bit stubborn.

Kind of sad some of the hands life has dealt him, but he seems to have found himself a happy existence in spite (because of?) it.

Aye, he comes across as very normal, considering what he's been through. Did you get the bit where he said he'd walked 52k round North America and Alaska?! He has a lot of skills which would have been part of his generation - washing and cleaning without hot water on tap, washing machines, showers etc, growing (and brewing) your own and a general hardiness / make do and mend attitude that was prevalent post war but is now long lost. I guess there is more of a back story to his life which we'll never get to hear but fair play to him for making a good life out of not very much.

Odd but I'd like to keep track of how he's doing....

Oh and if you haven't read it, check out 'Highland Hermit' by James Carron. An entirely different character!

Really enjoyed it and found it something (odd ) to aspire to. However, how come the landowners haven’t kicked him off?

UnderTheRadars wrote: ↑Sat Nov 13, 2021 3:16 pm Really enjoyed it and found it something (odd ) to aspire to. However, how come the landowners haven’t kicked him off?

I guess he's just doing no harm. As a one-off, it works. If loads of folks were doing it then it would be a different matter.

His cabin is in a narrow bit of land between the railway and the reservoir which the estate probably aren't fussed about. (Actually, I should check out whose land he is on - could be Corrour Estate or whoever took over from British Aluminium