Emily has posted a thread on the forum already but we've not had much of a response so far. Tell us about your favourite walkers' pub, and why we should feature it as our Pub of the Month. Could it be that TGO readers are predominantly teetotal? Or do they prefer a dram or two in the privacy of their tent or bothy, as opposed to visiting some of the great pubs in areas like North Wales, the Lakes, Yorkshire Dales or the Scottish highlands. I don't really believe that for a moment and we really want to hear from you. Just tell us your favourite pub for that post-hike beer, why it should be the TGO pub of the month, and we'll do the rest. We're lookintg forward to hearing from you...

 Some of you might have caught the first of a 6-part series on the BBC last Monday about Paul Lister's plans to reintroduce native species to his Alladale Estate. Included in those plans is a 3m tall electric fence to keep the wolves and bears inside the "safari park". The fence, between 35 miles and 50 miles in fence, won't have any access points for the public. Instead Paul says you can pay £50 a visit. I missed the programme myself but from what I've picked up it was a pretty "soft" documentary with little in it about the fencing plans. However, as with most television series like this, it has been well publicised and Paul has had a lot of PR from it. There has been a fair bit of response on the forum to the issue and it's been suggested that hillwalkers should gather on Paul's estate in north Scotland to protest. My own experience of such protest walks have never been good - I reckon you'd need a few thousand to create any kind of media interest and I just wonder how many folk would be prepared to travel all that way to make a protest? Very few, I suspect, but if you think differently, let me know. If such a protest walk was to take place the organisers can depend on support from TGO in terms of publicity.

 I've been out and about over the past week videoing TGO Challengers as they walk across Scotland in this glorious weather we've been enjoying. I think this is possibly the best weather we've had for a Challenge for many, many years and it's a relief to know our guys and gals ar not having to wade through snow or fight through torrential rain and gales - that's more the norm for Challenge fortnight. I've already written about the start from Mallaig (see the video on this website) and I've also visited Challengers at Melgarve, Glen Feshie, Braemar, Glencallater Lodge and Tarfside. Later this week Emily and I will be heading to Montrose for the final dinner - and the final bout of filming. The BBC team has been out and about too so we're hoping for a good tlevision film about the event, and of course the people who do it. We'll let you know when it's to be broadcast. Roger tells me about 30 folk have dropped out this year - mostly due to blisters caused by hot weather. Other than Niels Vinther's little escapade in Glen Etive (see video) we've had no serious emergencies. Thanks heavens for that... -

 Can't recall such a glorious start to the TGO Challenge. When I met challengers in Mallaig last week to see them off the sun was shining and I desperately wanted to stay in Knoydart for a few days and enjoy the beauty of it. No luck - too much work to do and I wanted to catch up with some other challengers. On Monday evening I drove to Garvamore in the Monadh Liath and met some of the frontrunners from Shiel Bridge. I then wandered up to Melgarve and met up with some more, including Ken Knight from BackpackingLight.com in the US. Ken, from Michigan, was having a little bit of trouble with his navigation and appeared to be a tad concerned but I told him not to worry too much - the Challenge is the kind of event where someone always turns up to help anyone in difficulty. It's a kind of magic formula that has worked well for 29 years... One challenger who did get into difficulties was Niels from Denmark. He was in Glen Etive when he suffered some severe stomach pains so he pressed the 999 button on his SPOT Personal GPS Tracker. The signal, along with Niels' Google Map position, went to an emergency centre in Houston, Texas and they contacted the police in Fort William. In turn the police phoned the RAF and a helicopter picked Niels up and took him to the Belford Hospital in Fort William where he's making a good recovery. Roger Smith first heard the news from Niels' sister, who phoned Challenge Control but by then everything had been sorted. I reviewed the SPOT Tracked in TGO in the April issue and I believe this was the first real emergency situation involving the tool. I'm delighted it worked so smoothly...

 I wonder if you you all get the same feelings of anticipation that I experience when May day comes along? Up here in the Scottish highlands it's as though someone has thrown a switch, encouraging the bird life to suddenly, and enthusiastically, give voice. A couple of days ago I was sitting at the edge of the moor, a small outcrop of rock softening the cold blow of the early morning wind. From the pock marked flatness below me came what I can only describe as a cacaphony of bird sound, a tumultous celebration of spring. All my favourites were out, and obviously in fine fettle. Who can fail to be moved by the bubbling crescendo of the whaup, or curlew. There must be hundreds of them around this spot, and they were all making music as though delighted to feel some hint of warmth from the early sun. I listened to the thin call, rising slowly and then becoming faster until the great climax to the song: a bubbling sound, a liquid trill that is loved by outdoors folk everywhere. Combine that particular music with the plaintively shrill pee-wit of the lapwing, another song that has exiles virtually moved to tears. Here is the song of the moors, the song of wide open skies. Watch its mad acrobatics, its crazy abandoned flight, tumbling to earth as though about to crash land, only to swerve at the last possible moment, and soar upwards again, twisting and tilting its wings as though careering through some invisible obstacle course. And all the time squeaking and trumpeting in that uncanny. characteristic call. Add the high pitched piping of the oystercatcher, the Servants of Saint Bride, and you get a medlay of wader song fit to lift the heart, and my heart was well and truly lifted by the sound of it all. As I wandered home for breakfast a robin chortled out its sweet song in the woods, and a wren scolded me for making such a noise. I was heading for a day at the computer but there was a skylark in the field and the sound of it cheered me like no other sound can.

 I'm delighted that the Scottish Government has refused planning permission to build Europe's biggest windfarm on the Isle of Lewis. Lewis Wind Power, the energy company behind the proposals, apparently didn't comply with European law protecting sensitive environments. Despite that, what sense is there in erecting 181 turbines on the Lewis peat banks, releasing even more carbon cases into the atmosphere? Has common sense prevailed? I suspect not. Call me overly-suspicious if you like but expect to see Lewis Wind Power come back with a slightly smaller scheme. Has the Scottish Government done a deal? Nothing would surprise me...

 I'm delighted that the Scottish Government has refused planning permission to build Europe's biggest windfarm on the Isle of Lewis. Lewis Wind Power, the energy company behind the proposals, apparently didn't comply with European law protecting sensitive environments. Despite that, what sense is there in erecting 181 turbines on the Lewis peat banks, releasing even more carbon cases into the atmosphere? Has common sense prevailed? I suspect not. Call me overly-suspicious if you like but expect to see Lewis Wind Power come back with a slightly smaller scheme. Has the Scottish Government done a deal? Nothing would surprise me...

 Interesting to see the response to the Natural World programme on BBC the other night about Paul Lister's plan to turn reintroduce carnivores to his Alladale estate in the north of Scotland. Check out this website's Forum (under Conservation) for more detail.

 Many thanks to all of you who returned completed TGO Reader Surveys to us. We had an extraordinarily high number of surveys returned, which tells us one of two things. You either think the magazine is so bad that it urgently needs a complete re-appraisal or you have such an empathy with the title that you want to be involved in its ongoing success. I hope it's the latter! Once we've had a chance to go through all the returns we plan to redesign the magazine, make some editorial changes, and bring in some new faces. Indeed, in the past few months we've started doing that with the introduction of Emily as Deputy Editor and our new designer Charlene. There have been several subtle changes in the magazine's look but Charlene is eager to get to work and put something of her own identity into the design. I'm looking forward to that. We also brought in Eddy Meechan as our new ultralight columnists three or four months ago and I think you'll agree that he has already made an impact with innovative and often surprising ideas about reducing the weight of your pack. If "surprise" is an important factor in a magazine's content then Eddy's column certainly provides that. Wait until you read his next column - I'll give you a little hint. He recommends lightweight backpackers should carry a water pistol! For why? Mmm - it's all to do with personal hygene... There's little doubt that outdoor recreation is changing fast with more and more outdoors folk involving themselves in a number of activities like mountain biking, kayaking, adventure races and trail running. Should we be covering these pursuits in TGO? Should we be hiring celebrities to tell us about their favourite hillwalks? Tell us. It's your magazine and we want to reflect your needs and wants.