Coming down from the mountains can bring you greater perspective

In his latest reflection on places and pathways, Will Gore realises his obsession with high places may be waning

Loch Lomond, whose ‘bonnie banks’ were celebrated in song (Getty)

As a young hiker, especially in my childhood, height and distance were all. True, I preferred walks that were picturesque and that took in decent views. But what I really wanted to know was miles covered and feet climbed (feet being better than metres because you’d get a bigger number).

Conquering a 10,000-footer in the Austrian Tyrol was an obvious manifestation. But even if we walked through local countryside to a pub for lunch, I would want to know exactly the distance covered.

And almost every outing would be accompanied by a member of the family warbling the chorus of that famous Scottish folk song, “The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond”, as I took whatever I could find by way of a “high road”: usually a bank running parallel to the path, or even rocks that I could jump between.