Our intended speaker was Hebe Carus, MCofS’s Access and Conservation Officer, but she was otherwise engaged. But we were certainly not disappointed by her substitute, Richard Spencer, one of the Council’s Trustees. His talk was both extremely well informed and lively. Certainly he was not afraid to call a spade a spade, and often it was a bloody shovel! His theme was the success or otherwise of Scotland’s access legislation. Our rights of access to the hills are far greater than in most other countries, but are these rights being eroded almost as soon as they have become law? Of course there are problems in several places as Richard described, but in general we left with the feeling that, if these were the only problems, then the legislation in general was working pretty well. A common problem related to deerstalking. Clearly walking in areas where deerstalking was taking place was undesirable; you could easily end up ruining a day’s sport and also risked getting shot accidentally. But that should not give estates the right to have a blanket ban on hillwalking during the stalking season, as some still did. Richard’s advice was to respect those that acted within the legislation, but challenge those who attempted to deny access unreasonably. This seemed to us a reasonable approach, so long as there was no risk to life or limb!