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    Graham Beckett

    Traveller | Hill-walker | Adventurer

     

    Mini Bio

    In another life I spent 34 years working in education heading a P.E. Department, as a Boarding Housemaster and as a Senior Teacher but throughout that time I was always involved in Hill Walking, Mountaineering or Climbing, both personally and as a leader, working in the Lake District, Scotland or abroad during my school holidays. Increasingly towards the end of my teaching career, I was spending more and more of my time in this way – and so 8 years ago I gave up teaching altogether and committed to the outdoor life completely. I recently moved to Blair Atholl, though I spend most of the year travelling, working and playing in the mountains of Britain and abroad. I have a grown-up family of three daughters who are similarly fully involved in outdoor life – walking, climbing and crazy downhill bike racing.

    Place to Place

    Whilst I am happy in any mountainous region – I am most at home in the Cairngorms where I can roam for days on end, staying high and remote in some of the wildest and most inspiring mountain scenery in Britain.

    Not a lot of People Know This

    I am also a semi-professional folk singer/guitar player who loves to link his hillwalking and leading to his music. There’s nothing nicer than ending a few days walking with a few good songs – particularly if they are closely connected to the area that you have just walked in!

    Qualifications Read More
    • Summer Mountain Leader
    • Single Pitch Award
    Experience Read More

    I have spent over 30 years developing a great love of and knowledge of the mountainous regions of Britain – having completed all the Munros – and the English, Welsh and Irish 3000s by 1996. I have enjoyed numerous climbing and walking trips in the Alps and have lead a large number of expeditions abroad in mountainous and jungle areas. I have climbed – both in winter and summer- in various areas of Britain.

    Biggest Adventure Read More

    So hard to say – I have led a number of incredible 3 or 4-day treks in the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa.

    As a teenager, I hitched over 3,000 miles across the U.S.A, across 26 states from east to west, down the west coast and back to the east across the southern states. All in less than 4 weeks! It’s an amazing way to get to meet and know the people of a country.

    In 2004 I took part in the well known Welsh 3’s challenge – (covering all 14 3000ft. summits in North Wales in one continuous walk) but I – and a couple of others  – did it twice -back to back – a long walk – 33hours!

    Subject Subject Read More

    I love the interaction of people in the past with the mountains. I love the folk stories/ myths and legends – often reflected in the place names of the areas I walk in. They make the mountains come alive. We forget that many of the areas that we now regard as wilderness and remote have histories of people living and working in them and these are wonderful parts of the culture of the mountains.

    Publications Read More

    In 2017 I published my own book on the Cairngorms – part guide, part story, part thoughts.

    Adventurer's Stories about Graham

    Graham was thoughtful and attentive to the various needs in the group. He was knowledgeable, adding commentary at many points in the trip. He had a good sense of humor and knew how to keep the group working together. We could not have asked for a better guide.

    Mary Jane Haemig
    Wilderness Walking - Argyll & the Isles
    Reviewed on 27/08/2023

    Graham our guide was kind, patient, caring, concerned about everyone’s welfare and safety, knowledgeable and had a good sense of humour! Very comfortable with his guiding.

    Marg Fitzpatrick
    Wilderness Walking - Argyll & the Isles
    Reviewed on 07/08/2023

    Graham was an excellent guide. He was always imparting his knowledge while ensuring we were enjoying ourselves. He would alway remind us that this is our vacation and we can take our time to enjoy it.

    Linda Zarapkar
    Wilderness Walking - Argyll & the Isles
    Reviewed on 31/07/2023

    Graham was great ... especially his response to Morgan's broken ankle. We enjoyed his company ... invited him to join us for dinner a couple nights, which is something we usually prefer to do just as a family. That really speaks to how much we took to him. He is a bit of a worrier ... I guess better to be overly cautious than careless.

    Allen Gustafson
    23WSTM Tailor Made Trips
    Reviewed on 24/07/2023

    If there was a category above "excellent" I would choose that. Graham Beckett was so knowledgeable about all things hiking, mountaineering and Scottish history. When we first met him, he was trying to size us up and see what our needs/wishes were for the trip. He stepped back a little and listened to us. He did an amazing job of catering the trip to what we wanted to do. He is kind and gentle, on time and organized, funny and knowledgeable. Part way through the trip, I saw his notebook that was filled with phone numbers, addresses of the places we were going and notes about the venues. He had obviously done his research for the trip. Everything went smoothly because he was confirming ahead of us. He has an obvious love for Scotland and mountains and remote places. He made me feel comfortable in hiking in a strange land, and he made us laugh. He is a wonderful guide, and I would recommend him highly.

    Deborah Grandgenett
    22WSTM - Tailor Made Trips
    Reviewed on 06/10/2022

    Kathryn Grindrod was amazing! We felt so lucky to have her as our guide. She was a fantastic match for our group - any group would be so fortunate to have her.

    Vicki Rogaski
    22WSTM - Tailor Made Trips
    Reviewed on 31/07/2022

    Our guide was always trying to offer the absolute most he could, so if the day was finishing a bit earlier he was always willing to do a little something more. He was very resourceful when one person needed a boot repair. My previous guide had a little more knowledge of natural history, but I am always happy to pick that up on my own. I was very happy with Graham who also borrowed a guitar and sang for us one evening!

    Sherry Kirkvold
    Wilderness Walking - Outer Hebrides: Uists, Barra and Mingulay
    Reviewed on 25/07/2022

    Kathy Grindrod is such an asset to Wilderness Scotland. She is fun, engaging and incredibly knowledgeable. I really enjoyed being on the trip with her!

    Leora Grimshaw
    22WSTM - Tailor Made Trips
    Reviewed on 09/07/2022

    Thanks to Graham it was a great week. It was really enjoyable to spend time in his company and learn from his great knowledge. He also carefully adapted the itinerary to the weather, always keeping us safe in some windy conditions, and to our various wishes. I especially liked the way he paced the walks so well, with plenty of opportunities to savour the landscape.

    Anne Laskowski
    Wilderness Walking - Wilds of Assynt
    Reviewed on 01/06/2022

    Graham was a wonderful guide. We were quite a diverse group in terms of interests and walking ability, and he catered for us all superbly. He also had to be versatile in terms of adapting the schedule when the weather was adverse. On one day, we had wet-weather activities in the morning (a tour of the island and a visit to a museum) and a walk in the afternoon; and on the day we had our boat trip to Mingulay cancelled due to high winds, he organised a lovely walk on Vatersay instead.

    Wendy Duggleby
    Wilderness Walking - Outer Hebrides: Uists, Barra and Mingulay
    Reviewed on 16/05/2022

    Book a trip with Graham

    Trip / DepartureAvailabilityStatusPriceBook
    Wilderness Walking – Outer Hebrides: Uists, Barra & Mingulay
    11th May - 17th May 2024
    1 place(s) leftGuaranteed £2,575Book Now
    Wilderness Walking – High Points of the Outer Hebrides
    8th Jun - 15th Jun 2024
    4 place(s) leftGuaranteed £2,495Book Now
    Wilderness Walking – High Points of the Cairngorms National Park
    7th Sep - 13th Sep 2024
    1 place(s) leftGuaranteed £2,495Book Now

    Make Trip Private

    Sometimes it's nice to get family and friends together and travel privately for some quality time. This means you benefit from all the features of the group departure, including hand-picked accommodation and expert local guides and we'll take care of it all. Then you can make your choice of departures dates and we'll get back to you to finalise the details.

    We work together with our team of guides to decide which departures they lead each year. As part of that, guides provide available dates that they are free to be booked. This means that any of the dates you see in the first field of the form below, could be perfect for your private departure or customised tour.

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