You don’t have to travel the world to find wilderness

Obsessed with perfect paths and tucked away tracks, Will Gore recalls a remarkable view of nothingness in the latest in a series of reflections

Beinn Alligin rises above Loch Torridon (Alamy)

I wasn’t a gap year kind of person – either before university or afterwards.

Those of my friends who did take a few months out returned with tales of the Americas, Down Under or the Far East. Some of them had the gut disorders to prove it. All agreed they had seen wondrous things which were worth the long journeys and the tapeworms.

In particular, there seemed to be a feeling that they had experienced unique natural wonders – and no doubt they had. But I often pondered on whether it was necessary to go half way round the world to find them.