UKC

Might be of interest to folks. On BBC Scotland tomorrow then on the iPlayer.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011hp3

I remember him living at Staoinaig. Good to see Ken's still going.  

He blew up one log cabin, burning sawdust.

Great, will watch, saw this on the news today

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-59174870

I hope he gets his wish to live peacefully there till the ends of his days.  The location of his little bit of paradise isn’t hard to work out…..

Wow. A long time ago on these forums Norrie Muir mentioned Klondike Ken in the context of characters one might meet in bothies. So that’ll be him then. 
Aside from that mention, I’d never been aware of him.
I’ll definitely watch the programme. I hope he found peace of mind after his assault. 

I was worried about that too. But it takes at least a bit of knowledge of the area to figure out whereabouts he is and getting there is a minor logistical headache. Can't imagine the tv programme will lead to a mass influx of people disturbing his peace. 

He chose well

Turns out one of my mates knows him and says he doesn't mind the odd visitor anyway.

What a great little read. 

My romantic self longs for that existence, until I remeber that winters are long and cold in Scotland and that wood pile wont always be dry. There's also midge mania which would drive me away in a couple of days.

I'm quite happy in my own company but 40 years would be a stretch too.

Great wee log cabin though. 

Watched on iPlayer last night, a lovely gentle film with a unexpectedly strong parallel to the one about Hamish MacInnes after his own stay in the Belford. Hope Ken has a good few years in his cabin yet.

If you've ever watched Ben Fogle's series he's featured quite a few of these 'off the grid' people. Some of them have been coping very well with very little of the modern world but then age catches up and the reckoning comes closer.

I found it very interesting but it didn't make sense some times. Surely he must be an hours walk from the train station. It's not really that remote you could see the railway line behind him across the loch. He does seem to make things difficult for himself. Solar lights for outside are really cheap these days. Saves you taking a jib in the face when going for a waz.

A great find.

I would not have thought such a life was possible in the UK.

I hope he can live out his days there.

Bloody hell, he's got 70 gallons of wine for his wake!

While I agree, I was thinking why not have a push bike if you decide to walk all the way to town, but it’s up to him to decide what he wants, or is happy to do without.
Also he only pops into town for essentials and heads back, so maybe he’s unaware of things like solar lights or how cheap they are.

He's about 6km from the nearest rideable track and then about another 17km riding to the nearest shop.

I reckon he's 5km or so from one station, 9 or 10km from the other and 6km from the nearest (very minor) road. I think being that kind of distance from the closest mechanical transport qualifies as remote! The railway is actually pretty close but few trains and they don't tend to stop outwith stations.

I know where he is, and he wouldn’t have to ride from the cabin, he could stash the bike. But as I say it’s upto him how he goes about his business.

I would consider Parc as remote.

I was between Loch Treig and Corrour once and the steam train passed by. It stopped at a large  spot of heather and a mob of people disembarked. They set up camera tripods n stuff while the steam train reversed all the way back to the loch. It then steamed up the track at full pelt. Stopped when it reached them. Back on they went and off the train went leaving just the tweeting sounds of birds.

Not sure if there will be much left. I was quite impressed at the bar room optic bottles attached to the wall in the back ground. I wonder what proof silver  birch sap wine has. I would love to give it a go.

When I used to stay at Nancy Smith's doss down at Fersit, there were several rescue call outs due to folk trying to walk along the shores of Loch Treig.  

Problem can be solved: the first packrafters I ever saw were at Corrour having come up the loch.

I bought a small Yamaha inflatable and outboard about 15 years ago. It was probably the best buy for hill walking I could of bought. You can camp in the most remote places with little effort and take loads of luxuries. I remember one day I did the Grahams and Corbetts the far side of Loch Maree with ease. I returned up the loch to Kinlochewe with a glass of wine in the evening. I didn't need to steer the boat. I sat up the front as the outboard just went straight. Every so often I would look over my shoulder and lean to the side to redirect the boat. Finished the bottle of wine and pulled the boat up a bit out the water and walked into the pub.

At a guess, he probably doesn't want such things.

I really enjoyed it, he seems like a gentle soul. I was also heartened that there were quite a lot of people looking out for his welfare in the community while still respecting his right for independence 

I think that's more of a romantic notion than reality.

He has modern aluminium cladding, LED torch, has and uses SPOT (wish I had), film camera enthusiast, battery radio and wind up one (he was  happy as Larry to get them). He hardly  walks about in rabbit skins. It's an intriguing life style and I think the film is really magnetic. I've watched it 3 times now. Theres a lot to this guy that's for sure.

I was wondering how he got the armchair there until I saw the argocat.

I wonder if Ken has much contact with Davey who has lived in a tent further along the Loch shore for the last 13 years? 

youtube.com/watch?v=7d-Bl_4XACc&