I had gone up to Loch Lochy Youth Hostel one Easter, in an effort to complete a few more of my Munros. The song relates some of my experiences aloft, including my failed attempt on Meall na Teanga, where I was turned back by snow that was actually deeper than I was. I completed one summit in the company of two other walkers whom I discovered several years later to be Larry Foster and Mike McLaren.

I also met a group of student teachers from Moray House, my old training college. The music referred to was an album by that excellent singer-songwriter, Larry Guild from Cumbernauld. I e-mailed Larry; we kept in touch, and he subsequently guested at Stirling Folk Club. And the Railroad is Bob Smith’s track at Comrie, where we continue to spend many happy times.

I performed this song at a talent contest aboard a cruise liner returning from Alaska to Vancouver in 2005, with a guitar kindly lent by a chap from San Diego named Hank (who himself very deservedly won the event). The following morning as we disembarked, one of the ship’s crew, whom I had never met, stepped forward and said how much he had enjoyed my song. It’s moments like that that make all of this so rewarding.