Amazing!  Nan Shepherd, author of “The Living Mountain” — one of the finest books on mountains I’ve ever read — was selected by the Bank of Scotland to grace the five pound note. Not only is her beautiful visage featured, but several quotes from her elegant writings are included on the note.

What a testament to the literary culture in Scotland, and to that nation’s appreciation of mountains, walking and women!  When will this sort of thing happen in USA?!

Author Robert MacFarlane commented about this honoring of Shepherd:  “She’s an incredibly inspiring figure, and an unusual one, in the sense of being a woman writing about mountains and the wilderness and nature,” he said. “She found her own path in life and in literature, and it feels like she’s so far ahead of us – we’re always only starting to catch Nan up. Philosophically and stylistically, she was extraordinary.”  “It’s strikingly unusual – she’s a super-cool, eyes-to-the-hills, headband-wearing young woman, dazzlingly beautiful and collected,” he said.

If you haven’t read her 80 page book “The Living Mountain”, which is based on her inveterate walking the rugged Cairgngorm Mountains of Scotland, you are in for a treat if you like beautiful writing about mountains.  I’ll be walking in Scotland in June and hope the bills are out by then!