Interview: Kevin Langan, architectural designer

Published on Wednesday 8 December 2010 12:22

City architectural designer Kevin Langan has mapped out a new way to traverse some of our lesser visited landscapes, writes Maria Croce

• Kevin Langan's new East Highland Way takes in some of Scotland's little visited gems

DURING the day Kevin Langan sits at his desk in an architects' office in Glasgow either sketching designs or creating 3D models of buildings on his computer.

His job as an architectural designer sees him working on state-of-the-art retail or commercial developments. The modern city centre base seems a million miles away from where he grew up in the countryside in Taynuilt, near Oban where he would regularly head out to explore the Cruachan mountain range.

But nature and the outdoors remain close to his heart and when he isn't walking in the mountains at weekends, he's thinking of the outdoors.

Now he has created a new long-distance walk he has named the East Highland Way, which covers 78 miles and connects Fort William to Aviemore.

Though the West Highland Way from Milngavie on the northern outskirts of Glasgow to the foot of Ben Nevis at Fort William is one of Scotland's most popular long-distance trails with 50,000 people walking parts of the 96-mile route every year – Langan decided to come up with an alternative.

His route picks up from the end of the West Highland Way in Fort William and takes walkers east – so he decided to call it the East Highland Way.

Walkers will pass through dramatic scenery, spot rare wildlife from pine martens to Scottish wildcats and take in views of Ardverikie House – Glenbogle of TV fame – and Loch an Eilein ruined castle.

Langan admits it sounds an unusual idea to commit to spending three years of his spare time to map a walking route across the country but it became a personal challenge.

"I've got a passion that I feel I want to do more all the time. I get fed up just sitting around. I don't want to waste my life watching TV," he says. "With the walk I looked at it from a strategic planning level, so most people can understand the rationale from a strategic level. It keeps my brain alive."

He approached the project in the same manner he tackles his work where he comes up with solutions and designs for buildings. For the walk he set about meticulously planning a route that would be passable for people of different abilities where there would be stop-offs with accommodation en route.

The 28-year-old's life is busy enough, as apart from work he also shares custody of four-year-old daughter Katie after splitting from her mother. But somehow he found the time to devote to inventing a walking route. He has always been driven to explore and create – whether that's innovative products at university, inventing new modular building methods for schools at work or a walking route, in his free time.

He is keen to introduce his daughter to the outdoors but he says she will have to wait until she's older before he'll take her on a long distance walk.

"Long distance walking is like an endurance test. It's such a sense of achievement when you complete it, but my daughter is too young."

He's written a guidebook to the walk, which is being published by Edinburgh-based Luath Press. And he persuaded his brother, award-winning photographer David Langan, to take photographs for it.

But he readily concedes this is not a money-making venture. He says: "It's never going to make a fortune. But none of it is financially related. It's just life-enriching which is more rewarding."

Even while a student studying product design at Robert Gordon University Grays School of Art in Aberdeen, Langan was driven by an innovative spirit, often inspired by the outdoors. He won two Audi Design Foundation awards in 2003. One was for inventing a collapsible climbing helmet he called the Armadillo which was inspired by the creature's folding armour. And another was for a tri-blade ice tool, inspired by a woodpecker.

"A lot of people don't wear climbing helmets because they're so bulky so I decided to come up with a collapsible design that could then hang from a harness," he explains.

"I was also inspired by nature for the ice tool by looking at how woodpeckers hang onto trees.

"I've always been interested in the outdoors. Growing up in Taynuilt I was always out in the hills climbing or rock climbing."

But when he moved to Glasgow in 2005, he found himself hankering for the mountains.

He says: "Moving to a city you want to get back out. I feel a bit isolated in Glasgow sometimes."

Even at work at 3DReid Architects he won an in-house competition in 2008 for his design for a prefab, modular bothy that can be easily constructed and transported, using the turf it displaces as roofing material.

Langan admits he keeps a sketchpad by his bed to jot down ideas, and he seems to be constantly looking to create new things. He got onto the idea of inventing a new long-distance walk after he first attempted the West Highland Way in January 2007 with a close friend – even though this first attempt turned out to be a disaster.

He recalls: "I'd never done any long distance routes before. You never know what you're capable of and how far you can walk. We just decided we could probably do it in four days, 25 miles a day.

"My friend wore mountaineering boots and his feet were torn to shreds. He lost toenails from just 50 miles walking and his feet were waterlogged most of the way. I think it was such a crazy experience. We were walking through the dark a lot of the time because the days were short. But it left such an impression. We'd thought we could easily walk it, because old ladies have done it and we ended up pretty demoralised."

He attempted the walk again – only wisely waiting for the summer months. And he also tackled other routes including the Great Glen Way, Speyside Way and the Rob Roy Way. He says: "With the same friend I walked from Glasgow to Inverness, 170 miles that took us seven days, just to see if we could do it."

He was bitten by the walking bug and it was while poring over a map in December 2007 with a friend from university that he stumbled upon a new approach. What, they asked themselves, if they could plot a route linking the West Highland Way with the Speyside Way.

"It occurred to me fairly early on when we first tackled some of the routes that the three popular long distance routes could be linked together by one further strategic path network," explains Langan.

It had seemed an obvious gap in the walking routes around Scotland and as Langan had a mapping programme on his computer he plotted a route that he thought he would try.

It had seemed fairly straight forward to plot a route, but Langan quickly discovered that what looked like an easy route, in practice took him through the wilderness and meant he spent a sleepless wet night on a hillside.

He says: "Our first attempt in winter ended in complete failure. The streams in Glen Nevis were badly flooded and we walked around 40 miles through bogs and open hill with two nights out on the hillside, ending at Moy Bridge at Loch Laggan. We managed the first 40 miles until our journey came to a dismal end and we realised it wouldn't be a viable route."

He went back to the drawing board and soon managed to re-establish a path network to the north of Ben Nevis, steering the route through Spean Bridge, re-connecting with the first attempt at Loch Laggan and in doing so, bypass the most difficult section.

"This was the key to unlocking the route, making it more accessible for the average walker," says Langan. "From there I knew I could establish a path network that could be linked with accommodation and amenities at regular enough intervals like the West Highland Way."

By the end of 2007, Langan had designed a website for the route which outlined the walk and generated some initial interest.

He says the journey passes through contrasting habitats from broadleaf forests along loch-side trails and into mountains, passing unspoilt marshlands and explores the last remnants of the ancient Caledonian forests of Inshriach.

He has now walked the route many times and researched the attractions, wildlife and historical context along the way.

And he has written a complete list of route instructions that will allow other walkers to navigate the route.

Now with this walk thoroughly researched he's not planning a rest and is looking for another project.

He admits: "I'm keen to get this one complete and move onto something else, hopefully outdoors related. I also have a keen interest in modular and collapsible structures and products so through this research I might find something that can keep me occupied.

"With the walk I simply saw an opportunity for me to do something. That's the stuff in my life that I really enjoy – being creative and innovative and developing ideas."

n The 80-page colour East Highland Way guidebook retails at 11.95 online at www.easthighlandway.com. It is due to be published by Luath Press.