Outdoors: Microlight flight

Nevertheless, a few weeks into the year I have flown like a bird and would recommend this avian-style mode of travel over any other kind.

"Scotland looks very different from the air than on the ground, doesn't it?" my pilot asks. I try to answer but my words are lost to the wind as we coast over Loch Leven at a height of a few thousand feet in a Quik R - a microlight aircraft which can travel up to 100mph.

Today, there is a duvet of white between me and the ground, so visibility is poor and I struggle to see much beyond the wing tip, but the loch shape is perceptible below like a plastic pond in a garden centre, as is the ruin of Lochleven Castle in which Mary Queen of Scots, centuries ago, probably prayed to feel as free as I do now.

As we soar weightlessly above Perthshire, I imagine this must be what an out- of-body experience feels like.

"Because it is an open cockpit, I think the thrill comes from the fact that it is the closest you can get to flying like a bird. You are exposed to the air like they are and, on a clear day, you can see St Andrews on one side and the Isle of Arran on the other," says my instructor Marcus Dalgety, who established Pegasus Scotland, the country's largest flight school of its type, at Balado near Kinross, more than ten years ago.

When invited to try microlighting for the first time, my bravado hid underlying fears. Not at my best in a Boeing 737, how would I cope in something that looked like a souped-up Airfix model?

Thankfully, these planes, which come with either open or closed cockpits and dual controls, have the best safety record around. When Marcus told me he once did 1,040 miles in a day, had been in business for 12 years with no mishaps and once even took a plane 16,500ft above Mont Blanc, I relaxed a little.

From the pre-flight briefing to becoming airborne from the Balado runway used by Spitfires in the Second World War, everything felt controlled and unthreatening. Because you feel secure, it is almost impossible not to start enjoying the sensation immediately. Marcus was previously a hang glider pilot in the French Alps and flew almost 200 hours before having the necessary experience to instruct.

"I would say that about 10 per cent of people who come here go on to take flying lessons," he says. "We have had people from between the ages of 14 and 82 doing it.

"We can do the Ochil Hills, Perthshire, fly over the Forth Bridges, we do the islands off the west coast and we've been to France as well. People love the sense of freedom they get up here - and the views."

One thing which surprises me about these flying machines is the lack of noise. The Rotax engines seem to handle the 25ft-a-second ascent effortlessly, sparing the ears too much punishment.

Even the wildlife seems unaffected, which is comforting as Loch Leven below is a National Nature Reserve.

More than 20,000 pink-footed geese come here in autumn and it is an excellent family walking and picnic area. The Loch Leven Heritage Trail, for example, offers panoramic views and links Kinross with Vane Farm, a three-star visitor attraction. There are stately homes, cycle paths and refreshment spots and you can take a summer ferry out to Lochleven Castle. From above, however, today the loch seemed locked in icy inactivity.

However, when the weather picks up, a microlight flight then a skirt round the Loch Leven Heritage Trail would be as good an outdoors experience as you could get. Fortunately, the cost is not sky-high, either. A 30 minute taster lesson will cost 65.

On landing, even though I felt exhilarated, I'm not sure I want to pursue my flying to the status of "expert" like Marcus. However, I understood more about the adventure of taking to the air. The Boeing 737 just won't cut it next time.

For more information, visit Pegasus Scotland (www.pegasus-scotland.co.uk) and Loch Leven Heritage Trail (www.lochlevenheritagetrail.co.uk)

This article first appeared in The Scotsman Magazine, Saturday 29 January, 2011