Just because someone puts some nice pictures on instagram and seems to do a lot of skydiving, you wouldn’t jump out of a plane with them before asking a few more questions! If you are heading into the mountains, or remote trails of Scotland, you should also have a few questions to ask when choosing a running guide.

Every sport has certain skills, or knowledge that are fundamental to the enjoyment of the sport. Learning these skills can sometimes be a painful process, take skiing for example. The transition from newbie to capable independent skier often follows a fairly set path, with different classes at ski school, colour graded runs to progress through and an obvious skill level to aspire to. 

With trail running, there is no clear pathway to follow as you enter the sport and gain experience, but there certainly are essential skills that will help you progress from newbie, to becoming a capable and independent trail runner.