The day after my 22nd birthday in June 1991 I decided to meet some friends and go hillwalking with them around Crianlarich in Scotland. I hitched from my home in Aberdeen to Perth and stood with my rucksack at the side of the road on the outskirts of Perth, looking for a lift heading westwards.

I blurted out, 'I’m Pete and you are Iain Banks – and I’ve read all your books!'

After 10 minutes a dusty black BMW pulled up and the door opened. Upon getting in, I instantly recognised who was driving. He said, “Hi, who are you?” I blurted out, “I’m Pete and you are Iain Banks – and I’ve read all your books!”

Iain laughed and said, “Well this could be embarrassing.” I then promised not to ask too many questions about his writing or books, for both our sakes.

Iain Banks holds an important place in my life. After school I hadn’t read any books for pleasure until my best friend Dave gave me a copy of The Wasp Factory and told me to read it. It was through Iain and this book in particular that I discovered the joy of reading, and I devoured everything he subsequently wrote.

As Iain drove westwards into the mountains we discussed long journeys across the Highlands, hill-walking, Scottish landscapes, birdwatching and the joy of friends gathering together from afar. Iain said he was heading over to a house party with friends from across Scotland, somewhere near Glencoe. The hill at Crianlarich I was planning to walk, Ben More, soon whizzed past at speed. I didn’t care, as I was having the most incredible journey with my literary hero. Iain dropped me off at Tyndrum and I was back at the side of the road hitching as he sped away towards Rannoch Moor. I soon got a lift back to Crianlarich, climbed Ben More and got down in time to meet my friends in the pub with the greeting, “You’ll never guess what happened to me today.”

Less than a year later and my partner Jackie went to a launch for Iain’s new book, The Crow Road, and she retold the story to Iain and he kindly signed his new book for me. The Crow Road is my favourite of Iain’s books and several of the themes we discussed on that journey were in the new book. I still find it difficult to believe Iain is gone and last week I finally began to read his last book, The Quarry, which has been on my bookshelf unread since it was first published in 2013 shortly after his death.