Crossing Scotland
Unlike Wales, Scotland isn't easy to get to if you are a Londoner, but it's worth the effort.
England and Wales have treasures both secret and famous for the walker, of course,
but the sheer size of wilderness and challenge in Scotland dwarfs both.
So make the effort - and do it by train, lest you wreck what you come to see.
And quite why anyone would prefer an airport lounge to a restaurant car or sleeper beats me.
I am regularising my Scottish fix with an annual expedition in concert with my walk
across England, and a successor to the 2002-06 walk
across Wales.
Start and finish
Start is the south-easternmost point, helpfully signposted by the former British Railways (left picture),
and where my cross-England walk is planned to finish sometime after 2012.
Finish is the north-westernmost point Cape Wrath, so no boring bits along the A9 to John o'Groats.
Cape Wrath is about the most evocative name there can be for the end of an undertaking such as this,
and one I have toyed with for as many years as I can remember.
Route summary
In 2007, from the English border I headed up the coast to St Abbs, tracked over to the Southern Upland Way, then crossed the Lammermuirs.
The following year I rejoined the coast at Longniddry and then headed through Edinburgh by cycle paths and the Union Canal to Falkirk.
This year (2009), I completed the lowland section by continuing along the canal system to Kilsyth,
passed through the moors and low hills of the western Campsies, crossed the Forth near Flanders Moss
and finally took a route through the Menteith Hills to the small town and tourist hot-pot of Callander in the Trossachs.
The high hills are now only a step away, and in 2010 I plan to cross Corbetts (including Ben Ledi in the header above)
then Munros through Breadalbane via Killin to Rannoch, where my old friend Dave Travers will meet me.
We'll head off to Benalder cottage bothy for some munro-bagging before crossing over to Corrour.
This would set me up for the hills either side of Lairig Leacach to Roy Bridge in 2011
and an exploration of the parallel roads of Glen Roy, before heading via Fort Augustus to Glen Affric and Achnashellach
(that's if I don't have a crack at Ben Nevis via the arete, see below).
Either way, I am very likely to finish on the Cape Wrath trail,
in whole or in part, sometime around my early-60s. Nothing like planning for a healthy retirement eh?
Another way north?
Late in 2008 I read a Cameron McNeish article in TGO about Creag Meagaidh, a substantial hill of Lochaber, above Loch Laggan.
It reminded me of my own ascent of the mountain, one of the first Munros I climbed, back in the early 1970s,
and sent me scurrying back to my old maps. I found tracings on them depicting a route north through from Corrour to Achnasheen stations.
Looking at them again I could sense the impracticality of some of the detail -
I now know that absence of contours all too often means bog - but it did make some sensible use of paths and is all my own work.
With a few years until I need to commit to the CWT I can at least think about the option,
suitably updated with my now-greater map sense and indeed the new tracks from both feet and landrovers.
We shall see. The CWT is a classic after all.
In outline the 70s plan was this. Corrour station to Strath Ossian and Glen Spean just below Loch Laggan.
Climb Creag Meagaidh and head north-east to the foot of the Corrieyairack Pass, which climb, and down into Fort Augustus.
Cross over to Glen Moriston and head north to Cannich. Cross to Glen Strathfarrar and Loch Monar.
Cross River Meig at Corriefoil and head to Achnasheen.
From Loch Monar it might be relatively straightforward to head west over Sgurr a'Chaorachain to Achnashellach instead,
for the rest of the CWT.
Objectives
In 2011 Ben Nevis will be an obvious side trip. I'll be just turned 60.
I've climbed it before, the 'tourist' way, and my elder son reckons I'll not be able to do it again -
the harder way, by the Carn Mor Dearg arete - after that age. The plan is to haul my younger son up as proof.
I don't consider myself a great Munroist, and have never felt the urge to devote myself to the ascent of all 284 Munros,
Scotland's 3,000ft peaks, but I've picked up a few over the years and intend to pick up a few more in this walk.
Sometime I'll post my records here, probably in my dotage.
I don't sneer at the Corbetts either, the hills between 2,500 and 3,000ft.
Often they are overlooked by their more glamorous neighbours, but that can be a plus point,
for there may be fewer people around, and more navigational challenge, as many Munros have busy baggers' routes to the summit.
The 2010 route is planned to start with Corbetts.
Quite apart from the challenging terrain, there are two, linked, great challenges in crossing Scotland a bit at a time.
First, there's no guarantee of ending a stage at a place where anybody actually lives.
Second, there's no guarantee that it's practical to travel up from and down to London at all easily.
All of which makes the planning more fun. These challenges really start to kick in north of Loch Tay.
I'm a B&B-or-pub sort of person, but even in Wales the odd bunkhouse or bothy was needed,
and they will become a regular feature in times to come.
And on the Cape Wrath Trail, it might be a case of backpacking - the best part of 40 years since my previous experience.
Getting to and from ... ? Read on.
Transport
So far, the London - Edinburgh rail line (pictured left) and the vaguely reasonable bus services along the east coast
have made travel to and from the walks fairly straightforward. The 2008 walk was reliant on the excellent local rail services
into and out of Edinburgh.
Now though the sleeper train has come into its own. This is particularly valuable, time-wise, from Perth and north thereof.
Specifically, it crosses Rannoch Moor to the splendid isolation of Corrour, where I plan to pick it up this year,
and then serves both Fort William, jumping off-point for the Cape Wrath Trail, and Roy Bridge.
It can be very expensive, but catch the right offer -
'bargain berths' -
and it can be outstandingly cheap, a 12-hour rail journey over several hundred miles
plus a night's accommodation in a proper bed for less than the price of a night's stationary B&B!
Getting back from Cape Wrath is another matter entirely, but that little logistical problem can wait awhile.
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