Southern Upland Way Memories

Cape Wrath Trail (SNT 4) 23rd to 27th May 2017 'The best laid plans and all that '

River Carron

The aborted take-off from Luton Airport should probably have served as an omen that the trip was not going to go smoothly. I was heading for Strathcarron to resume my walk across Scotland along the Cape Wrath Trail, having started in Kirk Yetholm the previous year, but now found myself sat on the runway along with all of the other passengers wondering what was going on.  I had relaxed back in my seat as the plane lurched down the runway and the engines roared into life when suddenly the power was cut and an announcement come over the tannoy saying that the take-off had been aborted for 'technical reasons'. This slightly unnerving news was followed by a wait of around an hour on the tarmac while the problems were dealt with, which was very annoying as the flight was already almost an hour late taking off. We eventually took off nearly two hours late and I was soon sitting with my rucksack at the bustop at Inverness Airport waiting for a bus into the centre of the attractive Highland capital before taking the opportunity in joining three women in a taxi-share, which certainly saved time and as there were four of us, probably didn't cost any more than the bus. I was staying in Inverness overnight as I needed to get various items for the trip plus I didn't fancy starting the walk during the afternoon, which it certainly would have been after the delayed flight.

My Scottish National Trail - Return to the Highlands

In around two weeks, I am returning to Strathcarron to continue my walk that effectively began in 2015 in Edale with the start of the Pennine  Way. Having completed this epic trail, I decided to continue the hike last year by returning to Kirk Yetholm and continuing the walk for around 310 miles across Scotland via a section of the Scottish National Trail, the West Highland Way and finally  finishing at Strathcarron on the Cape Wrath Trail. It is this last trail that I am returning to complete on the 22nd May. I have already had a tough baptism on this trail through Morar and Knoydart and I am now itching to get back to complete what is considered the UK's toughest hike.

The West Highland Way (SNT2) - 18th to 25th May 2016

At the start of the West Highland Way, Milngavie

We made our way to the centre of Milngavie and the start of the walk and were amazed at the sheer amount of walkers by the post marking the starting point. Groups stood having their photos taken before setting off but we headed into a shop to buy breakfast from a grumpy woman behind the counter and stood outside watching the constant parade of walkers as we ate. Eventually, it was our turn to be off and an obliging walker offered to take our picture together and then we joined the parade of walkers heading for MugdockPark. For me, it was a total change from the previous days when I had spent most of my time walking alone. The weather was fairly wet, which was also a change as this was the first rain I had experienced on the walk so far. 

The Southern Uplands (SNT1) - 10th to 15th May 2016

Wideopen Hill on the St.Cuthbert's Way 

The next morning, after breakfast, I left the guesthouse and headed to the bus stop in the centre of Kelso. In common with most of the Border towns and villages that I had visited in the past, I liked Kelso. It had a handsome square sporting an impressive town hall and I had enjoyed spending a couple of hours wandering around it's tidy streets the previous year as I waited for my bus to Berwick as I made my way back from completing the Pennine Way.  Now, however, I was too impatient to start my walk to spend time looking around the slumbering town as I crossed the square to the bus-stop.  After a short bus ride, I found myself on the village green outside the Border Hotel in Kirk Yetholm, scene of my post-walk celebrations at the end of my gruelling ten and a half hour battle against the elements the previous year as I had crossed the Cheviot Hills from Byrness. My first two days of the walk would follow the St.Cuthbert's Way, a long distance walk from Melrose to Holy island, although I would be walking it in a reverse direction to Melrose. From here, I would then follow the Southern Upland Way to Traquair. I was familiar with this long distance, coast to coast National Trail as I had walked it in 1999 with a friend, so I knew what to expect. 

Crossing the Border - My Scottish National Trail hike - 9th May 2016

Royal Borders Bridge, Berwick Upon Tweed

In the summer of 2015 I walked the Pennine Way completing the whole route in fifteen days and at the end of the walk, as I sat on the train returning south from Berwick-upon-Tweed, I wondered what challenge could compare with what for me, had been a superb trail. In 2000, I had attempted to walk the Cape Wrath Trail with a friend but illness had forced me to pull out after four days at Shiel Bridge and the walk had, in the intervening years, lurked in the back of my mind as unfinished business.