About this blog

The journey from John o'Groats to Land's End took place in 14 sections, starting in 1996 (a week or so each year). The idea came to me in 1995 and I completed the British JoGLE Watershed in June 2009.

I was joined by a number of relations and friends from time to time. Most notable among my walking companions were my son Tim (7 sections) and nephews Peter and Jonny.

After walking the first section in 1996 I discovered that Dave Hewitt had already pioneered the Scottish Watershed (to Cape Wrath) in 1987, and had published his excellent account Walking the Watershed in 1994. We have been in touch since then, and he has been a great encouragement.

A simple definition of the watershed is that any rain falling to the left of the path finishes in the North Sea or English Channel, and anything to the right flows into the Atlantic Ocean, the Irish Sea or the Bristol Channel.

I believe that this was the first walk along the full length of the British JoGLE Watershed. I became aware just after I completed the journey that the late Mike Allen walked a slightly different version (from Land's End to Cape Wrath) between 1988 and 1994, so he will have covered the same ground apart from the most north-easterly 220km.

There have subsequently been several walks and publications about parts of the JoGLE watershed, including Peter Wright's 2010 Ribbon of Wildness account of his Scottish section walked in 2005, which has brought the subject of watershed walking in the UK to a wider audience.

I hope you enjoy this blog. I'm planning to publish a full account in 2013/4. A summary of the walk appeared in The Angry Corrie volume 76 in 2009.

Malcolm Wylie.

Wednesday 4 June 1997

Day 14 - over Beinn Dearg

We'd rather lost track of time by now, and it took a while before realising that this was Tim's birthday - and another fine day it was too.

We encountered a remarkably tame ptarmigan as we set off, and drank from the outflow of a small snow-field. Simple but profound pleasures.

Today's first two Munros (Eididh nan Clach Geala and Meall nan Ceapraichean) were straightforward, but I found the pull up the side of Beinn Dearg was a real effort. The photo shows MnC and BD from EnC. We followed the wall along Beinn Dearg's west ridge for 2km before striking off up Beinn Enaiglar.

We made fast progress down the path to the SE, and met the road at 8pm between Lochs Droma and Glascarnoch (at 273746). We then hitched to the Aultguish Inn for supper and to pick up a food/clothes/map parcel which we'd sent by post. The eggs had broken, so it was smelly and horrible! The evening in the bar was hilarious (see book for more detail). We camped behind the inn.
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