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 3 June 1998

Day 35 - round the Water of Tulla

This was a far less spectacular day than yesterday, but nevertheless satisfying, as we got some good distance under our belts.

We struck camp at Ba Bridge and were back on the Watershed by 10am. The route was due east for most of the day, to get round the tributaries of the Water of Tulla, and then it almost doubled back on itself for the last 5km.

We took in a couple of Mealls before crossing the A82. (I later calculated that the Watershed crosses it 5 times.) There was then about 10km of pretty featureless moorland at about 400m, but we got a good look at the patch of Caledonian Forest to the south.

Once across the railway line, we found quite a hoard of discarded antlers; it must have been a popular gathering place for the stags.  There followed a steady climb to the top of Meall Buidhe, and then we turned west for 3km before dropping steeply through crags.

Although we were tired, we decided to climb most of the way up into Coire Dubh Mor to find a flat and sheltered corrie. As you can see from Tim's attire, the midges enjoyed the shelter too.
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