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.

Thursday 4 June 1998

Day 36 - my goodness, my Guinness!

Apart from the first few minutes, the day was spent on Strathclyde/Tayside region boundary - very apt for the Watershed. The weather was fine, which was just as well for a 3-Munro and several-Corbett day.

We clambered up to the head of the corrie, passing a gigantic rock which had fallen from the cliff. It wasn't as large as the famous Shelter Stone at the head of Loch Avon, but it would have comfortably accommodated a few desperate shelterers.

Soon we reached Beinn a Chreachain, where I took this rather special photo of Tim overlooking a dappled Loch Tulla and the Black Mount. Then we moved on to the twin-tops-and-long-joining-ridge called Beinn Achaladair, which immediately became one of my favourites.

We took in Beinn Mhanach, not strictly necessary for the Watershed, but an easy bag in the circumstances, and lunched there. As it was Tim's birthday, I'd secretly been carrying a couple of cans of his favourite tipple (Guinness) since Kinloch Rannoch to present to him for the occasion. He shared!

After lunch came a series of 3 Corbetts, very steep-sided but they had to be done. En route we had good views of the matched pair of Beinn an Dothaidh and Beinn Dorain ("Dotty and Doreen" to us), well known for their dramatic appearance as travellers come over the pass on the A82 from Tyndrum.

We camped at 363340 overlooking the Auch viaduct.
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