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 19 July 2000

Day 51 - the Pentlands and Dolphinton

The morning was rather uninspiring to begin with - a mixture of farm track, road (A70) and bridle path - and then we were up into the SW end of the Pentlands.

We lunched on Catstone Hill (448m). On our way down we were accosted by a red-faced quad-driving Geordie, who turned out to be the Duke of Bedford's factor (estate manager). He didn't appreciate us being on his land and he warned us that he'd nearly shot a rambler the previous evening, thinking it was a fox! He calmed down when he heard our story, and we undertook to be off his land in an hour or two.

We skirted Mendick Hill and dropped down into the pleasant village of Dolphinton. Then there was a stiffish climb onto White Hill and Black Mount (a nice pairing) and down into Elsrickle. Just before the village, we agreed to avoid a blatant trespass in full view of the farmer and his family, so there was a minor "rhubarb" moment.

We camped on East Hyndshawland Farm (043429), with permission from a tractor driver (see photo).
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