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.

Friday 5 July 2002

Day 64 - heavenly Eden

My journal said "best day yet, by far" on this Section. The weather was perfect and we were back onto real hills. The contours were more gentle than even the Southern Uplands and the ground was generally easy underfoot, which made for fast progress.

The best views were to the west, across the Eden valley to the Solway Firth and the Lake District. The curlews had been replaced by golden plovers, always solitary, with their plaintiff piping.

After lunch below Butt Hill, the terrain became more challenging, but not hard. We reached the Hartside Cafe on the A686 (which claims the best view in England) just after it had closed at 6pm which was a pity. We went on over Fiends Fell, and found an ideal camping spot (just onto map 91, at 645398) - flat and grassy, with a little grotto supplying dripping water.
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