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 22 May 1998

SECTION 3 - Kinloch Hourn Road to Tyndrum

Section 3 became very complicated, in particular from a blogging point of view, because it wasn't walked strictly in sequence.

Tim and I had arranged to meet up with my brother and twins nephews along the way. As it turned out I'd underestimated the time we'd need for the first part, and once we met up the progress was also slower than expected. This resulted in several shortcuts to get us back on schedule.

Tim and I rectified these shortcuts on subsequent visits in 1999 and 2000, so the whole Watershed route was walked eventually. To make the blog easier to read as a continuous account of the Watershed, I've written it as though we walked it in sequence. This means that the posting dates are inaccurate, but the correct dates are added in the text.

The photo shows us as we set off. At Tim's insistence, I was now using a stick (marketed as a "technical walking aid") - and very useful it was too.
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