Click on pictures to view in full-screen. A map can be zoomed using the buttons and dragged within its window. Waking from sleep high on a ridge is exhilarating. This morning on the north ridge of Sgurr Thuilm I had two challenges in mind. First could I find my way safely and easily down the […]
TGOC 2024 – from Lochailort – days 3/4/5 Read More »
Click on pictures to view in full-screen. A map can be zoomed using the buttons and dragged within its window. The TGO Challenge:- for more information from my blogs look here. The round-about route on day 1 brought me to the end of a ridge leading westwards from a cluster of Munros above Glenfinnan. My
TGOC 2024 – from Lochailort – day 2 Read More »
Click on pictures to view in full-screen. A map can be zoomed using the buttons and dragged within its window. I expect most people jump off the train From Fort William at Lochailort and start walking eastwards along the road as soon as possible. The sign-out point is the Lochailort Inn which had been closed
Lochailort start Day 1 TGO Challenge 2024 Read More »
Click on pictures to view in full-screen. A map can be zoomed using the buttons and dragged within its window. One of the big attractions of the TGO Challenge is planning the route. In many places a backpacking route is made already; the challenge is to follow it day after day. Wandering away from the
TGOC 2024 – Starting from Lochailort Read More »
Click on pictures to view in full-screen. A map can be zoomed using the buttons and dragged within its window. 2024’s coast to coast walk across Scotland provided great camping opportunities. On previous occasions pitches were sometimes a bit hit-and-miss with uneven, sloping or wet ground, or midges to taunt me. This year something was
TGOC 2024 – 11 great pitches Read More »
This is the route for my walk across Scotland in May. The detail has been updated following comments from the Expert Vetter at Challenge Control. Unfortunately the links to the OS Maps planning tool don’t work reliably, but thankfully Skirrid Systems’ plugin for WordPress continues to work well! Page 1 DAILY ITINERARY WITH FOUL WEATHER
TGOC 2024 Lochailort to Montrose – here we go again! Read More »
It is rare to escape foot injury on a multiday walk. Some soreness on the top of my toes made me reach for the moleskin which, secured by leucatape, was all I needed. There’s a ridge that begins near Milton and over about 18km rises up to the top of Cairngorm – this was my
Torridon to Aberdeen – TGOC 2022 part 4 Read More »
A couple of days earlier I was with the famous TGOer Andrew Walker who quoted an even more famous (now deceased) TGOer Andy Howell regarding my day 5 plan as ‘the armpit of all TGO routes’ or some similar discouraging remark. I’d planned a line towards Drumnadrochit with pathless stretches joining one or two tracks.
Torridon to Aberdeen – TGOC 2022 part 3 Read More »
Martha and Andrew were heading for Cannich, whereas I wanted to get up high now the weather was improving. My route took me alongside the loch to Monar Lodge; then north on a made track, before veering off to the right up onto the ridge. It is pathless here but the line is easy to
Torridon to Aberdeen – TGOC 2022 part 2 Read More »
TGOC – The Great Outdoor Challenge – is a common theme on these pages. Originally described as ‘The Ultimate Challenge’ in the pages of an outdoor magazine in 1980, it involves a self-supported and individually planned multi-day walk from the West Coast of Scotland to the the East. Of course there’s a website where you
TGOC 2022 Torridon to Aberdeen – part 1 Read More »