I’ve been looking at different long distance walks to go on a hiking wild camping trip this July. Living in Scotland we are blessed with so many to choose from. Last year I walked and camped along the West Highland Way and fell in love with the freedom and beauty of long distance trekking and wild camping along the way. I was brought up camping in Canada so I guess it’s something very close to my heart.
The different routes I have been looking at for this trip are the Rob Roy Way, Great Glen Way, East Highland Way, Speyside Way and the Stevenson Way.
- The Rob Roy Way from Drymen to Pitlochry 77 – 94 miles long
- The Great Glen Way from Fort William to Inverness 73 miles long
- The East Highland Way from Fort William to Aviemore long
- The Speyside Way from Aviemore to Buckie 65 miles long
- The Stevenson Way from Edinburgh to the Isle of Iona 230 miles long
Obviously the Stevenson Way would be done in parts as I wouldn’t want to be away that long because of family and work commitments.
So in the end I have decided on the East Highland Way over the other routes it starts where I left off last year and it leaves the Speyside to complete next time. I have read a lot about the EHW and I like the idea that it was developed by one guy; Kevin Langan.
First preparations
This morning I started testing out my new Mammut boots on Corstorphine Hill here in Edinburgh. I bought these as my boots from last year trail proved to be a little small when walking long distances, as my feet expand . I decided on a pair of Mammut Mt Trail GTX because of the reviews on being very sturdy, supportive and very waterproof. On testing them this morning I’m a little concerned about the sheer weight of them but I guess I’m so use to my barefoot trainers. It’ll take a while to get use to them.
I have owned a Garmin eTrex Venture HC for a while but I’ve never used it. I did a quick crash course watching ‘how to’ YouTube videos last night, and I actually read the manual lol, to discover I can draw maps on Google Earth, export them to Garmin BaseCamp and import them to the device to use as way-marks. How cool is that! So I drew a route up Corstorphine Hill and followed the GPS on the Garmin on my walk this morning. Absolutely brilliant! I think it will definitely come in handy. I’ve already loaded on the East Highland Way route to keep me right on my trip.
Starting to get really excited as July is just around the corner. I recently purchased Kevin Langan’s guidebook which I’m having a flick through at the moment. I don’t really want to research it extensively as I think it takes some of the excitement away when actually on-route.
walking scotland 