A Stroll Across the Bonnie Isle

In doing a little armchair adventuring the other day (via my good friend google) a chain of links led me to a goal for my time in Scotland: to walk ACROSS THE WHOLE COUNTRY by means of the newly minted John Muir Way.

For those disinclined (read: too lazy) to check out the site, the John Muir Way is a collection of trails, bike roads and canal tow paths that reaches 215 km (that's 134 miles for you metric resisters) from Helensburgh on the West Coast to Dunbar, a little ways past Edinburgh on the East Coast. It's designed to be completed in 10 stages. The length of each stage ranges from 4.5 to 7 hours walking. That's anywhere from 14 km to 29.5 km depending on the stage. And I'mma gonna do it.

The 10 stages of the John Muir Way

I might take more than just 10 days - if I'm going to walk all the way across a country, I'm darn well going to take my time to explore and enjoy it. I'm thinking that maybe 2 weeks would give a sufficient amount of time for walking, vista-looking, history-learning and village-visiting. I'll suss out the word on the street when I get to Edinburgh to see what's what.

I mentioned this plan to my good ol', wander-lovin' buddy Ethain and he jumped right on it. So when he finishes up with his Jasper-ing, park interpreting and wilderness-ing, we'll try to get a trans-Atlantic wind to blow him over my way so that we can gear up and hit the trail together.

Now I'm not in the worst shape ever, but it's certainly going to take a little practice to build up to it (I'm no bearded, burly, run-loving Islander. Sorry, Eth). That's why I'm planning on joining the Edinburgh Young Walkers, a division of the Lothian and Borders Ramblers. Essentially, the Ramblers are groups of people who enjoy walking and hiking, so they do it together. Sounds reasonable. Plus, I won't have too many friends in Edinburgh when I first arrive, so any group that is willing to let me tag along to their social activities is up my alley. Aaand they host pub nights. So, ya know. Drankz.

For the time being, I'm left dreaming of rocky crags, rugged coastlines and all that other cool biz that Scotland has. And applying for jobs (upon which plans to do anything fun whatsoever are naturally contingent). So until next time, keep your boots laced tight, your matches dry and may your GORP be full of chocolatey candies.

9 days till the adventure begins...