cribbage wrote:Hello from the Grand Canyon.
My wife and I were considering hiking the entire Scotland national trail (north bound). We have done several long walks before and are considering this for next challenge.
When is the best month to start?
Is camping in a tent legal?
Any resupply issues?
How much rain should we expect?
Any helpful advice in our planning?
Anything else we should consider?
Hello and welcome to the forum. I think Callum has given a great around answer, so I'll probably echo him.
It sounds like you both know what you are doing in terms of trekking, so I'll keep my thoughts brief.
The main two considerations as to start date are snow or midges. Snow can be an issue through to April or May on the high peaks, but not so much on the earlier parts of the trail, especially before you hit the cape wrath trail (happy to be corrected on this). Midges can be a problem in certain conditions, but smidge seems to work well against them.
Camping is allowed in Scotland, but there are certain restrictions, although as has been said, as long as you are respectful and sensible, there should be no problems with camping.
One thing to note is that the air is humid in Scotland (and the rest of the UK) so condensation can be an issue for tent choice, as can the wind, but there are usually ways around these things if you're set on a particular tent. I'm guessing you mostly use a single skin tent around the Grand Canyon?
From previous comments on the routes along the trail, resupply should be ok, at least until you hit the cape wrath trail section which is quite remote in parts, and I think this is the only section that is unmarked as it passes through some fairly rugged country.
This is probably another point to think about, how to navigate the cape wrath trail as its not marked and its quite rugged, although there are mostly clear trails along the way. There is nothing a map and compass won't rectify. This is probably the most difficult stretch of the whole trail in terms of conditions and re-supply.
Rain can be every day, or not for several days, as can the wind, but if you are prepared for it, its not necessarily a problem. Boggy ground can be a problem so I use long waterproof gaiters for those parts, these also help for river crossings, but you need to beware of streams or rivers in full spate which can happen quite often (see rain above), worst case you can wait it out.
Footwear is probably another one to consider. For large parts of the trail, fell running shoes, or trail shoes, are probably ok, but for other parts (especially the rugged or boggy ground) some prefer boots, and I usually wear goretex boots as my feet don't sweat that much anyway (maybe because I don't push myself too hard
), and it keeps most of the rain and bog off my feet. Others prefer not to wear goretex boots as they can take a long time to dry out if they do get wet inside.