walkhighlands

‘Scotland Over the Top’ – definitive Coast to Coast?

Date walked: 14/05/1980

Time taken: 240 hours

England has Wainwright’s famous Coast to Coast walk from Cumbria to North Yorkshire, but there is as yet no Scottish coast to coast route which has similar widespread recognition. Maybe this is as it should be. Scotland is blest with vastly more open country, and hundreds of alternative ways of getting from one side to the other.

But the route designed by Brian McLoughin1, way back in the Autumn of 1979 is a very good candidate to be the definitive Scottish coast to coast route.

A coast to coast gives you time and space to put everyday cares into perspective, and brings tremendous highs and lows, as you struggle to reach your goal over mountain and glen. As day follows day you begin to feel part of nature - just one more creature in the landscape - along with eagles, deer, ptarmigan, dotterel, hare and many others.

Brian’s route encompasses the highest level east-west ridges in Scotland, the only sub arctic tundra and permanent snowfield in Britain, 4 of the 5 highest (4000ft ) hills in the country, General Wade’s 18th century military roads, Bonnie Prince Charlie’s route south, and Johnson and Boswell’s Highland journey of 1773

It goes from west to east, heading into the sun and the weather, rather than the usual east west. It starts and finishes on the rail network, making it easy to get to and from the end points without messy car arrangements.

It begins at Stonehaven, and heads due west along the Mounth hills to Lochnagar and Balmoral. From there it heads north across the Dee to the main Cairngorms ridge, west over the high tops to the river Spey at Kingussie. It crosses the Monadhliath Hills and Wade’s Corrieyairack Pass to Fort Augustus in the Great Glen. It then follows Johnson and Boswell, over to Glen Moriston and the 5 Sisters of Kintail to the West coast at Loch Duich, ending via the ferry at Glenelg at Kyle of Localsh.

This is a tall order by any measure. It stretches 180 miles, takes in 35 munros over 3000 ft., and involves some 23,000 ft of ascent, and takes 14 days including a rest day. You have to be able to sleep out in the hills, and carry food for 2 to 3 days at a time.

When we did it in May 1980, we missed out many of the tops because of the weather, but it gave one of the best day’s I’ve ever had - from the Dee along Geldie Burn over the eastern edge of the Cairngorms at Carn Ban Mor, across Glen Feshie and through the forest to Kingussie. The weather systems came racing across from the west, giving dazzling sun, rain, snow, blizzards, a mist-bound white out, and 100 mile vistas across the whole country. In the evening there were volcanic skies, a rising full moon, eagles, deer, and howling foxes at midnight.

For some of the route we weren’t together. A massive pack slowed me down so much I was a day overdue crossing the Monadhliaths and the rescue helicopters were apparently warming up when I finally got to Fort Augustus.

It’s important to have lots of alternatives to the main route if the weather turns bad. Such a high level route would never be a ‘recommended’ route for the uninitiated. The Scottish Mountaineering Club’s Guide to the Cairngorms has some frightening warnings.
The high Cairngorms get more mist, stronger gales, more rain and snow and colder temperatures than other hills in Scotland. The huge extent of the high plateaus, without trees or scrub, means many miles to reach any kind of shelter or a road. Many people have perished trying to struggle on through wind-driven rain or sleet.
It’s just as well that you can follow the line of this route along a series of low level alternatives – following Water of Dye, the Esk, Dee, Geldie , Glen Shiel etc. and also there are various ways to abandon the high tops if there are unexpected changes in conditions. There are at least 7 places you can find overnight accommodation with food, and bed. Even so much, caution is needed.
Of course there has been considerable coast to coast activity in recent years. There is an annual west to east ‘TGO challenge’ each May, sponsored by the magazine ‘The Great Outdoors’. A couple of hundred walkers choose their own way, starting anywhere between Ardrishaig and Torridon and ending between Arbroath and Fraserburgh. This seems a very successful event – carefully and responsibly organised.
There is also a small book ‘The Scottish Coast to Coast Walk’ by Brian Smailes – which is a low level 130 mile route between Oban and St Andrews – some of which is along main roads. Wainwright was more modest, in calling his book ‘A coast to coast’ rather than ‘The coast to coast’.
The danger of promoting one particular route is that it may attract too many walkers, or may tempt people to take risks with the weather just to complete the route, especially if it follows high ground.
But it seems to me that the ‘Over the Top’ route – which Brian sketched in a hand written letter on Liverpool Polytechnic Notepaper in September 1979 qualifies as ‘The Route’ if there is to be one. A 30-year re-enactment this next May would be a fitting memorial to his memory.
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1 J.B. McLoughlin was Professor of Town and Regional Planning at University of Melbourne a research fellow at University of Manchester, UCL London .

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Scoot


Activity: Munro compleatist
Mountain: Liathach
Place: Torridon
Member: None
Ideal day out: A combination of all of them - a not too scary scramble, a munro or two, with a ridge walk and descending towards a midsummer sun lingering over the western isles




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1980

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Last visited: Dec 14, 2022
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