The Scottish National Trail

Devised by outdoors writer and broadcaster Cameron McNeish, the Scottish National Trail is a challenging, 864 kilometre-long unofficial long distance walking route running the length of Scotland from Kirk Yetholm to Cape Wrath.

The route combines sections of official routes such as St Cuthbert’s Way, the Southern Upland Way, the Forth and Clyde and Union Canals, the West Highland Way and the Rob Roy Way. Other parts - including sections through central Perthshire, the Cairngorms and the Northwest Highlands - make for a more serious backpacking route with neither waymarking nor a continuous path, as well as a number of potentially hazardous river crossings. The difficultly generally increases as the route heads northwards. Walked in its entirety, the route will surely come to be regarded as Britain's toughest and yet most varied backpacking challenge. Far more walkers will enjoy tackling individual legs a section at a time - particularly of the more accessible southern half of the route. Walkers can mark off which stages they have completed on our interactive map below.

Every stage of the Scottish National Trail now has a fully detailed stage description and mapping on Walkhighlands, accessed via the stage list and map below.

Users' walk reports for the Scottish National Trail