{"id":5579,"date":"2026-05-05T19:53:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T19:53:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/?p=5579"},"modified":"2026-05-06T08:19:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T08:19:33","slug":"why-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/?p=5579","title":{"rendered":"Why again?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This question is most relevant to me, of course, but I\u2019ve gotten it from enough friends and family that it\u2019s probably worth addressing at the outset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last time I walked across Scotland as part of The Great Outdoors Challenge was in 2024. I found it much harder than the previous five times and I suggestedin the last post (again, speaking mostly to myself) that I was done for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here I am, back in Glasgow typing on an iPad mini, mailing padded envelopes full of camping meals to myself, and trying to figure out why my backpack weighs 10 pounds more than everyone else\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The principal reason I\u2019m here is that what I\u2019ll be doing for the next two weeks is a challenge (as the name suggests), and finishing it will be an accomplishment. At 74, my accomplishments are in the past, and I spend enough time going over them. It\u2019s nice to have a new one, even if not in a new place or activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scotland is a beautiful place with which I have some ancestral connection. (I don\u2019t want to make too much of the latter; this isn\u2019t a homecoming). The people here also speak a language I sort of understand, which reduces the psychic stress of traveling alone. While there will be no cell-phone service for some days, I\u2019ll be out of touch with the rest of the world only for short periods. This is a snow-globe adventure, which is enough for me at this point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two years ago, one-third of the people in The Great Outdoors Challenge aged 70-74 dropped out, although the ever thoughtful and encouraging organizers of the event use the term \u201cretired.\u201d I\u2019ve already retired and would prefer not to do it again, so I\u2019ve set an easier route than my previous ones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The digital mapping app says I\u2019ll go189 miles; most of previous ones were more than 200. Many Challengers devise routes that let them \u201cbag Munros\u201d\u2014summit hills of at least 3,000 feet, of which there are 282 in Scotland. I\u2019m not going over a single one. My maximum elevation will be 1,738 feet, and the cumulative ascent is 18,236 feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Challenge started nearly 50 years ago, the rules allowed one night indoors each week\u2014no more than two in the event. The days of giants! I\u2019m sleeping inside four nights and outside in a tent nine nights, although some of the latter are in campgrounds, not \u201cwild camping\u201d as they say over here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my last Challenge the longest day was 24 miles\u2014too long. This year the longest is 18, and there are a couple under 10. I\u2019m also taking all of the allotted 14 days the event allows; some people will do it in 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there\u2019s any theme of this walk it\u2019s sightseeing. I may never come back to Scotland again, so I want to see a few more tourist attractions this time than in the past. I\u2019m going through Inverness and want to see the Inverness Castle at least. My shortest day (eight miles) is built around a visit to the Culloden Battlefield, of which you\u2019ll hear more than enough. There are some \u201cchambered cairns\u201d along the route that I\u2019d like to see. (I\u2019ve never lived in a place that featured chambered cairns\u2014or \u201cstanding stones\u201d either, which I also hope to see). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I looked In particular, I want to see the ruins of Findlater Castle, near the village of Sandend on the Moray Coast. I looked down on it from a bluff on one of my early crossings, too tired, and with too little light left in the day, to explore. It looked like a monument unimaginable human effort\u2014and the passage of time. If there\u2019s one reason I\u2019m back now, it\u2019s to see it up close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That last comment suggests, some of this year\u2019s route isn\u2019t new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, a lot of it goes along the Moray Coast, an east-west stretch of beach and cliff running from Inverness at the apex of the Moray Firth to Fraserburgh on the North Sea. When I first walked there in 2016 it was to see where the first rehearsals for the D-day invasion were held, and also see remnant World War II defenses. (You\u2019ll hear more about both, I suspect.) Plus, who wouldn\u2019t want to walk on 30 miles of beach again?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event requires walking from the west coast to the east coast of the country. But as the maps below show, the definition of \u201cwest coast\u201d is flexible. I\u2019m starting in Shiel Bridge, one of the more popular of the dozen designated starting places. It\u2019s on the water, but there is a lot of land to the west of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shiel Bridge is on a \u201csea loch,\u201d which is essentially a fiord (or if you\u2019re in medicine, an invagination) of the Atlantic Ocean. There are many of these and they extend far inland. I was surprised on one of my early crossings to walk eastward for a day and camp next to what looked like a lake, only to find it had salt water and seaweed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first map shows my whole route. I charted it with different colors for different days, some of which are translucent and nearly impossible to see unless you blow and have spent more than two hours today trying to change the color of the route to a bold blue. I haven\u2019t been able to. I\u2019m having my usual battle with technology; stay tuned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The we second map shows the Highland portion of this walk. (There isn\u2019t a lot.) The third map shows the route from Inverness to Fraserburgh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Screenshot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I\u2019m carrying a lot of stuff. This has been a chronic problem. On my second crossing I walked for a day with a paving contractor named Stevie. He was taciturn and tough, but over the course of a day we became trail friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was usually ahead of me, but I caught up with him at a mid-afternoon rest stop, which I left before him because I told him I was so slow and I needed to \u201ccrack on,\u201d as they say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, I know,\u201d he said, lying on the ground with his boots off. \u201cYou go\u2019 qui\u2019e a bi\u2019 ki\u2019 \u201d\u2014You got quite a big kit. Which means: \u201cYou\u2019re carrying too much stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is most of my kit for this crossing. It doesn\u2019t seem excessive. Two tee shirts, two pairs of underpants, two pairs of socks, two pairs of trousers (one a waterproof, as they say), one pair of long underwear, etc. I have mittens, because if you think you\u2019ll need gloves you should bring mittens. I\u2019m bringing a small pair of binoculars\u2014Challengers have laughed at this indulgence\u2014but decided at the last minute to leave the small thermos behind. That was maybe not a good idea, as a thermos was the gateway to the most memorable 30 minutes of my Challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was an interview with 91-year-old Challenger Jim Taylor about his time in the RAF in World War II, and how he had to go to the doctor to get a bigger shirt after gaining weight during training. (He\u2019d gotten enough to eat for the first time in years.) Jim was famously taciturn, but I offered him a cup of tea from my thermos as he took a break, and he talked. This is a picture of him; you can read his story in the section of this website \u201cScotland 1 \u201cJim Taylor\u2019s Story.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I weighed two scarves on my kitchen scale and picked the lightest. I weighed two spoons and picked the lightest. Nevertheless, the pack weighed 35 pounds at Icelandair check-in\u2014and that was minus the freeze-dried food I had sent to the hotel in Glasgow and the electronics I carried onto the plane because I was still using them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The big tasks today were getting stove fuel (you can\u2019t fly with butane canisters), a cigarette lighter, and mailing three packages of food to places I hope to reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Also a bottle of single malt, decanted into a Nalgene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomorrow I get up early to take a 3 1\/2 hour train to Inverness, and then a 1 1\/2 hour bus to Shiel Bridge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll see what happens after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This question is most relevant to me, of course, but I\u2019ve gotten it from enough friends and family that it\u2019s probably worth addressing at the outset. The last time I walked across Scotland as part of The Great Outdoors Challenge was in 2024. I found it much harder than the previous five times and I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scotland-7","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5579"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5625,"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5579\/revisions\/5625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}