Description
Ever since we heard
about the Southern Upland Way, around 20 years ago, it has been a route we
thought we might walk some time. Until July
this year it never got beyond that because we were using up available holiday
time doing other things, such as completing climbing the 214 Wainwrights in the
Lake District, or undertaking the TGO Challenge – an annual walk across the
highlands choosing your own route, but with the companionship of 300 or so
others on the same venture, also choosing their own route, so you never feel
the place is crowded.
We didn’t intend to
break any records on the Southern Upland Way because we wanted time to take in
some of the attractions along the route, such as the gardens at Castle Kennedy and
the lead mine museum at Wanlockhead, so we took over a fortnight coast to
coast. Although we planned the walk
ourselves, we were grateful to Andrew Case for transport in the Dalry area and
to John Henderson of Walking Support who helped us with ad hoc baggage
transfers during the second half of the walk, which lightened the load over a
couple of long stages.
We do sometimes
attract a little interest from folk we meet along the way, because I am blind, though
otherwise reasonably fit. In such
circumstances what you most need is a good guide who can navigate in a range of
terrains and weathers. Fortunately I
married such a person over 40 years ago, so Pauline and I have worked out ways
of coping with the different situations we encounter.
The SUW is a most
varied route; from the cliffs near Portpatrick,
with short scrambly sections, to quiet lanes and forest tracks, loch side
paths, higher level ridges and open moorland.
None of the walk is particularly difficult, but any route of over 200
miles needs to be treated with a degree of respect and care.
This was all new
country for us, which we enjoyed very much, despite a couple of days with above
knee high wet vegetation to walk through and some wet paths to squelch
along. All of which was more than
balanced by the new high level section after Moffat over Gateshaw Rigg and
Croft Head, followed a couple of days later by a super sunny day over the hills to the Three Brethren.
Whether you walk this route
as a whole, or divide it into shorter stretches depending on how much time you
have, you can have help in planning the stages, booking accommodation and
having the heavy bags transported for you, through the experienced support of
SUW Walking Holidays.
Now that we have
discovered this part of Scotland
it is certainly somewhere we will return to.
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