After such an amazing walk through the heart of England in 2020, I’ll continue my journey this year in Scotland. My quest is to find the Orkney Islands where there is much of interest including the pilgrimage of St Magnus. This pilgrimage looks rather special because it has its own iPhone app so it will be easy for me to find my way and to gain instant expertise on the life of St Magnus. That’s assuming I can pass two covid-19 tests before boarding the ferry.
I plan to start my walk on 24 July at the beginning of the E2 European Long Distance Footpath in Portpatrick on the south west coast and follow the Southern Upland Way to Cockburnspath on the east coast. After that comes the John Muir Way (the same John Muir as in the John Muir Trail in America but this one is a pleasant stroll between Costa Coffee shops) which takes me through Edinburgh to Lennoxtown. Here I will head north along the popular West Highland Way and then the Great Glen Way, drifting in and out of souvenir shops, tartan, shortbread biscuits, whisky distilleries etc. until I reach Inverness. It should be a breeze.
After that, I will head north across uncharted territory, the so-called John O’Groats Trail, which clings to the cliff tops of the wild Caithness coastline, to find a ferry to Orkney. And that is a whole new world.
- Day 0 – I look for koalas in Scotland
- Day 1 – I count my chickens
- Day 2 – Memories of Aquarius
- Day 3 – Bothies, Standing Stones and the Wells O’ The Rees
- Day 4 – The 39 Steps
- Day 5 – in the middle of nowhere
- Day 6 – into rural Nithsdale
- Day 7 – first train to Dumfries
- Day 8 – 1000 feet inside the Southern Uplands
- Day 9 – A Reservoir
- Day 10 – Three Days to Melrose
- Day 11 – Inns and Poets
- Day 12 – Melrose? I’d rather be reading poetry
- Day 13 – some time to savour the delights of Lauder
- Day 14 – Twin Peaks
- Day 15 – Southern Upland Way, tick
- Day 16 – Go West
- Day 17 – Going West to East Linton and North Berwick
- Day 18 – The Black Island
- Day 19 – Edinburgh Festival
- Day 20 – On The Royal Yacht
- Day 21 – The Three Forth Bridges
- Day 22 – Lost in Time
- Day 23 – an Engineering Wonder
- Day 24 – Along the Northern Frontier
- Day 25 – Thomas Muir?
- Day 26 – Hello to the West Highland Way
- Day 27 – Loch Lomond
- Day 28 – Farewell to Loch Lomond
- Day 29 – Is that a midge?
- Day 30 – the heaviest rain so far
- Day 31 – Glencoe and the Devil’s Descent
- Day 32 – The West Highland Way Ends
- Day 33 – Between Two Paths
- Day 34 – Into the Great Glen
- Day 35 – Wandering along the shores of Loch Lochy
- Day 36 – I will not forget to wear my face mask…
- Day 37 – Nessie!
- Day 38 – The Troll Bridge
- Day 39 – The Gingerbread House in the Woods
- Day 40 – A Day in the New City
- Day 41 – Making straw while the sun shines
- Day 42 – Coffee and Cake with the Vicar
- Day 43 – The Royal Burgh of Tain
- Day 44 – Onwards to Classy Dornoch
- Day 45 – We join the NC500 race to Golspie
- Day 46 – a noticeable shift in the scenery today
- Day 47 – A Glorious Day on the Sutherland Coast
- Day 48 – Onto the Caithness Clifftops
- Day 49 – Fog
- Day 50 – Fog and Rain
- Day 51 – Orkney bound
- Day 52 – The Lovely Evie
- Day 53 – Growth spurt
- Day 54 – Fields of Fire
- Day 55 – At the Bottom of Scapa Flow
- Day 56 & 57 – Orkney’s Neolithic Wonderland
Pilgrimage 