5 Year Mission

You can't beat a good mission statement to get you in the mood to get going. The other night I hunkered down with the Bunman, drank some tea, watched a movie, drank some more tea and finally came up with one for Stroll On.

"Our 5 Year mission, is to complete all the official Scottish long distance footpaths, plus a few more for good measure, then have a nice cup of tea and a sit down."

Why five years you ask yourself? Well if it's good enough for James T Kirk it's good enough for me.

So without further ado here's the cunning plan we came up with.

2007
The Fife Coastal Path 81 miles (130 km)
As it's on the doorstep this is as good a place to start as any. The Fife coastal path starts off at Ian Banks's favorite bridge (The Forth bridge) and continues on to the Tay bridge in the North. The 13 1/2 mile stretch between Crail and St Andrews is the most desolate, with a river to ford and miles of rocks to clamber across.

Difficulty - easy to hard (that'll be the Crail bit that will).

The Speyside Way 84 miles (135 km)
The first of Scotland's four official long distance footpaths, the Speyside way meanders down from Buckie on the east coast to Aviemore. This country is whisky country so I've no doubt a drum or two will be consumed en-route.

Difficulty - generally pretty easy

2008
The Great Glen Way 73 miles (117 km)
The second official long distance route, the Great Glen way starts in Inverness and gos on to Fort William mainly by the side of Loch's (including Loch Ness) and the Caledonian canal.
What's that coming over the hill..

Difficulty - easy

The Rob Roy Way 92 miles (148 km)
Rob Roy, see the movie, steal the sheep, do the walk. Well maybes not the sheep bit but the rest sounds good. The Rob Roy way cuts a swathe across the Southern Highlands of Scotland, from Drymen to Pitlochry. At the end if you're really enthusiastic (aka insane) you can jump the Soldiers Leap to celebrate. Celebrate until your body hits the rocks in the gorge that is.

Difficulty - unknown (I'll update this when we've done it)

2009
St Cuthberts Way 62 miles (100 km)
Down into the borders for this one, walking from Melrose (allegedly the place where King Arthur is having an extended kip) to Lindisfarne (Holy Island). The last stretch will need to be timed right or the final walk over the causeway to the island could end in a swim if the tide comes in.

Difficulty - unknown (I'll update this when we've done it)

The Kintyre Way 103 miles (166 km)
Cue Paul McCartney (no not the frog song)... The Kintyre Way is more of an island walk than anything else, launched in 2006 and stretching from Tarbert at the north end of the peninsula, to Southend in the south, the Kintyre Way criss-crosses the peninsula in a criss-crossy sort of way. At least the mist blowing in from the sea should cool us down while mulling over what to do next.

Difficulty - easy to hard

2010
The West Highland Way 95 miles (152 km)
Third of the official Scottish long distance walks and a bit of a killer in places, the West Highland Way gives you a good taste of the highlands. Starting in Milngavie, the West Highland Way ambles past some stunning scenery before ending at Fort William, near Ben Nevis.

Difficulty - moderate but a bit of killer in places

2011
The Southern Upland Way 212 miles (341 km)
The Southern Upland Way, the final frontier to traverse to complete our mission.

The Southern Upland Way is Scotland's longest long distance walk. Last of the official Scottish long distance footpaths and some serious potatoes to take on at the end of our trek.

The astute amongst you may have noticed a trend in the sequencing of these walks, with the level of difficulty gradually ramped up with each. The theory is that our fitness levels will increase in parallel with our perambulations, so by theory by this stage we should be lean mean walking machines and ready to take on anything. So this walk across desolate moorland, huge forests, mountains and rugged coast land should now be like a walk in the park. A park filled with desolate moorland, huge forests, mountains and rugged coast land that is.

Bring it on !!!

Difficulty - strenuous, severe in places.


You'll be able to see how we get on courtesy of this blog over the coming years. Marvel at the ripping yarns and tales of daring do. Gasp at the awesome scenery encountered. Watch on in awe as we boldly go where large numbers of men, women, dogs and small round furry animals that squeak, have already gone before.

Watch this space. The final frontier.