backpacking

Knoydart – a TGO Challenge Pre-amble, or a Post-lockdown Taster?

T was keen to revisit his youth! He had worked as a gillie on an estate while a fresh-faced student. He ran up and down the pathless hills to manoeuvre deer towards the hunters. On his days off he took free and walked to The West reaching the edge of that blank part of the …

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If not the TGOC then …. why not the Lakeland 100?

Sometimes we cannot do the TGOC. When this last happened to me the Cape Wrath Trail (CWT) beckoned. In an earlier note I described the first half – planned as a mountain route. After illness moved the trip from May round to a rainy October, it became more low-level covering some of the areas frequented …

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Gearing up to the TGO Challenge – an opinionate guide to backpacking essentials for Scotland

The TGO Challenge – there’s lots of advice out there – so my small contribution may not add much. At least this catharsis will allow me to move on in my reflections – and focus on my new challenge for 2019. Some may think backpacking is backpacking is backpacking. But Scotland always has rain which …

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TGO Challenge 2018 – Oban to Kinnabaer: #3 from Pitlochry

The map shows the route tracked from 30 minute beacons sent by a Spot satellite tracker and captured by Phil Sorrell’s Social Hiking site. Push and pull the map in the window below to see the route in blue. Pitlochry was planned as the first night indoors. I had tried to find somewhere earlier, but …

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TGO Challenge 2018 – Oban to Kinnabaer: #2 from Glen Etive

The map shows the route tracked from 30 minute beacons sent by a Spot satellite tracker and captured by Phil Sorrell’s Social Hiking site.   Push and pull the map in the window below to see the route in blue. This is day 3 – there is light rain, and clouds obscure the top of …

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TGO Challenge 2018 – Oban to Kinnabaer: #1 to Glen Etive

This year I captured my walk using the Spot Tracker which should record my location every 30 minutes. Is this truly representative? I always think of the occassions when I spend 30 minutes wandering in the wrong direction or zig-zagging up a hill and how in this instance it will show almost no distance travelled …

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Cape Wrath Trail Part 1B – A TGOC Backup – Kinloch Hourn to Strathcarron

This is part ‘B’ of my first half of the Cape Wrath Trail. The map below is captured from beacons sent every 30 minutes as I was walking. If you zoom in you will notice there are some gaps and other anomalies; nevertheless you can get a good idea of where I was when.  Wednesday …

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Cape Wrath Trail Part 1 – A TGOC Backup – Fort William to Kinloch Hourn

The Cape Wrath Trail comes highly recommended by many TGOers – it avoids the boring bit that crosses the farmlands of East Scotland. On the other hand it can be a bit of a lonesome trail compared to the famous Coast to Coast walk. The route follows some of the wildest countryside in Scotland, starting …

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TGOC Plockton to Redcastle Lunan Bay – #3 Feshie to the coast

“Is anyone planning to go up onto the Cairngorm plateau in the morning?” I asked the crowd gathered around the fire in the bothy. No takers. Track looking back towards the Feshie   Just a little to the north is a track which covers a lot of ground in 8 or 9 km to over …

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TGOC Plockton to Redcastle – #2 Cougie to Feshie

 Cougie is writ large in the history of the TGOC so I was a little surprised it was not busier. Most TGOers arrive here on the Saturday however, and anyway time has moved on and some of the people there have changed. My trip notes recorded ‘fantastic bird calls’ at the camping site here. The …

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