Coast-to-coast walk across Scotland

[cyrus]

Can anyone suggest the most scenic route for a coast-to-coast walk across Scotland? I'd be interested in the opinions of people who did the routes. I was considering hauling an 8x10 and camping along the way

[steveo]

Plenty of routes depending where you want to start and end not many are directly signposted. Large parts of the country are pretty unpopulated and one is free to camp any where within reason coupled with old drovers tracks and various historical paths meaning you can get pretty much anywhere on foot. When do you want to go and what is your walking experience? Personally I've never had time for a c2c but I can potentially advise on sections.

The west highland way is a fairly straightforward old military road which stays low and is very busy in the Sumer but there are options. There is a writer called Ronald turnbull who's written a book called "not the west highland way" which avoids the route directly but follows the direction and sticks to the tops.

There is another annual event called the tgo challenge which is an unsupported walk cross country and whilst it doesn't really interest me, people put their routes on blogs which might be a good start.

Depending on your fitness you'd probably be okay with your 8x10, your never far from supplies so you only need a couple of days worth of food and fuel.

[cyrus]

Thank you Steveo, I'm trying to check things out online but the travelogue authors are not LF photogrphers so they're not looking for the same things I'd be interested in. I'm trying to find a route that has the most dramatic photo ops, rather than day after day of pretty flat walks. I was considering this as a warmup to the Haute Pyrenean walk which takes 2 mos

[steveo]

Tbh, you struggle to find flat boring land once your in the highlands proper. Even rannoch moor which is about the most featureless area north of Glasgow is still fascinating in its own way.

See if you can find Joe Cornish's book on scottish mountains he shot all of that book on a 5x4 velvia. Handily though he split it into regions which might help.

Let me have a better think, but my gut would be start Glasgow area, head north through the trossachs, through Perthshire up into the cairngorms and head east from there, it gets a bit dull on the east coast though so I'm not sure from aviemore East. It's a small country and very well connected by public footpaths with no substantial restrictions on passage so find areas your interested in and try and link them together.

I'd have a very strong temptation to try some bothies while traveling too, they can be an experience.

[cyrus]

Thank you, much appreciated!