Post #4 - Training Walks 2 and 3

We managed to get out for two more training walks in the last week.  Last weekend we went out to the trails at West Bragg Creek.  The whole family did the first 9 km, and Ben and I continued on for another 11 km.  We had some good learnings with a near blister that Ben was developing on his heel.  I helped him get some mole skin on it before it became a problem and he was able to continue on the second half of the walk without any issues.

This morning we went to Sandy McNabb area and did about 16 km on the Death Valley Trail.  It was a good walk with some great views.  There was nobody else on the trail except for some busy squirrels and a cautious grouse.  Lunch was a 30-minute stop to cook noodles, and have some tea and hot chocolate to warm up a little.  We definitely got the best part of the day as it started to snow for the last half hour on the way back to the trailhead.

Still looking fresh at the half-way point!

I feel good about these two walks.  We've learned more about our gear and clothing, and I am getting a little more confident about my legs being able to handle the longer distance we will be doing in Scotland.  We are about two months away now, and I am surprised how fast it is coming.

View across Death Valley to Foran Grade Trail

Post #3 - First Training Walk

We got out for our first training walk last Saturday.  We did an 11 km loop, stopped for lunch at home, then did another 9 km loop.  It was a beautiful sunny day, but very windy - maybe good practice for Scotland!
My legs were starting to complain the last couple of kilometres, but Ben had no issues.  I feel like I could have gone out for some more kilometres after an hour or so rest.  Hopefully we will be able to work our distances up over the next couple of months in time for our departure (for my sake!).
We learned a couple of things on this walk with respect to gear and clothing that will help us in choosing the right things to bring on our trip.

Training Walk #1

We have also continued our other preparations over the last few weeks.  Our B&Bs are all booked, as well as a couple of campsites we decided to stay at.  Earlier today I got our train tickets booked for the start and end of the trail. I am growing more and more excited as the weeks go by!

That's it for now.

Post #2 - Map Prep

We ordered six custom maps from the Scottish Ordnance Survey to make it through all fourteen of our stages.  We have no maps for three stages as they are on well marked trails, and we have good trail descriptions to go by.  I have commandeered the coffee table for the last two weeks to mark up the routes on the maps .  I got the last one finished this morning.  My plan is to go back over them again and mark potential camping spots, as well as rest stops.

T minus four months and counting!!

Post #1 - Scottish National Trail Trip Description and Preparation

Welcome to our Blog!  Ben and I are going on another big adventure this summer.  We had so much fun, and such a great response with our trip to France blog last summer that we decided to do another one when we go to Scotland this summer to walk the first half of the Scottish National Trail.

I think there will be a few questions to start, so I will try and answer them here.

First off, what is the Scottish National Trail?  The Scottish National Trail is an 864 km-long, long- distance walking route running the length of Scotland from Kirk Yetholm, near the southeast border with England, to Cape Wrath, the most northwesterly point on the Scottish mainland.  The trail is broken down into 40 stages varying in length from 9 to 34 km.  Some people do it end to end, some break it down into smaller segments, and some do it one leg at a time over months or years.

Scottish National Trail showing our start and end points.

Why would we want to do this?  I love hiking.  We currently live in one of the best areas of the world for hiking, and we take advantage as much as we can.  Unfortunately, because of other activities in our lives (work, hockey, school, etc.) we usually only get to spend part of a day at a time enjoying it.  When I mentioned this trail to Amanda, she immediately said "You and Ben should go and do it."  Going to Scotland to do this hike will allow us to be outside, doing what we love to do, for 15 full days in a row.

Why Scotland?  A few years ago, I went to Scotland for work.  I was able to convince my Dad to join me for a week prior to the conference I was attending.  It was my first time overseas, and I ended up falling in love with it.  The people were so friendly, and the scenery was spectacular! We did a couple of small hikes while we were there, and when I got home, I couldn't stop myself from thinking that I had to go back and do some more hiking.  When I got home I found a great website: walkhighlands.co.uk.  The site has great trail descriptions and user reports, which were fun to read through.  One day I went into the "Long Distance Walks" section I saw the link for the Scottish National Trail, and have been thinking about it ever since.

How are we going to do it?  To start with I went through the first 20 segments and figured out how to divide them into 14 approximately equal days.  Our average day will do about 27 km of walking.  Right now this seems pretty ambitious but we do plan on doing some serious prep and training in the next few months leading up to June.
We will be bringing camping gear (tent, sleeping bags, Thermarests, stove,water filter, pots and dishes, etc), but will be taking a minimalist approach.  The less we bring, the lighter our packs!  We will spend the majority of nights in a tent, with about four nights in B&B's or hotels.  Day 8 is a rest day with a sleep-in at a hotel, and only 8 km of walking.  With many towns on the route, especially in the first half, we will not have to carry too much food at one time.  Later in the hike we will have to carry two days worth on a couple of occasions.
We have purchased all of our maps and are in the process of marking them up with the different routes.  I have also printed up all of the route descriptions and will laminate them so that if we do get off track it won't be too hard to get back on the right trail.  Ben is going to take some turns being the navigator which will be a good experience for him.

That's about it for our first post.  There probably won't be too many between now and June but I will occasionally provide an update on our prep.  My plan is to post our progress every few days while we are there.  In addition to keeping everybody posted, we found that the blog is an excellent way to document a trip, and is a lot of fun to go back and read after it is over.

Thanks for reading, and we hope you enjoy!!

JM and Ben