Basic facts
I started on the 12th August at Wallsend (Newcastle-upon-Tyne), reached Cape Wrath on the 12th October and walked out on the 13th to Balchrick.
Having only done this once I can’t really comment about other seasons. However the benefits of this season include:
- the beginning of the Autumn (Fall) colours
- the bellowing of the Stags
- the scarcity of midges
I’m fairly confident that the trail would be pretty uncrowded most of the year. Perhaps a few bothies might fill up at certain holiday seasons.
The range of temperatures was between about 27C max and 7C min.
Weather conditions
Doubtless the weather will vary a lot from year to year. I would say that I had generally very fine weather, and (this bears repeating) very few midges. However I did experience a few storms, one day of very heavy rainfall, and many days with a mix of sun and rain. Happily there was much less wind than in Iceland.
By far the worst weather conditions of the entire trail were encountered on the three day Pennine Way section. This was due to the remains of a big hurricane from the Gulf of Mexico. The first day in Scotland was also extremely windy. I was very nearly blown over; the flex on my two poles was impressive.
I had anticipated wild and difficult weather in the Cape Wrath region, but its name belied its nature in this instance. Also from what I have read the name in fact derives from the Norse for “Turn Left Here” rather than being a comment on the climate.
Some lessons
I carried a lightweight 3-season tent. It was not designed for camping in gale-force winds. So, as in Iceland, I had to exercise some care when choosing a camping spot. Only on one night, when I camped quite late, was I really troubled by wind. On the other occasions I was either in a bothy (once in a hostel) or had taken the trouble to be well protected by trees or the lie of the land.
During the one day of massive rain I only walked two hours to the next bothy and then decided to call it a day. This was wise. However I did have the luxury of walking without a fixed timetable or needing to rendezvous with another party. And one of the things that most impressed me that day was the speed at which the nearby river rose from a tranquil stream over some small waterfalls to a raging mass of white water sloping downhill without interruption.
Once again I was very satisfied with and grateful for my rain gear and indeed my clothing in general. There is perhaps a reason that the trail is sponsored by Goretex and not by "Sun hats are Us". Only on a few hot days near the beginning was I obliged to remove wet clothing at the end of a day. Otherwise even on a really wet day my base merino layers stayed dry (or dry enough) so that a short while in a tent or bothy was enough for my body heat to make them completely dry. This of course had the great advantage that the following morning I never had to put on anything that was wet apart from socks.
At this relatively high latitude the UV can be strong in summer, so a good cap or hat (and sunscreen) is pretty necessary unless you’ve got hair to do this job for you.
Barring a decade-long drought (somewhat unlikely) the terrain underfoot is often going to be very wet irrespective of the weather. I’ll discuss footwear elsewhere, but you can expect wet feet.
Rivers in spate
The critical element in the weather is the possibility of encountering rivers in spate which you need to cross but cannot.
One of the things I would have liked to see in the Section Summary is a column with a weather symbol. This would indicate to what extent that section is particularly susceptible to weather difficulties: Winds, High Tides, Rain (river crossings and slippery terrain), lightening etc. It would be handy to know how many crossings (at at which kilometre mark they come) there are in a section. A list might also give an idea of the time that they take to go down after last rainfall. In the absence of that the best bet is to search the notes (that’s why I have them on Kindle) for the word “spate”.
This problem is really restricted to a few sections in the last couple of weeks. In particular the last day up to Cape Wrath has at least two rivers that would be impassible after some heavy rain and arguably two others which I’d certainly give a deal of thought to before attempting a crossing.
There are probably quite a few new terms that you will encounter along the way. Most of us know “wee” (as in “small” rather than “I need a…”) but here are a few other common ones:
Bealach - A pass.
Bothy - A mountain shelter
Burn - A small stream.
Dreich - Bleak or dreary (especially when used for weather).
Kyle - A narrow sea channel.
Loch - A Lake. A sea loch is connected to the sea.
For more see the Section Hikers page on Gaelic mapping terms.
Like any major trail this can be enjoyed (or at times not) at many levels: physical, mental, social, political, historical, natural or sensory. Having walked the length or breadth of a number of countries now I’m starting appreciate the way that walking slowly through a land really embeds it into one’s body and mind in a way that is quite different to other (perhaps equally valid) ways of experiencing it.
Clearly my timing with the Referendum was particularly fortuitous, but leaving that aside, it is a fine thing to travel through many (though not all) of the mainland landscapes of this lovely country, meeting a variety of people (almost universally friendly, interested and helpful) and slowly gain a sense of the place as if by osmosis. One literally absorbs the place just as it comes to meet you in all its variety and under all weather conditions.
And importantly as you discover the land so also you reveal your own strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, abilities and blind spots. You can certainly learn some things from others but the most important lessons are probably those you teach yourself by meet challenges and thus extending your comfort zone. It is that comfort, built on experience, self-sufficiency and growing self-confidence, that you take back with you after the trail and whose benefits continue to enrich all areas of your life.
The Scottish National Trail (SNT) is a continuous route of about 870km which starts at Kirk Yetholm in the Borders and ends at Cape Wrath.
I say “starts” because it really does make sense to go South to North, although the other direction is evidently possible. However I’d suggest that it is less advisable for several reasons which I will touch on later.
Cape Wrath is a fittingly wild and inaccessible place to end up and as it also seems to be the furthest point on mainland Britain from Westminster. To many people that in itself confers significant merit.
Meanwhile Kirk Yetholm sits conveniently at the end of the Pennine Way and it is for this reason that I decided that logistically it made sense to fly to Newcastle and begin with a little 5 day warm up along Hadrian’s Wall and the Pennine Way. For me this worked well and brought the total distance to around the 1000km mark quite neatly.
It uses a number of pre-existing trails which are in general well maintained and well marked, but for the most part astonishingly unfrequented. But it also goes off into wilder terrain where you will need to navigate your own route across country. For me this was part of its appeal.
There are also a number of river crossings and these (as ever) can be tricky after heavy rain. See the Hazards post.
From the Walk Highlands website I have created a table of the stages (see Files section) with the Boot Rating and the Bog Rating. These were initially useful, but in the end once you have hardened up a bit you just take everything as it comes and accept that for the last few weeks you’ll have wet feet. For planning purposes though the distances and timings on the table were always handy.
My motto by the end was “Damp is the new Dry”. Or in other words “You are not really wet until your feet are not touching bottom”.
In case this is soon forgotten, Scotland held an Independence Referendum on the 18th September 2014. This provided the excuse for me to walk the Scottish National Trail. Partly for its own sake but partly to observe and get the feel of the country making this important decision. My original plan was to finish on the 17th so that I could watch whatever happened while enjoying the post-trek buzz. Events dictated otherwise as we shall see. However as is often the case there turned out to be a silver lining to what was initially not an optimal development. And now I really think I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The purpose of this blog is not to report on my findings as regards the vote, though some comments on this topic may find their way into the photo albums. Nor it is intended to describe my experiences except insofar as that provides useful lessons from which other can (just possibly) benefit. The primary purpose of this blog is to help people who already have a certain amount of trekking experience gather together the essential information needed to walk the trail themselves and learnt their own lessons.
In particular this aims to compliment and supplement the valuable resource of the Walk Highlands website. I found it extremely useful and would strongly recommend a visit.
But it clearly has a strong Section Walkers perspective and Through Hikers will likely miss some useful information and also will perhaps feel a little neglected. Of course it’s fair to say most of the people on the trail are Section Walkers and most of the businesses along the trail are there to serve Section Walkers.
Through Hikers are a different species with their own requirements and priorities. So I hope that they find something of value here. I won’t attempt to repeat what can be gathered from the Walk Highlands website except insofar as this requires significant reformatting to make it useful.
Lastly the Walk Highlands website will be doubtless updated from time to time, and people may add their own stories and tips, whereas when I’m done with this, I’m done. Best of luck and Happy Hiking!
