Scotland, Northern England late April through early June, looking for feedback and suggestions for routes

Hi. First, good choice of dates. There is often good weather (cool, dry, some sun) at that time of year before the biting insects hatch out. However, other than "walking some of the trails that connect so I can spend a lot of time on foot" you don't give much indication of what you are looking for. If you just want a marked trail to follow then sure, you could do one of those options. However, I don't regard the Scottish trails to be very inspiring and you would be missing out the best scenery in the country. You possibly know already that the Cape Wrath Trail is not a marked trail at all, but it does take you up the west coast which has fantastic scenery. You don't have to follow any trail, you can make detours and diversions as you please. I would worry too much about river crossings. If a river is really in spate and there is no bridge, just stop for a day and it will subside. You should definitely try to include Knoydart, Skye, Torridon, Fisherfield, Assynt and the Cairngorms.

Hi Stuart,

Yes, I know Cape Wrath is more of a route than a trail, and therefore not way marked. It is definitely river crossings that kept me from seriously considering this route.

It does seem the Cape Wrath route passes through several of your recommended areas though…

As far as what I am looking for, varied and gorgeous scenery, maximum of 7-8 days between resupply opportunities, variety of landscapes, plant life, variety of walking terrain/surfaces except I wouldn't object to less bog walking, opportunities for ridge walks with options to stay low in foul weather/high winds. I also do enjoy seeing cultural features, such as the abbeys on the Borders Abbeys Way. A pub is nice now and again too. :)

The thing I like about navigating a route some other person(s) has developed is that I don't have time to research my own route before my trip. There are some other routes besides Cape Wrath… how about the Scottish National Trail? This follows much of the Cape Wrath but starts in the Borders – Walk Highlands has the maps available already which allows a huge time savings for me.

Some of the other routes I came across in my web searches are St Columba's Way, the Stevenson Way, the Skye Trail, the Famous Highland Drove walk. Any of these recommended either to walk or to avoid?

Thanks again,
Sharon

Having hiked the Cape Wrath Trail only once (just a visitor in Scotland), I'd say river crossings are not a problem. Major rivers are bridged and the ones that require fording were all easy even in rainy weather. I can imagine some may get risky if it rains a lot but I am not aware of any that will consistently be a problem. I wouldn't rule the CWT out because of this.

Planning shouldn't be time consuming. The CWT goes mostly over existing trails or routes and there is a guidebook that describes the way. You may need to navigate while hiking but you don't really need to design your own route. You could actually show up at the trailhead knowing nothing about what's ahead except a rough approach at ressupply options and go day by day. I'm not aware about the newer guidebook but the older one that I followed was a good compromise of going over the most remote regions while taking a reasonably easy way through them, it wouldn't take you over the most difficult terrain for the sake of it.

Even north-western Scotland is not as empty of human things as the western US can be. Road crossings on the CWT are no more than two days apart and that's only like a couple times on the whole trip. They may be really tiny roads though.

From my perspective (coming from an environment quite like I picture SW Idaho), the challenge in Scotland and certainly on the Cape Wrath Trail is about the weather and the exposure and the mental toll that goes with it, particularly if you can't or won't rely on established lodging. Locals seem to get on with it much better than I could.

For a comparison, the West Highland Way or the Great Glen Way, that I have also hiked, I found rather lame.

Hi Inaki,

Thank you very much! I really appreciate your feedback, it is especially helpful that you have described the river crossings in greater detail. Now I know the larger rivers have bridges and the smaller ones would only be dangerous after lots of rain (which likely could be waited out), I now feel confident this trail is within my skill set.

Your information about the CWT guide(s) is quite helpful too.

I got a chuckle over you saying the WHW is rather lame, compared to the CWT. You are the second person to tell me the wilder parts of Scotland are much preferable to the National trails.

I am definitely going to walk the CWT now and just need to come up with another route as I have 6 weeks to spend walking.

I agree, the weather is going to be quite different. I'm used to more of a desert environment, the last 15 years or so. I did previously live in Alaska and did some backpacking there, but that was years ago. Day after day of rain does get old and depressing, as I recall.

Thanks again,
Sharon

I would also not recommend the West Highland Way. However, if you want a walk to get you to the start of the CWT, you could look up Not The West Highland Way, Cicerone do a guide book I think. As I said before, May should be relatively dry (but there can always be exceptional years).
River crossing :-)

Thankfully there was a bridge for this one

Stuart, those are great pictures!

The first looks rather thrilling!

Yes, I hope this spring isn't exceptionally rainy. I'm counting on the historical data that May is usually a nice month for Scotland. : )

I've heard of Not the West Highland Way. I had forgotten about it, but I will look into it. That would be great, to get me to the start of the CWT on foot!

I'm still wondering about a route for Skye. I haven't had a chance to check into that much yet. It seems like I read about a route awhile ago, to cross from the northwest to the northeast, but I can't think what it was called. Maybe it was named for that far north area of Scotland. Does this ring any bells for you?

Thanks again!
Sharon

http://www.skyetrail.org.uk/route.shtml

Make a small detour past Loch Coruisk to get a closer view of the Cuillin.