Be inspired to walk Scotland’s long-distance trails

Great Scottish Walks by Helen & Paul Webster – the Walkhighlands Guide to Scotland’s Best Long-distance Trails

Published by Vertebrate Publishing, Sheffield – www.adventurebooks.com

£20

Find the far corners of the country, walk in the footsteps of your forebears or explore wild routes through the mountains – these opportunities and more are all brought together in a new long-distance walking guide.

A quick glance at the overview map of the 26 routes in Great Scottish Walks shows the range of possibilities for multi-day trekking all over Scotland.

Many of them are situated in the vast Highlands and Islands region, and range from waymarked trails on paths and tracks to unmarked excursions into remote territory that requires navigation and mountain skills.

Written by Helen and Paul Webster, the couple behind the popular Walkhighlands website, the book is full of well-researched information about each of the routes, including suggested itineraries, pros and cons, starting and finishing points, transport options and more.

There is also a colour map showing each route, along with a height profile to show the ascent, as well as excellent photography from each of the walks.

Set out in alphabetical order, it begins with the newest of Scotland’s long-distance trails, the Affric Kintail Way, which stretches from Drumnadrochit on the shores of Loch Ness to Morvich at Kintail.

Other routes in the north include the 234km John O’Groats Trail, the Speyside Way, Cape Wrath Trail, Hebridean Way and the Loch Ness 360, which incorporates part of the Great Glen Way as well as the South Loch Ness Trail.

The text and photographs are enough to get the mind racing and planning possible trips on some of these wonderful routes. It also encourages you to look beyond the north and see what the rest of the country has to offer, with the Southern Upland Way, the Clyde Walkway and Borders Abbey Loop among the options further south.

This guide is well worth a look, but be warned – if you’re anything like me you’ll be trying to work out how to find the time to do more and more exploring on these long-distance trails.

Review by John Davidson

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