Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 11, May 21, 2022
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 11, May 21, 2022 Drymen to Callander. The night at the Drymen campground was much like many on the American Appalachian Trail, a whole bunch of tents set up pretty close to each other. I could hear the snorers, every word spoken by an anxious woman calling home on a […]
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 10, May 20, 2022
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 10, May 20, 2022 In 2016 I rode the train up from Biarritz to St. Jean pied de Port, the starting point of the Camino Frances. The cars were full of eager, but tentative faces, people clutching shiny new trekking poles and immaculate backpacks, others with studied indifference holding tattered […]
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 9 May 19, 2022
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 9 May 19, 2022 I usually try to keep up with the local football teams when I visit a country or city. The other day in Peebles, I sat in a pub watching Celtic win a game and be awarded the Scottish Premier League championship trophy, then watched Liverpool win […]
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 8 May 18, 2022
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 8 May 18, 2022 An unusual but (generally) pleasant evening required hotfooting it back to the Loch House Farm campsite as the rains rushed in. It showered, off and on all night, but my new ZPacks duplex performed. It starts getting light around 5, so I got an earlier start […]
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 7 May 17, 2022
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 7 May 17, 2022 As much as I enjoy wandering Edinburgh, today felt as if I was fleeing the city. The entire trek was on a paved canal path so the kilometers clipped by and the sounds of the highway diminished with each step. On a long trek, there are […]
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 6 May 16, 2022
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 6 May 16, 2022 When I was young growing up in the Shenandoah Valley, the highlight of the year was the county fair. There was barbecue, cotton candy, harness racing, carnival rides, hoochie coochie shows, and of course the livestock barn. Given that many of my classmates grew up on […]
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 5 May 15, 2022
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 5 May 15, 2022 Traquair (Innerleithen ) to Peebles (21 km) Walking Old: Since I often teach seminars on the literature and philosophy of walking, I’m regularly sent internet links to articles touting the benefits of walking for mental and physical well-being, claims often quite miraculous. There is a peculiar […]
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 4 May 14, 2022
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 4 May 14, 2022 In hiker’s parlance, a zero day is a rest day— walking zero miles (or kilometers). A Nero is short for “nearly zero.” After the last three long days, today was pretty close to a Nero— officially only 12 km. Of course since I was in Innerleithen, […]
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 3 May 13, 2022
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 3 May 13, 2022 Much as I like to celebrate life on the open road, some days fall into the category “no fun.” I’ve already heard the term “Scottish weather” countless times, but today even the most grizzled Scot owned it was some wind. Guess I should have been suspicious […]
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 2 May 12, 2022
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 2 May 12, 2022 When hiking the Appalachian trail, I tended to obsess over wet feet (an unfortunate obsession to have, particularly in Vermont). The trail is so brutal, it beats your feet to death, so factors like wet feet can exacerbate an already fragile constitution. On New Zealand’s Te […]