Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 13, May 23, 2022
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 13, May 23, 2022 A typical day hiking New Zealand’s Te Araroa on the South Island is rising in the morning to hike alongside a river, heading upstream so the path continually rises as the river diminishes. Usually by around noon, the trail crosses a saddle, and you can look […]
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 12, May 22, 2022
Walking to Cape Wrath, Day 12, May 22, 2022 When I was a wee lad, my father taught me to make him a drink for his just-home-from-work relaxation. He drank Scotch whiskey (here, just whiskey) and my favorite glass to give him had a picture of a ring-necked pheasant etched on the side. I never […]
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, […]