Planning my route

To the surprise of many, there is no fixed route for walking from John O’ Groats to Land’s End. The shortest route is just over 600 miles as the crow flies, but unfortunately most of this is across the sea, with a half way respite on the Isle of Man. The shortest route by road is 814 miles, but most walkers add to this by opting for more scenic (and less dangerous!) routes. There are walking routes which eliminate roads almost entirely, but inevitably these add significant miles to an already lengthy journey.

Ultimately, the route chosen is influenced by a number of personal decisions:

• How many miles will be walked each day?
• How long is available to complete the walk, including rest days?
• What balance of off-road and road walking is desired?
• Are specific destinations or footpaths to be incorporated?

I spent a few early January evenings reviewing the journeys of other End-to-Enders and was somewhat bemused by the sheer variety of routes followed – no two journeys were the same.  After some deliberation, I established the principles and parameters for my own walk:

• Due to holiday commitments, I had a window of just under two months to complete the walk
• I would aim to walk for an average of around 18 miles per day (excluding rest days)
• I would seek to utilise long distance footpaths, footpaths and towpaths wherever possible, but not if they resulted in a significant deviation from my overall route. As a first contingency I would use minor roads and, if all else failed, I would resort to ‘A’ roads.

My own route was primarily designed around the inclusion of two long distance footpaths, firstly, the West Highland Way from Fort William to just north of Glasgow and, secondly Offa’s Dyke Path, which mainly clings to the border of England and Wales from north to south. I’d walked a short section of the West Highland Way when I spent a year in Glasgow as a student and had always intended to walk the entire route one day. The choice of Offa’s Dyke was influenced more by the fact that I’d holidayed in Wales since I was a small child and must almost have spent enough time there over my lifetime to qualify as an honorary Welshman!

With over 230 miles of long distance footpath walking as the foundation for my walk, stringing together the rest of the route was reasonably straightforward. The first stage from John O’ Groats to Inverness offered little or no routing choice. From Inverness I would take another long distance path, the Great Glen Way, to Fort William to link with the start of the West Highland Way which finishes near to Glasgow. I would then head for Carlisle, before skirting the Lake District and joining the Lancaster Canal to its finish in Preston (about the halfway point of the walk!) and onward to Liverpool, my home city. From here it’s a short distance to join Offa’s Dyke Path all the way to Chepstow, then across the Severn Bridge near to Bristol. The final stages slice through Somerset and Devon, before passing through Truro and Penzance on the final stretch to Land’s End.

Not far short of 950 miles in 57 days, including 5 rest days. Incidentally, the record for the journey on foot is a mere 9 days! And a Kawasaki motorbike once completed the trip in 11 hours!

With my own route now fixed, I was ready to set about booking my accommodation…………

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