In a few years this may be the answer http://www.jogt.org.uk/
We have walked as far as Inverness from Lands End but I do not want to do the rest on roads. We are both past back packing and tho I would love to do Cape Wrath Trail there is no way my wife would do it, and in any case I may have left it too late for myself.

But it is good to know that in the future both routes may be availble to folks like us and it would also be a nice trip from Cape Wrath to JOG.

I have walked up to Durness, but a lot north from Ullapool was on road.
I have done a 'circle' from Lands End to Inverness, mostly on coast, a week at a time, but how fantastic it would be to have a loop from Inverness to Fort Bill on coast!
John Merrill did it all years ago and I guess many others have, but these were tough guys.

Even though the original post was 2009, it would be interesting to know how many LEJOGers (or otherwise) have done the Cape Wrath Trail alternative from Fort William to Scotland's NW, rather than NE, tip.

Wikipedia considers the Cape Wrath Trail to be 'one of the most challenging long distance walks in the UK', but (or and) it would appear to be a much better end to a LECW than the disappointing (but easy) stretch to from the Fort William (itself a letdown) to the nowhere place which is John O'Groats.

Two early CWT publications are 'The Cape Wrath Trail: A New 200-mile Walking Route Through the North-west Scottish Highlands' by David Paterson 1996, and 'North to the Cape: A trek from Fort William to Cape Wrath' by Denis Brook and Phil Hinchliffe 1999. More recent is 'Scotland End to End : Walking the Gore-Tex Scottish National Trail [SNT]' by Cameron McNeish & Richard Else, Mountain Media 2012. For this part of the SNT, McNeish followed the Great Glen Way out of Fort William before joining the CWT in Glen Shiel. A new Cicerone guide to the CTW was published in 2013.

Much of Cape Wrath is owned by the MOD, and access may be limited by military operations. Wikipedia says that the only route on foot from the south is from Sandwood Bay and Kinlochbervie.

Iain

Going back to the original question, the Scottish National Trail starts at Kirk Yetholm and joins the West Highland Way at Milngavie. It then heads off to Cape Wrath http://www.scottishnationaltrail.org.uk/

On BBC Radio 4 week beginning 19th September 2016: a dramatisation in 15-minute episodes of George H. Allen's 1905 account of his (then-road-based) LEJOG. 'Freely adapted' by Stephen Wakelam for the 'Writing the Century' series. Available on iPlayer for a month or so. First episode at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b07vkrnb

Undertaken (by a vegetarian teetotaler) in response to a previous year's (Bovril-fulled) journey. Lots about diet, very early starts, frugal 'ablutions'.

Full title: 'From Land's End to John-O'-Groats: Being an Account of His Record Walk, in Which He Accomplished 908½ Miles in 16 Days, 21 Hours, and 33 Minutes'. Fowler 1905, paperback Forgotten Books 2015.

It's not the first LEGOG (that was 1871, by Robert & John Naylor) but it does appear to be the first published account (the Naylors delayed theirs by 45 years). In this version he sounds a bit like Wainwright (as voiced in the 1980s videos), though not a northener.

Iain.

Just finished The Pennine Way with my friends Bridget and Brendan. We started 31st May and finished 12th June (13 days). Using my Garmin I recorded 279 miles and just short of 45000 ft of total ascent. Out of the thirteen days we only really had 3 days which did not feel too arduous and in hindsight we should have probably taken at lease another two days. On my last post( Cleveland Way) I made reference to the variance of mileages given in guide books compared to actual mileages walked. The last two walks have both shown a variance of approximately 10%, which is of no real consequence on the shorter legs but on the longer sections can make a difference.I know that my Garmin GPS is accurate because I have tested it over a known mileage and found it to be fine. Please feel free to comment. Regards Rob

As part of my LEJOG for next year I am plan to walk between the north end of the Offa's Dyke Path and the south end of the Pennine Way at Edale. I have managed to obtain a used copy of John Davenport's Cestrian Link Walk (Edale to Prestatyn), which looks perfect.

I was wondering if anyone has recently walked the Cestrian Link it and if a gpx file is available?

I'm interested in creating a marked trail from Land's End to John O'Groats. It could become part of the National Trail system. I'm currently looking for like-minded people to join forces. If you're interested in discussing or getting involved, reply here and/or send me an email at jbw243@gmail.com. Thanks, Jay

Completed JOG-LE a couple of weeks ago. Included Great Glen Way, WHW, Lakes, some Pennine Way, Cotswolds Way, Dartmoor and north Cornwall coast path. Fantastic experience, would recommend despite the difficulties of getting eight weeks off work! Also raised £10K for my local hospice. Good luck to anyone doing an end-to-end - hope you are just as lucky with the weather!

2010 seems to be a popular year for the End to End. I am setting out from JOG on May 11th on a route of 1600 miles in 80days, reaching LE on July 29th. This is an unassisted walk and mostly solo; I am expecting some company along the way. I have picked LDP linking them with paths and lane. I have included the Lakes on a north to south route and then turn back up to St Bees to include the Coast to Coast. Another diversion is into Wales via Cheshire and upto and along the the north coast before dropping south via Snowdonia all the way down to the Brecons before slipping into the West Country. Then it's not direct.
On the ultimate walk it's silly to miss out the opportunity to some great walks in great countryside.
I am doing this for the buzz and along the way shall be trying to raise money for the Gurkha Welfare Trust.
To see more visit www.justgiving.com/patrick-fleming-walking-for-nepal

With some colleagues, I will be walking from John o' Groats to Land's End between May and July this year. We will be covering several of the expected LDPs but taking a more westerly route to the northern section of the PW so that we can include part of the Lake District.

If anyone would like to join us for all or part of the way, they would be very welcome. We are raising money for St Margaret's Somerset Hospice, where several of us work. Subject to raising a minimum amount of sponsoship (around £250 per week), accommodation and use of the support vehicle for luggage will be free to participants.

Full details can be found on our website www.walktheextramile.com. Maybe I'll see some of you there!

Phil

I started JOGLE in September 2009 and walked from Milngavie to Edinburgh largely along the Forth & Clyde and Union Canals following the suggestions in "The End to End Trail" as mentioned in the previous post. It is easy walking here and the Falkirk Wheel that links the two is really interesting (and I'm no engineer!). Unfortunately a serious injury forced me to stop in Edinburgh but on starting again in April I will be following the suggestions from Andrew McCloy's "the Land's End to John O'Groats walk" (publ. Cordee) and "The End to End Trail".
Hope this is helpful and good luck! Maybe I'll meet you coming the other way?

I am also planning JOG to LE walk for 2010. I have found the book " The End to End Trail" extremely useful in linking this part of the walk. Cicerone is the publisher and the ISBN 9781852845124.

A friend of mine used the Erl B Wilkie book Walking the central Scottish Way, available from our page at http://www.ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_path.php?menu_type=S&path_id=66
and found it helpful when he walked the route earlier this year. Good luck.

The book 'From the Pennines to the Highlands' by Hamish Brown (Lochar Publishing, 1992) describes one possible route that joins the Pennine Way and West Highland Way, using tracks across the Southern Uplands to skirt Edinburgh and then following the Union Canal towards Glasgow. A roughly similar route is the 'Central Scottish Way', described in 'Walking the Central Scottish Way' by EB Wilkie (Mainstream 1996). (Both books are out of print but available secondhand, eg from Amazon).

'Scottish Hill Tracks' by the Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society (4th Ed. 2004) describes many routes across the Southern Uplands which might be used. For example, you might cut across to New Lanark and then use the Clyde Walkway to Glasgow.

Alternatively, plan your own route from the maps - in my view this is the most adventurous option and now with the Right of Responsible Access in Scotland is much easier than when I walked such a route some years ago!

my wife and i are currently planning the above walk using LDP's as much as possible ie South West Coast Path,Offas Dyke etc.I am currently looking for a connecting route from the end of the Pennine Way Kirk Yetholm to the start of the West Highland Way at Milngavie.
We can use St.Cuthberts Way as far as Melrose but then where?
Does anyone have any advice?