About this blog

The journey from John o'Groats to Land's End took place in 14 sections, starting in 1996 (a week or so each year). The idea came to me in 1995 and I completed the British JoGLE Watershed in June 2009.

I was joined by a number of relations and friends from time to time. Most notable among my walking companions were my son Tim (7 sections) and nephews Peter and Jonny.

After walking the first section in 1996 I discovered that Dave Hewitt had already pioneered the Scottish Watershed (to Cape Wrath) in 1987, and had published his excellent account Walking the Watershed in 1994. We have been in touch since then, and he has been a great encouragement.

A simple definition of the watershed is that any rain falling to the left of the path finishes in the North Sea or English Channel, and anything to the right flows into the Atlantic Ocean, the Irish Sea or the Bristol Channel.

I believe that this was the first walk along the full length of the British JoGLE Watershed. I became aware just after I completed the journey that the late Mike Allen walked a slightly different version (from Land's End to Cape Wrath) between 1988 and 1994, so he will have covered the same ground apart from the most north-easterly 220km.

There have subsequently been several walks and publications about parts of the JoGLE watershed, including Peter Wright's 2010 Ribbon of Wildness account of his Scottish section walked in 2005, which has brought the subject of watershed walking in the UK to a wider audience.

I hope you enjoy this blog. I'm planning to publish a full account in 2013/4. A summary of the walk appeared in The Angry Corrie volume 76 in 2009.

Malcolm Wylie.

Monday 26 September 2005

Day 91 - Northamptonshire Uplands

I bade farewell to my parents and sister, having taken the footpath to the NW of Daventry round to the A45. Then I was in on the edge of town, and walked past the Ford parts distribution centre, which used to be one of my customers when I worked with IBM.

Once out of Daventry I took paths (including this delightful path through a sunflower field) and roads past Staverton and the official source of the River Nene. Then I was onto map 151, through Hellidon and Priors Marston, and finally into Priors Hardwick. There were lots of young pheasants around here (and in several places during this Section).

The fourth door at which I knocked on the way into the village was opened by a Mrs Parkes who was rather taken aback by my request to camp in her paddock (473562), but a phone call to hubby settled the matter in my favour.

[The day was actually walked on 17/9/2001 but has been blogged today to reflect the geographic continuity of the Watershed.]
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