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.

Tuesday 4 October 2005

Day 98 - with Karen on the Fosse Way

It was lovely to meet up with Karen at the station, and we were Watershedding by noon along the line of a disused railway to the west of Kemble.

We soon joined the Monarchs Way across fields to Rodmarton, where we saw some schoolchildren playing hockey. Karen thought the village seemed very well-heeled.

We lunched outside the village in a stubble field and then headed for 5km of untarmaced Fosse Way. This was very enjoyable - not too easy, not too difficult, and historic. Nearby Cirencester is the junction of the Fosse Way, Ermin Way and Akeman Street.

The rest of the day was uninteresting walking along eastward country roads, but it was very good to be spending time together one-to-one - something which I'd not done enough of when our three children were younger. I'd spotted a pub marked on the map in Upper Minety, and as we headed into the village I explained to Karen how I tried to find camping places. She was nevertheless somewhat shocked when I knocked on the door of the first house. We struck gold, and finished up camping on a poultry farm (see photo) at 004906.

[This day was actually walked on 25/9/2001 but has been blogged today to reflect the geographic continuity of the Watershed.]
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