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.

Saturday 12 August 2006

Day 103 - rellies galore....

In the morning I climbed nearby Cley Hill with its fort and tumuli, but because Peter had been flagging yesterday he went more directly into the forest road above Longleat. When I joined him later he told me that he'd had to jump into a hedge to avoid the traffic on the A362!

Heaven's Gate was marked on the map as having a good view over Longleat House and Park, so we took the short detour. It certainly was a great view, and embellished with some fascinating sculptures - see photo.

We took roads to Maiden Bradley, and met my brother-in-law Keith and his wife Jan at the Somerset Arms as arranged. After lunch, Keith, Peter and I took the most direct route to a very fine stretch of woodland, and we followed the Macmillan way through it for several km.

Peter's mother Helen and brother Thomas met us at Stoney Stoke and relieved us of our packs. She was surprised that I asked her to drive on ahead and beg/blag a camping place for us near the Watershed, but she did a great job, and we all camped on a farm near Wincanton at 698303. One of Wincanton's claims to fame is that it is twinned with Ankh-Morpok, a fictional city in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.

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