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 14 August 2007

Day 111 - Dunkerry Beacon on Exmoor


In the morning we thanked our "landlady" with a bottle of beer in exchange for some water, and set off at about 10am.

For the first time in several sections, we were walking in cloud for most of the morning (at about 400m).

We took the road and then bridleway over Lype Hill and down to Wheddon Cross, where we met Helen for lunch (in the well-named Rest and be Thankful). She drove our packs to the Dunkerry Beacon car park while we followed on foot, and we then made a leisurely ascent of the Beacon (at 519m the highest point on Exmoor). The cloud lifted just in time for photos at the cairn, and over the fabulous Porlock Bay.

After Helen left us, we followed the Macmillan Way West on a pretty good path all the way to where we camped at 835422. The last hour was heavy rain, and we were too cold and wet to do much, so we had an early night.
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