The Southern Upland Way. Alan Castle
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THE SOUTHERN UPLAND WAY
SCOTLAND’S COAST TO COAST TRAIL
by Alan Castle, updated by Ronald Turnbull
JUNIPER HOUSE, MURLEY MOSS,
OXENHOLME ROAD, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA9 7RL
About the Author
Alan has trekked in more than 30 countries within Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa and Australasia, and for 17 years led organised walking holidays in several European countries. He has written more than a dozen walking guidebooks, several on long-distance mountain routes in France. His longer solo walks include a Grand Traverse of the European Alps between Nice and Vienna (1510 miles), the Pilgrim’s Trail from Le Puy to Santiago de Compostela (960 miles) and a Coast-to-Coast across the French Pyrenees (540 miles). A Munroist and erstwhile National Secretary and Long Distance Path Information Officer of the Long Distance Walkers Association, Alan now lives at the foot of the Moffat Hills in Scotland, in the heart of the Southern Uplands.
Alan’s first encounter with the Southern Upland Way was in 1995, when he backpacked the full length of the trail. A decade later he repeated the complete route a second time, this time mainly using bed and breakfast and hotel accommodation, in order to research this guidebook. He has travelled extensively on foot in most areas of the Southern Uplands, having climbed all of the Donalds and most of the other hills above 500m in height, and traversed them from south to north in 2003 as part of his walk between Land’s End and John o’ Groats.
Other Cicerone guides by the author
The John Muir Trail (California, USA)
The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail (Cévennes, France)
The Grand Traverse of the Massif Central
The Speyside Way
Tour of the Queyras (French and Italian Alps)
Trekking in the Alps (contributing author)
About the Updater
Ronald Turnbull has written several books for Cicerone Press, including Walking in the Southern Uplands and The Book of the Bivvy. He lives in the Lowther Hills, alongside the Southern Upland Way, which he first walked in 1986 just after it opened.
© Alan Castle and Ronald Turnbull 2018
Second edition 2018
ISBN: 978 1 85284 993 1
First edition 2007
Printed in China on behalf of Latitude Press Ltd
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
All photographs are by the updater unless otherwise stated.
Acknowledgements
I am particularly indebted to Andrew Case of southernuplandway.com for help with the accommodation logistics during my research along the Way, and to Richard Mearns, Dumfries & Galloway Council SUW Ranger, who provided much updated information on the route, especially on the various changes to the line of the SUW over recent years. I would also like to thank Mike Baker, Scottish Borders Council SUW Ranger, and Jude Allison of Dumfries & Galloway Tourist Board for information and support. Thanks go also to the various owners and staff of the hotels and bed and breakfast establishments who provided me with accommodation and meals, often at reduced prices, and in particular to the proprietors of the Plantings Inn, Castle Kennedy, the Butchach Bed & Breakfast, New Luce, House o’ Hill Hotel, Bargrennan, Blackaddie House Hotel, Sanquhar, the Garage Bed & Breakfast, Wanlockhead and the Camping and Caravanning Club. Finally, a thank you to the Stair Estates for help given during my visit to Castle Kennedy Gardens.
I am grateful, as always, to my wife, Beryl Castle, for all her advice, support and encouragement during the planning, research and writing of this guidebook.
Ronald Turnbull (2018) thanks in particular Ross Gemmell, Dumfries and Galloway path ranger, for much helpful advice and information as well as for his continuing hard work maintaining the wetter and more fragile western part of the SUW.
Updates to this Guide
While every effort is made by our authors to ensure the accuracy of guidebooks as they go to print, changes can occur during the lifetime of an edition. Any updates that we know of for this guide will be on the Cicerone website (www.cicerone.co.uk/993/updates), so please check before planning your trip. We also advise that you check information about such things as transport, accommodation and shops locally and on the Southern Upland Way website (www.southernuplandway.gov.uk). Even rights of way can be altered over time. We are always grateful for information about any discrepancies between a guidebook and the facts on the ground, sent by email to [email protected] or by post to Cicerone, Juniper House, Murley Moss, Oxenholme Road, Kendal, LA9 7RL.
Register your book: To sign up to receive free updates, special offers and GPX files, register your book at www.cicerone.co.uk.
Front cover: Rainbow over Innerleithen, from Fethan Hill (Stage 10)
CONTENTS
Luggage transfer and drop-off/pick-up services