The Southern Upland Way. Alan Castle
Dumfries Tourist Information Centre, which is situated on the Whitesands – open all year). One possibility is to travel from your home to Dumfries, spend a night there (take time to visit the Robert Burns Centre, his house and his mausoleum) in a hotel or B&B, and take a bus the next morning to Stranraer. At the time of writing, the number 500 bus leaves Whitesands in Dumfries at 9.20am (Monday to Saturday), before arriving in Stranraer at 11.36am, with a connection to Portpatrick at 12.40pm, arriving at 1pm. This is most convenient for those wishing to start the SUW immediately on arrival at Portpatrick (or after lunch) as the first section to Castle Kennedy is only a half-day walk. However, to leave without spending some time in the delightful little coastal town of Portpatrick would be sacrilege.
Access to Portpatrick by private transport is via the A75, which leaves the A74/M74 north of Carlisle. From Stranraer take the A77 or a minor road across the Rhins to Portpatrick.
Kilhern Moss (Stage 2)
Journey from Cockburnspath
Buses from Cockburnspath run north to Dunbar and Edinburgh (airport) and south to Berwick-on-Tweed (mainline trains, including to Newcastle for its airport). Those with private transport have the nearby A1 to take them to destinations both south and north. There is currently no accommodation at Cockburnspath: you should allow time at the day’s end for the short bus journey to Dunbar.
Transport links along the SUW
Those planning to do the SUW in one- or two-day stages will find the good – or at worst usable – public transport links they need.
Stranraer (Stage 1) has bus links to Dumfries, and trains to Glasgow. There is even a ferry to Belfast from Cairnryan, a few miles to the north.
Castle Kennedy (end stage 1) is on the Dumfries–Stranraer bus route.
Glenluce (end stage 2) has a bus to Stranraer three days a week.
Bargrennan (end stage 3) has several buses a day to Barrhill (rail station) and Newton Stewart (Dumfries–Stranraer bus route).
St John’s Town of Dalry (stage 5) has a good bus service to Castle Douglas, on the Dumfries–Stranraer bus route.
Sanquhar (end stage 6) has a rail station (Glasgow to Carlisle).
Wanlockhead (stage 7) has a bus service to Sanquhar, and also to Lanark.
Dalveen Pass A701 (end stage 7) is on the 102 Dumfries–Edinburgh bus route (but not the 101, which goes via Moffat).
Moffat/Beattock (end stage 8) has direct buses to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Lockerbie (rail station) and Dumfries.
Ettrick (3km east of Scabcleuch, end stage 9) has a school bus to Selkirk.
Innerleithen (1.5km from Traquair, end stage 10) has a good bus service to Edinburgh.
Tweedbank (stage 11) has direct trains to Edinburgh.
Melrose/Galashiels (end stage 11) have bus links to Edinburgh and Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Lauder (end stage 12) has buses to Edinburgh and Melrose/Galashiels.
Planning and preparation
Southern Upland Way track through the Galloway Hills (Stage 4)
If you have never undertaken a long-distance trail as a continuous walking holiday before, then a few hints at the planning stage may come in useful.
Book any accommodation that is required well in advance.
Research all your travel arrangements, with timetables and fares for getting to the start of the Trail and getting home after you have finished it. Book if necessary.
If using a commercial organisation to transport your luggage from accommodation addresses along the Trail (see Appendix D), book this well before you leave home.
If using a commercial organisation for vehicle support (as above), book this service well in advance.
Purchase all the equipment required well before you intend to set out. This is particularly important for boots, which must be well ‘broken in’ before using them on the SUW. If backpacking, make sure that you try out your equipment before your first night on the Trail to spot any possible flaws or problems associated with its use.
If you have not undertaken much walking throughout the previous year then it is essential that you take several long walks in the couple of months or so before your big walk. Moreover, make sure that, on at least some of these walks, you carry the sort of weights in your rucksack or backpack that you will be carrying on the SUW.
Pack your rucksack/backpack several days before you leave home to ensure that all your equipment fits well in the sack. Go through a checklist of essential items to be taken, remove any unnecessary items (apart from perhaps one or two lightweight luxuries), repack and carry the pack on a few short walks to ensure that it sits comfortably on your back and hips and that all is well. (Finally, take those two lightweight luxuries back out of the sack – they won’t seem so light after 200 miles...)
Ensure that you have enough cash with you for either the whole trip or until you can be certain of easily acquiring more.
On the first day of your holiday leave early for the train or bus station to avoid missing your transport which could put all your arrangements and accommodation reservations in jeopardy.
Start the walk and relax – all should now go like clockwork – and enjoy the walk!
Scotch Blackface tups (rams) of the Southern Uplands (photo: Alan Castle)
Equipment
There are several kitlists available these days with plentiful advice on equipment for various types of walking activities, and many glossy manufacturers’ brochures detail all manner of high tech hiking equipment, so newcomers to walking are advised to consult these before setting out on the SUW.
But one point is worth emphasising here. Nothing spoils a walking expedition more than carrying a large, very heavy rucksack, particularly one containing lots of unnecessary equipment. The author is often amazed at the quantity of equipment that some people carry even on modest excursions. Assemble your equipment and then go through it carefully to see what may be safely left behind. If you are staying in B&B and hotel accommodation, it should not be necessary to carry more than 15–20lbs, even including food and drink. Backpackers should aim for under 30lbs and certainly never more than 35lbs on a route of this nature, where food is available every few days. The main things to consider when packing include:
Sufficient clothing plus an emergency blanket to keep you warm, dry and safe
Maps, guidebook, compass, torch, whistle
A small first aid kit plus any personal medicines
A small washing kit (not a huge soap bag and no towel if using B&B or hotel accommodation)
Sufficient food and drink, including emergency food
Backpackers will also need a good lightweight tent, sleeping bag, insulating mat, cooking stove, utensils, fuel and a lightweight travel towel. Most other items will be superfluous. My luxuries consist only of a camera and a small exercise book to be used as a travel journal.
Maps
This guidebook contains Ordnance Survey (OS) Landranger (1:50,000) mapping of the entire SUW with the route of the Trail clearly overlaid. Provided no serious navigational errors occur en route, nor long detours from the SUW are envisaged, then in theory this is the only mapping that is required to walk the Trail.