UKH

Hi,

Im going to be doing the NC500 from start to finish walking and camping at night to sleep. Im going to be doing this to raise money for mfr cash for kids 500 faces whom ive spoken to and will be meeting to arrange fundraising before i take it on. Its a big task as i have no experiance but im sstrong hearyed determined and want to challange myself. But im needing help planning this as in how many miles a day where ill stop so people that are experianced and can help me its for a good cause and any help would be greatly appreciated.  Please feel free to email me on joshmurison17@outlook.com

Thanks josh 

In reply to Joshmurison:

I would strongly recommend you get some experience before considering such a long multi-day walk. Without that you really don't know what you are getting into. You might find it easy or very hard to do this type of challenge, but without a few days under your belt it is really difficult to tell. The simplest things like blisters or poor navigation could scupper the whole venture or put you in harms way. 

 

In reply to SouthernSteve:

I know i can walk long distance and on rough terrain. I live in gardenstown and walk the are which is very hilly as it consists of mainly cliffside walks so the walking long distance isnt an issue day affer day will be a challange but im getting myself fit at the moment. Im pretty determined to do it and with the right help im sure i can. Plus its not till july august time id be doing it and ive started pushing myself on walks. Beeing it no experiance of taking on such a big task but i walk daily around the coastside. Its more planning how much i take on each day and stops and so on as its not your average walk 10 mile in my local area .

In reply to Joshmurison:

 

You do realise the NC500 is a road route?

 

In reply to Brass Nipples:

And one that is supposedly struggling with traffic volumes in high season. Spending a month dodging an endless stream of German campervans on 500 miles of single carriageway with passing places would be an adventure of sorts, for sure...

 

In reply to Joshmurison:

To the OP: why the NC500? If you want to do a long distance walk, you could string together a number of the National trails- eg John Muir trail + west highland way + great glen way would be around 250 miles I think, off road, waymarked, with accommodation options. Can link on to southern upland way for another couple of hundred miles, not done it but I believe a tougher proposition. 

In reply to Brass Nipples:

He should be able to hitch most of it then

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

Well something like this could be good yeah im just looking for help on planning something from people with experiance but it looks like people would rather mock than help. I want to push myself to my limits as a person and raise money for a good charity aswell so i came on here looking for advice and help planning such a walk. Thanks if you could help that would be great 

In reply to Joshmurison:

no_more_scotch_eggs is right. The NC500 doesn't look like a good idea. Linking up well marked Long Distance Paths seems a much better idea. Here is a suggestion. You live in Gardenstown. I think this is near Cullen. You could start at Cullen and walk the Moray Coastal Path to Buckie.
- Then join the Speyside Way to Aviemore.
- From Aviemore the East Highland Way [not so well signposted] would take you to Fort William.
- From Fort William take the West Highland Way to just south of Drymen and join the John Muir Way.
- Walk the John Muir Way to Dunbar and follow the John Muir Link to Cockburnspath.
- From Cockburnspath walk the Berwick Coastal path to Berwick and then the Northumberland Coastal Path to just across from Lindisfarne Island.
- From here walk the St Cuthbert's Way to Melrose.
- From Melrose you can join the Southern Upland Way. The western part of the SUW is tough going so you could go as far as Traquair and join the Scottish National Trail to Edinburgh.
I don't know how many miles this is. Google these Long Distance Paths and work it out. If you need extra miles you could add the Border Abbeys Way, a circular route from Melrose. 

It sounds like a very worthwhile cause so all the best. However, don't underestimate the difficulties of walking 500 miles in a continuous trip.

In reply to Joshmurison: This might help you to link the Scottish Long Distance Trails Click on the walk and get a description and a link through to reports by people who have done them. Dont walk the NC500 unless you like Dutch campervans and motor bikes!

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/long-distance-routes.shtml

 

In reply to russellcampbell:

Thanks i will have a look at theses and see what can be done. Thanks for the help. Yeah i know it will be a big task but its for a good cause and im a pretty determined person. However i am taking it serious and know the risk of injury and so on is a risk also. But i will get there in the end and i will take the advice and not walk the nc500 and look at linking up routes. I woild much rather be in touch eith somebody that can give me advice on planning how much to do each day where my stops will be and things like food and water stops etc small things but important if im to try this.

In reply to leon 1:

Thanks i do like motorbikes but only riding them not jumping out of the way of tgem do thanks and ill have a look at the link 

In reply to Joshmurison:

I woild much rather be in touch eith somebody that can give me advice on planning how much to do each day where my stops will be and things like food and water stops etc small things but important if im to try this.

The thing is Josh, those don’t look like small things; they are absolutely fundamental to the project. No one is going to be able to tell you how far you will be able to walk in a day, never mind on the 30th day of this, or whatever- you need to be able to work that out yourself based on your capabilities as you have come to understand them. We don’t know your experience of walking carrying loads, of navigation, of camping in atrocious weather or under midge onslaught; or your likely reaction to these when under some pressure. It makes giving meaningful advice nigh on impossible.

 

i think it’s a great cause you are planning to support- but you need to have some of the answers to the points above before you get close to planning such an undertaking. If it was me, and I wish it was... I would plan to do at least 1 week on a long distance path at Easter, perhaps the west highland way, to see how I managed and start to work out my own system. And to work out whether I was realistically able to do 5times that distance 3 months later. 

 

Best wishes with it, and let us know how it goes.

In reply to Joshmurison:

Why not try something smaller first?  In two or three days you could do half the West Highland Way. 

The West Highland Way is a great first route with roads and villages not too far away if things go wrong.  Doing half of it over a long weekend will give you some experience on which to base your choices for the much longer route.    

In reply to tom_in_edinburgh:

Yeah i think i will give this a go in april may time and might do the moray coast before this to see what i can do over a few days. Thanks folks