Southern Upland Way

城市概覽

The Southern Upland Way is a waymarked route opened in 1984, stretching 212 mi (341 km) coast-to-coast across the hills of lowland Scotland, from Portpatrick in the southwest to Cockburnspath on the North Sea coast. It's an "official" route, meaning the local council districts it traverses have a duty to keep it passable and waymarked. It's more demanding than the popular West Highland Way, since the stages are longer, crossing the grain of the land with much up-and-down. Many stage-ends lack accommodation and transport so you have to wild-camp, carrying all your kit and provisions. The route is of no great altitude but is often boggy and exposed, and seldom suitable for mountain bikes. Allow 14 days for the route: since 2020 the record for completing it is 55 hours 42 minutes. It's usual to hike from west to east, to have the prevailing wind and afternoon sun at your back, though the western sections are longer and tougher. The east is more populated and bucolic, and closer to the cities of Edinburgh and Newcastle, so their folk bring the car for an easy out-and-back Sunday ramble then pick up the next section another time.

Waymerks

Waymerks are small metal tokens concealed in thirteen "kists" hidden along the route: you're near one if you spot an "ULTREIA" sign, a Latin greeting for pilgrims. Help yourself to a merk if you find one, but please only take one. They're individually crafted and may be of lead, copper or pewter, or you hit the jackpot if you find one of silver. A merk was a medieval Scottish coin, abolished in 1707 upon the union with England: 13 of them made one English penny, so there's probably a sly anti-Scots joke there. A kist or cist is a prehistoric burial chamber. The original installation was in 2001; a new hoard was deposited in 2007 and the kists have been intermittently topped up since.

如何抵達

Portpatrick at the start has buses every hour or so from Stranraer, which has trains and buses from Glasgow and ferries from Belfast. Galashiels and Melrose to the east are on a busy transport corridor. Cockburnspath at the finish has a bus every couple of hours from Berwick, heading to Dunbar and Edinburgh.

順遊推薦

The Pennine Way from Edale in the Peak District has its north terminus at Kirk Yetholm. There isn't a trail onward to join SUW, which feels like a missing link. With proper maps you can easily find your own route, either via the coast at Berwick or by heading north to Longformacus. The coastal path heads south past Cockburnspath to the dramatic cliffs of St Abb's, Eyemouth, across the border to Berwick-upon-Tweed, Lindisfarne, and on down the coast of Northumberland. It heads north to end at Dunbar, start of the John Muir trail back across the Central Belt via Edinburgh to the west coast at Helensburgh. Near Loch Lomond the John Muir Trail intersects the West Highland Way, which goes to Fort William, for the ascent of Ben Nevis and start of the Great Glen Way to Inverness. You could be at this for some time.