to and from the SUW
Completion certificates and SUW badges
A high-level alternative coast-to-coast route
Stage 1 Portpatrick to Castle Kennedy
Stage 2 Castle Kennedy to New Luce
Stage 3 New Luce to Bargrennan
Stage 4 Bargrennan to the Glenkens
Stage 5 Across the Glenkens
Stage 6 The Glenkens to Sanquhar
Stage 7 Sanquhar to Dalveen Pass
Stage 8 Dalveen Pass to Beattock (Moffat)
Rest day – Moffat and environs
Stage 9 Beattock (Moffat) to Ettrick
Stage 10 Ettrick to Traquair (Innerleithen)
Stage 11 Traquair (Innerleithen) to Melrose
Stage 12 Melrose to Lauder
Stage 13 Lauder across the Lammermuir Hills to Longformacus
Stage 14 Longformacus to Cockburnspath
Appendix A Itinerary planner
Appendix B Bothies along the SUW
Appendix C Bibliography
Appendix D Useful contacts
ROUTE SUMMARY TABLE
Previous editions of this book have given the Southern Upland Way 341km (212 miles). The slight increase here reflects greater accuracy using GPS data. The Southern Upland Way hasn’t been extended – in fact, recent improvements have taken 0.5km off it!
With the closure of the Tibbie Shiels Inn, it’s not always possible to create day stages of a comfortable distance based around current accommodation options. This chart, and this new edition, show the Way broken down into 14 day stages of comfortable length, as used by commercial pick-up and drop-off services. Note that not all day stage ends have accommodation or facilities. Please refer to the Itinerary planner (Appendix A) for details of where you can find accommodation along the SUW (as well as the distances between intermediate points).
Waymerks kist and cairn, Ettrick Head (see ‘Waymarking and navigation’ and Stage 9)
INTRODUCTION
The Southern Upland Way
Heading up to the Cogs pass above Sanquhar (Stage 7)
The best long-distance walking trails have two characteristics that make them great: a succession of dramatic landscapes coupled with a broad selection of interesting places to visit along the way. The Southern Upland Way (SUW), Scotland’s Coast to Coast Walk, scores highly on both. As the SUW cuts across the grain of the country many different landscapes are unveiled: coastal cliffs, high moorland, rolling hills, remote mountains, forests, lochs, mountain streams, majestic rivers and sylvan valleys abounding in wildlife. The SUW passes through regions that are exceedingly rich in archaeological and historical associations, from prehistoric standing stones to monuments commemorating the Killing Times of the 17th-century Covenanters. There are formal gardens and stately homes to visit en route as well as some of the more elegant towns of Dumfries & Galloway and the Borders, such as Moffat and Melrose, the latter with its famous abbey – so many places of interest to stimulate and delight the visitor. Long-distance walking is all about exploring new territory and at a pace where it can be fully savoured. The Southern Uplands of Scotland are probably the least visited area of Britain, and it is likely that most walkers who venture out from Portpatrick on the west coast will be discovering an area that for them was hitherto unknown: they will be pleasantly surprised. The SUW has it all! If you choose this trail for your annual walking holiday then you will certainly not be disappointed.
The 347km (215 mile) long SUW, Scotland’s longest Great Trail, starts out from the west coast of Scotland at the picturesque old harbour of Portpatrick. After a few kilometres following the dramatic cliff tops north of Portpatrick, the SUW swings inland to begin its long journey eastward, firstly across the narrow Rhins peninsula. Kennedy Gardens, ablaze with rhododendrons and azaleas in season, is passed en route for New Luce, where the story of the Covenanters and the Killing Times starts to unfold. A crossing of the remote and beautiful Galloway Hills follows, through Bargrennan and on to dramatic Loch Trool, site of one of Robert the Bruce’s victories over the English in 1307. After Clatteringshaws Loch comes friendly St John’s Town of Dalry. Here, walkers stock up for the long section of the Way across the hills to Sanquhar, where Britain’s oldest post office dating from 1763 will be seen in the High Street. Wanlockhead at 425m (1394ft) is Britain’s highest village and home to the Museum of Scottish Lead Mining, where time may be taken off from the route to visit an old lead mine. The SUW, in a superb high-level section, now climbs to its
