Hill Walking

All Year Ramblers

Scots do not hike. They hill walk. We learned this terminology when we were here two years ago. At that time, Mike joined the All Year Ramblers hill walking club. He was so impressed with that experience that both of us are now members. The club, as the name implies, goes on hill walks throughout the year; they go in all weather, twice every week. As mentioned in an earlier post, since it bears repeating, Scotland is a paradise for people who like to hike; excuse me, hill walk.

Today was Mike's first hill walk with them since we arrived last week. And, they genuinely welcomed him back; very nice people. Today's hill walk was a point-to-point on one of Scotland's famous trails, the Southern Upland Way. They spent an hour and a half on the bus getting to the hill walk and the same again returning. They covered 13 miles with 2,500 feet of elevation gain with unobstructed views; no trees to limit the view distance. This 200+ mile trail; oops, another language slip. This 200+ mile foot path extends coast-to coast paralleling, and not far from, the border with England. When it opened, it was the UK's first officially recognized coast-to-coast long-distance route.

 Both Beth and Mike will join the club later in the week for another hill walk.