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Southern Upland Way 2015 – Route

The countdown to my Southern Upland Way continues. I’ll be heading out five weeks on Saturday and using a tortuous series of trains and buses to reach my starting point. I should at least be ready for the challenge ahead; last weekend’s walk with Chris has given me some confidence that I’ve found my hill walking legs again. It’s always a worry that I haven’t done enough training and the walk will be a nightmare struggle, although in reality this has never been the case.

As I mentioned elsewhere, the route I’m taking is a little different to the standard route, especially in the middle section where I divert to Leadhills, so for anyone following along, here are the stats for the route I’ll be following.

Day Date From To Distance Height Gain
 1  Sun 3rd May Portpatrick Stranraer 9.6m 1,300 ft
 2  Mon 4th May Stranraer New Luce 14.2m 1,200 ft
 3  Tue 5th May New Luce Bargrennan 19.1m 1,900 ft
 4  Wed 6th May Bargrennan Clatteringshaws Loch 17.5m 2,200 ft
 5  Thu 7th May Clatteringshaws Loch Stroanpatrick 15.5m 2,000 ft
 6  Fri 8th May Stroanpatrick Sanquhar 18.7m 2,800 ft
7  Sat 9th May Sanquhar Leadhills 9.8m 2,200 ft
 8  Sun 10th May Leadhills Beattock 20.6m 3,700 ft
 9  Mon 11th May Beattock St. Mary’s Loch 21.2m 3,500 ft
 10  Tue 12th May St. Mary’s Loch Innerleithen 13.3m 1,500 ft
 11  Wed 13th May Innerleithen Galashiels 14.6m 2,600 ft
 12  Thu 14th May Galashiels Lauder 14.8m 1,700 ft
 13  Fri 15th May Lauder Longformacus 15.6m 2,000 ft
 14  Sat 16th May Longformacus Cockburnspath 18.4m 2,500 ft
222.9m 31,100 ft

The two tough days between Leadhills and St. Mary’s Loch are the focus of my training for the remaining weeks. If I train for the worst, the best will be easy – or at least that’s always been my thinking.

I was going to do a posting on my Kit List, but the list is so similar to the kit I took on the same walk in 2013 that I don’t think I’ll bother. One or two small items have changed, but the approach is the same. I’ve found a system of clothing that works well, provides flexibility for different weather conditions and doesn’t weigh a ton. You can see most of the kit selection decisions from last time, here: Southern Upland Way 2013 Kit List.

4 thoughts on “Southern Upland Way 2015 – Route”

  1. Canuk Walker

    Wishing you all the best on your SUW walk. As StuartS67 notes you’ve got a couple of ambitous days planned. WE very much enjoyed our stay at the Hopetoun Arms in Leadhills. We split up the walk to St. Mary’s Loch sstayiong at a bothies for two different nights. Of course, you’ll not have all the backpacking gear so I expect you’ll be fine. It’s a glorious part of the walk. Here’s hoping the weather co-operates!

    1. lonewalker

      Thanks Tim. The weather here for the past three weeks has been superb, only rained a couple of times in the last few days, so sort of expecting that to break just in time for me to set out! But, you get what you get and just need to make the best of it.

  2. StuartS67

    Hi Stuart – I must say those are two very tough consecutive days you have there on the 10th and 11th. Not just the distance but also the ascent. I think some walkers (myself included), in the course of a long-distance walk, might manage that on one day, but not two in a row. Good luck with the training for that.

    1. lonewalker

      Two such days coming early in the walk would be tough, but I’ll have been walking for a week by that point so should be able to put in two big days. When the weather is nice and you can take multiple breaks it’s not too bad either.

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