Author Topic: Lonely hike around Scotland/Lake District  (Read 1654 times)

LoneTraveler

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Lonely hike around Scotland/Lake District
« on: 20:03:31, 19/07/20 »
Hello all,


Long time reader and so I thought it was about time I asked a question. What is the best multi-night hike in Scotland / Lake District that is the loneliest?


May seem like a strange question, but I love the idea of hiking completely on my own and would prefer to stay in the UK than go further afield.


Many thanks.

richardh1905

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Re: Lonely hike around Scotland/Lake District
« Reply #1 on: 21:26:18, 19/07/20 »
Welcome to the forum, LoneTraveler  :)


Forget the Lake District, far too busy. Also forget the well known Munros, in fact, best to avoid Munros altogether if you want real solitude.


I would head up to the far north of Scotland, maybe do a coast to coast from Helmsdale to Lochinver - that would take you through some really remote, rarely visited country.
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LoneTraveler

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Re: Lonely hike around Scotland/Lake District
« Reply #2 on: 16:02:17, 20/07/20 »
Hello,


Many thanks for taking the time to reply.


That sounds like an excellent route and just what I'm after. Looking on Google maps, it would appear very remote.


I would love to hear any other suggestions you or anyone else may have.

Bigfoot_Mike

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Re: Lonely hike around Scotland/Lake District
« Reply #3 on: 16:52:17, 20/07/20 »
You could try the Cape WrathTrail, which seems to be pretty remote.I have not tried this myself, but there is a partial trip report by Zen the dog and his companion in the Scotland section of the forum.

zuludog

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Re: Lonely hike around Scotland/Lake District
« Reply #4 on: 17:04:56, 20/07/20 »
The problem with answering a question like that is that you can keep going on & on - how many days is multi day? could be 3 days, could be a couple of weeks

However, a good start would be to look at north west Scotland, say from Loch Stack & Arkle to Richonnich then the area from the A838 west & north to the coast, around Sandwood Bay and Cape Wrath, Kinlochbervie
OS 1 : 50, 000 sheet 15 covers it, Search YouTube and Google for Cape Wrath etc
There are a few bothies in the area; and I hear that the high lochans are some of the best wild camping sites in Britain 

A few years ago I walked from Strath Carron to Cape Wrath via Kinlochewe, Ullapool, Kylestrome, & Richonnich, and met hardly anyone in the hills
« Last Edit: 17:10:59, 20/07/20 by zuludog »

LoneTraveler

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Re: Lonely hike around Scotland/Lake District
« Reply #5 on: 18:48:16, 22/07/20 »
The problem with answering a question like that is that you can keep going on & on - how many days is multi day? could be 3 days, could be a couple of weeks

However, a good start would be to look at north west Scotland, say from Loch Stack & Arkle to Richonnich then the area from the A838 west & north to the coast, around Sandwood Bay and Cape Wrath, Kinlochbervie
OS 1 : 50, 000 sheet 15 covers it, Search YouTube and Google for Cape Wrath etc
There are a few bothies in the area; and I hear that the high lochans are some of the best wild camping sites in Britain 

A few years ago I walked from Strath Carron to Cape Wrath via Kinlochewe, Ullapool, Kylestrome, & Richonnich, and met hardly anyone in the hills


Many thanks for your reply.


I was initially thinking something along the lines of 2-3 nights, but would like to extend in the future. I'll take a look at your suggestions.


Many thanks.

zuludog

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Re: Lonely hike around Scotland/Lake District
« Reply #6 on: 20:00:57, 22/07/20 »
Again we have the problem in the Highlands that you can go on and on just looking & planning and once you start you can get lost and confused just looking at maps

Depending on where you live, Cape Wrath is either a long way away, or a very long way away, though you can actually get all the way to it on public transport
These are a bit further south -

There is a lot of empty country , but still with paths, bothies and public transport to the east of Ben Nevis, around Corrour, Ben Alder, and Loch Treig

Here's a possibility -

From Shiel Bridge  - Gleann Lichd  - Camban Bothy - N via Gleann Gaorsaic - Iron Lodge - Maol Bhuidhe bothy - N & W via Bendronaig Lodge -Bearneas bothy - E to Bealach Bearneas N & W to Achnashellach

Maol Bhuidhe bothy is possibly the remotest building on mainland Britain

Or from Shiel Bridge head west to explore the glens and coastal walking around Glenelg, Letterfearn, Sandaig Islands and Arnisdale

zuludog

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Re: Lonely hike around Scotland/Lake District
« Reply #7 on: 20:32:36, 22/07/20 »
Some parts of The Scottish Borders can be fairly quiet and remote, but I don't know enough about them
I hear that even the long distance routes are quiet

Why not get some maps; play around with the search boxes for Google and YouTube, and work something out for yourself?

Birdman

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Re: Lonely hike around Scotland/Lake District
« Reply #8 on: 20:40:12, 22/07/20 »

I really enjoyed my Cape Wrath Trail walk last year as a lonely walk with lovely camp spots. For inspiration my walk report (I connected it to the WHW which is pretty crowded but it is a nice walk-in to the starting point).


https://www.hikingbirdman.com/cape-wrath-trail-via-west-highland-way/

 
Btw: I live in Southampton and a nightbus (cheap) got me to Glasgow and then short train ride  to Milngavie, where I started the WHW (if you want to skip the busy WHW you can get a bus to Ft William). There is a is a shuttle from Cape Wrath to Durness and from there you can take buses and trains to get you back south.
My travel and walking reports: https://www.hikingbirdman.com/

Booga

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Re: Lonely hike around Scotland/Lake District
« Reply #9 on: 21:34:03, 23/07/20 »
Some parts of The Scottish Borders can be fairly quiet and remote, but I don't know enough about them
I hear that even the long distance routes are quiet

Why not get some maps; play around with the search boxes for Google and YouTube, and work something out for yourself?
I've been researching the Southern Upland Way and reports seem to suggest that for a national trail it's very quiet, with some people saying they saw nobody else doing it. My November trips to Southern Scotland have always been quiet but that may have partially been because of the season.

Birdman

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Re: Lonely hike around Scotland/Lake District
« Reply #10 on: 09:14:31, 24/07/20 »

Many of the more remote hill walks to munros and especially corbetts in Scotland are very quiet, even during the summer. It is very common not to meet anybody. And almost all of them are lovely walks, even the ones that don't look so interesting on paper. Just avoid the very popular ones.  

 
WalkHighlands has a list where forum members can register which hills they have climbed and therefore has a list of the most popular hills. This can give you a good idea which routes are likely to be lonely:  

 
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/munros/most-climbed
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/corbetts/most-climbed



My travel and walking reports: https://www.hikingbirdman.com/

windyrigg

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Re: Lonely hike around Scotland/Lake District
« Reply #11 on: 17:13:05, 24/07/20 »
I agree with zuludog, the Scottish borders; hills around Moffat, St Marys' Loch, all VERY quiet :)

richardh1905

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Re: Lonely hike around Scotland/Lake District
« Reply #12 on: 17:20:39, 24/07/20 »
Interesting link, Birdman. Not representative of the hill walking community as a whole though, I suspect.
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Birdman

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Re: Lonely hike around Scotland/Lake District
« Reply #13 on: 17:47:28, 24/07/20 »
Interesting link, Birdman. Not representative of the hill walking community as a whole though, I suspect.


I think the walkers who register their climbed hills on that site are mainly hill baggers who often intent to climb all the hills, or at least try to build a list. For that reason I think the actual difference in popularity between high and low ranking hills on the list are much greater in practice, because many of low ranking hills will never be considered by the general public.


My own experience is that many of these less popular hills can be very quiet walks.
My travel and walking reports: https://www.hikingbirdman.com/

richardh1905

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Re: Lonely hike around Scotland/Lake District
« Reply #14 on: 21:15:28, 24/07/20 »
True enough. I suspect that Ben Nevis has way more ascents than Ben Lomond (top of the list) for instance.
Not that I would recommend either to someone looking for solitude!


PS - my most unvisited on that list is Ruadh Stac Mhor (not that I am a Munroist) - but we met a group on the summit - it was the last Munro for one of the party, so congratulations were in order, and a hip flask of Apricot Brandy was passed around.  :)
WildAboutWalking - Join me on my walks through the wilder parts of Britain

 

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