You are free to use these GPX routes below as a guide. They are not definitive and have not been tested on the ground. It is therefore in your best interests to do your own checks and if necessary make modifications to them before you set out. It is hoped that as sections are walked they are modified and your tracks are uploaded to the site to improve the route. spred09@gmail.com We accept no liability for routing that proves impossible on the ground.
Many of the GPX files for route sections are an attempt to create a detailed route across ground that is without paths and does so by careful examination of the ground as it appears on OS maps, Openstreet maps with contours and Google Earth images. This enables the hiker to avoid obvious problems by crossing streams at the narrowest point, avoiding large areas likely to be boggy, skirting small lakes and ponds and avoiding cliffs. Section 1b Durness to Loch Stack, crosses a river flowing out of Loch Dionard at a point selected to be shallow as it appears on Google Earth images. This is an exception to the `rivers to be crossed by bridges rule`. There is an alternative to this path which extends the route by 3 miles.
However, following such a detailed GPX track may not be easy to follow when detail that does not show up on either of the mapping sources. For instance, a drop of 3m will not show up on Google Earth images. Bogland is similarly difficult to determine. One can only work out where it is likely to be shallowest by deducing the point at which it drains.
Therefore, I have supplied a limited number of supplementary GPX tracks which contain only the major bearings. These are intended to be used by the experienced hiker as guides but do not describe the track in detail which will need to be negotiated using `mountaincraft`.
These files are in the SCC straighteners and bearings folder.
Note: Straighteners only exist to make the line straighter and may not represent the best route. Section 31 Spey to E Highland way breaks the `rivers to be crossed by bridges rule` as it crosses the Spey at a point which appears to be a vehicle ford deduced from tracks on the ground.
Because of the order in which files were added to the folder they are not quite in sequence thus 1a is not followed by 1b in the list, but if you search within the folder you can build the sequence from N to S in number order. The Master Scotland Coast to Coast N to S is an overview of the whole route (bottom of list).