Walking through Scotland's History by Ian Mitchell
Today, we travel on wheels. The first settlers, advancing tentatively northwards after the ice age, travelled on foot, and so did most of the succeeding waves of incomers - Celts, Romans, Irish missionaries, Gaels, the first Scots, Vikings, Saxons, Normans, proud Edward's armies, mediaeval pilgrims, Montrose's armies, Hanoverians, surveyors and road-makers, and, eventually, the early 'tourists' (i.e. those doing 'the tour'). And then, there were those who walked out of Scotland, the Jacobites en route to Derby in 1745, the drovers en route to Smithfield in the 19th century and the hunger marchers en route to London in 1936.
Ian Mitchell's research reveals the incredible endurance of some of these early 'walkers'. Their achievements would make many of the modern self-professed 'hard (wo)men of the hills' look very ordinary. They had none of our modern equipment, none of the reliable shelter we can count on, none of the 'fall-backs' of Mountain Rescue helicopters, global positioning systems, accurate maps, mobile phones, vehicle-borne dry clothes, pre-booked hostels, dependable cooking facilities and supplies of cookables. Incredibly, many of these early walkers, as well as accomplishing mammoth feats of physical endurance, were also engaged in military campaigns, were fighting for their lives and were carrying all the necessary fighting equipment in addition to survival equipment.
Amongst the most staggering achievements of all were those of the Ordnance Survey's mapping parties under Major-General Thomas Colby, who worked in Scotland in the years immediately following the Napoleonic wars. Mitchell goes so far as to call him "the most prodigious pedestrian ever to have trodden Scottish soil" - quite an accolade in the context of a survey of 2000 years of pedestrianism. The summer of 1819 saw the setting of what modern athletes would term their 'personal bests'. First, they spent 22 days travelling through Inverness-shire, Ross-shire, Caithness and Orkney and, in that time, covered 513 miles - and they should have known, because they were surveying as they went! After just a single day's rest, they set off again, this time through Kintail, Skye and Wester Ross and, in a second period of 22 days, covered a further 586 miles. A little simple arithmetic will reveal that, in 44 days, they therefore covered 1099 miles, these miles including ascents too, because, as surveyors, they were seeking suitable, inter-visible sites for trigonometrical calculations. A little further arithmetic will show that they averaged 25 miles per day, or a step or two short of a modern marathon. To put these mind-blowing feats further into perspective, it should be remembered that they were carrying the clumsy surveying apparatus of the day, plus - albeit a minimum of - clothes, food and overnight equipment. What price today's paltry 'Ultimate' Challenge, Mountain Marathon and the like?
Mitchell does not confine himself to the prodigious; he also tells us of the travelling exploits of the reivers and the drovers, the distillers and the gaugers, the Irish labourers on the Blackwater dam, the tinkers, the seasonally migrating fisherfolk and the Clydeside unemployed of the 1930s, who walked to freedom at the Craigallion fire, Carbeth and the hills beyond.
From the Scotways point of view, it is gratifying to note that Mitchell makes copious use of "Scottish Hill Tracks" in recommending to his readers routes they might use in retracing the steps of these great pedestrians of old. A good read and good value.
Alistair Lawson
