I’ve had a fair few email chats (and phone chats) with folks preparing for their first TGO Challenge. As I did, they are all struggling with start points. I found this one of the worst things to settle one. Once you have made a decision other things tend to fall in place.

If you are in this position I would just offer one piece of advice. Chose a route that gets you off tarmac and into hills quickly. And then don’t rush through the North West too quickly as, in many ways, it will be the highlight of your trip.

The best starts that I have had are those where you stroll down a path turn a corner and suddenly find yourself in a wild landscape with no roads or settlements to spoil the view. Of my starts so far Strathcarron and Dornie stand out for those very reasons. I should also include Mallaig as once you are off the boat you will soon b in open country, that is if you can avoid the draw of the pub!

If the route you’re looking at has a long piece of tarmac at the start go and look somewhere else. Leave the tarmac for Challenge number 10!

Finally, don’t do what I did on my first Challenge and speed through the North West at a ridiculous pace. Firstly, you don’t meet anyone. And secondly, you could well find yourself walking along roads and stuff in the middle section with scarcely any memory of the dramatic North West!

Oh, and the links to my TGO journals are now in proper working order. Thanks to those of you who have pointed this out.

One of the nice things about this time of the year is to speak to some of those who have been successful in being accepted to the TGO Challenge for the first time. Each Challenge features a healthy number of first timers a feature which — as Humphrey Weightman so often points out — ensures that there is a real freshness about the event each year.

I can still remember — very vividly — the trepidation with which I approached the planning of my first walk across Scotland; as a result I’m always happy to not only share ideas through email, but to chat to people on the phone. This year I’ve already had the pleasure of talking to a handful of really nice people who I hope to be meeting somewhere along the trail.

Unsurprisingly, a feature of this year’s conversation has been the need to keep the cost down! I must admit to approaching this year’s crossing with a more frugal attitude than usual. so, just a few thoughts that might help anyone else tackle the event on a budget.

Camp Each Night

It is nice to spend some time in the B&Bs and independent hotels, not least because their quality is so high. But the Challenge is made for wild camping and, in my experience, the more nights spent out in the open the better. When I’m tackling the event on my own, as I will be next year, I shall spend every night in my tent.  To many nights under a roof seems to spoil the event somehow.

When you are not wild camping the Campsites should provide you with all of the luxury you may need. Most of the win campsites on the route are superb, featuring great shower facilities, laundry rooms and owners and staff who are happy to let you charge up your phone and will happily allow you to send a food parcel to them. Sending a food parcel to a campsite is a sensible move and even better than sending one to a B&B — with a campsite you are not bond to appear on a set evening.

I always ring the sites in advance, especially if I am sending a for parcel to them, but few of them require to book in advance. Even the very busy ones like Braemar will always find a little space for you to pitch.

Maximising time spent camping might give you a little flexibility. I would prefer to spend the night prior to to the start of the event in a small hotel of B&B; I always like that little bit of luxury before setting off. At the end of the event you’ll find the Montrose Campsite veer comfortable and convivial; again, you’ll be able to use the laundry room to get that grubby kit clean. Many of us love the shower block here, not least because of the classic hits local radio station, which always seems welcome after a stroll through the hills!

The campsites at Fort Augustus, Drumnadrochit, Cannich, Braemar, Ballater, Glentruim (Laggan-Netwonmore), Coylumbridge, Glenmore, North Water Bridge are all recommended.

Think Carefully About Food

Take your food preparation seriously. Dehydrating your own food (if you can) is cheaper the  buying the premium, commercial, products. Check for things like chip shops on route — they are great quality and often no more expensive than buying dehydrated food!

Some walkers minimise their use of hot food choosing to buy fresh bread, cheese and so on along the way. A few decent rolls and a packet of cheese will offer you more benefit than any number of power bars and will be a lot cheaper! Always keep a lot of porridge in your food drops — even thought you will hate the stuff at the end. Lidl sells a German Porridge which is flavoured with maple syrup or honey which is surprisingly more attractive than the normal stuff.

Lightweight hiker Colin Ibbotson never drinks warm drinks when he is trekking and this cuts down not only on the stuff he takes with him but also on the amount of fuel that he uses. I do like a warm drink and tend to carry both coffee and drinking chocolate with me. You can buy drinking chocolate in expensive little one-shot packages but simply decanting some in a plastic bag is probably better.

There will be times when you want to have a decent meal, especially breakfast when you get the chance! Being frugal for the rest of the time will make this an even better experience.

Many challengers find themselves in Bramear for a couple of days. The Old Bakery offers greta food deals for Challengers and, otherwise, there is no better meal available that that from the Hungry highlander chip shop!

Drinking in pubs is the biggest hazard in Braemar, but you’ll use have to work out your own strategy for dealing with that. Keeping Alan Sloman at a fair distance usually works for me!

It is not obligatory to carry a couple of bottles of good red or single malts in your pack

Travelling to Scotland

Plan your train route carefully. If you need to travel overnight you might consider booking a reclining seat on the sleeper rather than a birth. Travelling overnight also means that for many who live in the North the coach services become a real option. For those further South cut price airlines may offer a far cheaper alternative to the train.

Let me know if you have any other tips for a cost conscious Challenge!

I seem to have made it through the mysterious TGO Challenge draw again. No doubt there will be lots of people rushing home to catch the post so I’ll be careful — I don’t want to chop the excitement. (But for those with an insatiable curiosity you can find it on the TGO website — not the TGO Challenge website).

Many of the usual suspects seem to be on the list as usual, so the hostelries of Scotland will not be suffering any more than usual in May. Sadly, one or two of my best companions are not there as yet — no doubt they will be studying the standby list carefully.

I guess everyone does the same thing; rush down the list and to see who will be walking with them. I — of course — like to walk with any Challenger (except on those days when I am a miserable bastard and don’t want to walk with anyone). But I’m particularly looking forward to catching up again with Rob Hausam (USA), David Lintern (distinguished first timer), Rob Slade (fellow Duomid person), Shap (who this year doesn’t have to make any coffins) and Sue Banfield (who’s had back problems) and Steve and Graham (how come I didn’t catch you two last year?). And as ever, the Rev Albon will be providing spiritual support.

There are some noticeable omissions here. You know who you are! I shall miss you all, if you’re not on standby!

For those of you about to bury yourself in maps and computerised routes, my route this year looks like the following — just so you can avoid me if you want!

I shall be starting at Torridon and making my way through to Struy before tackling the Eskdale Triangle and moving on to Drum and the ferry over the Loch. Then it will be over the heather to Kincraig I think, the forest to Glenmore, some messing about on Ben Avon before dropping down to Ballater, taking the route Humphrey and I wanted to take last year to Feughside, the Fetteresso to somewhere near Stonehaven.

No Braemar for me this year (but then I have said that before and somehow found myself there).

And finally a message for Sloman. If you’re going to give everyone big snogs this year — get rid of that damn beard!

On one level, the more TGO Challenges that you walk the easier it is to plan a new one. But in other ways it gets more difficult. The problem is not where you want to go but the boring bits that you want to avoid. I’m struggling wit this at the moment in an attempt to construct a route for 2012.

I start with some core principles.

First off, lime Colin Ibbotson, I want to leave the southern routes until a time when I am old and past it — mind you that’s approaching rapidly! This might be a little unfair on the more southerly routes but this, at least, rules some out.

Secondly, I’d rather walk somewhere that I haven’t been before, but that gets more difficult.

The pinch points in the middle mean there are only so many ways across the Great Glen. And then there’s the danger of road walking in the middle bit. I’d rather avoid tarmac if I can.

A few weeks ago, for example, I thought I would start at Lochaillort. I’ve not been in this territory before but I know that I’m going to end up in some piece that I have been. There is a danger of ending up in Fort Augustus and going near the dreaded Corriarick Pass — I’m never going over that again. It would be nice to amble over to Glen Markie instead, but since the new reservoir has been constructed this seems to involve a lot of tarmac (unless you know otherwise).

I toyed with going back to Mallaig, as this is a great start and I could take a variation on previous routes walked. I thought about simply repeating last year’s route as it was so horrible. But what if it is that horrible again?

My latest wheeze is to go back to Torridon. I’ve started there before and the weather was dreadful. But then I was up there in early August this year and loved the hill. I quite fancy climbing some of them again. I want to avoid Cannich — where the pub is still holding my Velez trousers hostage — and maybe try Struy. I can construct what looks like a fine couple of day’s walk from Pollan Buidhe to Struy, either going high or staying lower.

Then it would be up and across Eskdale Moor before dropping down to Drumadrochit and the ferry. Then I discover the obvious route onto Eskdale has been blocked some pesky landowners. There are other ways around including the one taken by Mick and Gayle last year, a route with the attraction of no less than three deer fences. I almost went this way a few years ago and Colin Ibbotson did. Colin has confirmed where there is a nice spot to camp.

Eskdale is known by some as the triangle, people who go in never come out. But I think this is one of Sloman’s tall stories. Mind you, it is true that there is not much on the map. But wait, the new version of Routebudy casts light on all of this.

Routebuddy has a near feature where you can click from a map view to a high-res satellite image with your location brilliantly preserved. From Loch Bruichrean the satellite photos clearly show a load of tracks that are not on the maps. Mick and Gayle discovered these this year but were suspicious of where they would end — sensible to be cautious. But I can see from Routebudy that they simply end up in the same place as the one track that is marked on the map. Jeremy Borrows asks “why do you ant to go up there? It’s lonely”. Exactly. But, looking a these tracks, I might not be as lonely as I would have been.

From Drum its over the Ness and into the magical Monaliadth. I avoided it last year but think I need to return before the wind turbines are built. I don’t really mind which way I go here. But it must be time to avoid Aviemore. Maybe I shall drip down to Kincraig but there sees to be nothing here at all — unless you know better of course.

Kincraig offers a day of ambling through the lovely forest. I could end at Glenmore campsite rather than Coylumbridge. Glenmore has a great cafe and a chance for an early morning commune with the read squirrels. From here I could go up Bynack More and stay high for a while. But I’ve been up here before — careful I might sound like a bagger. A stroll around Ben Avon to the north has its attractions. I would avoid Braemar this year and look at a rest day in Ballater. Then again I think the walk was better last year for no rest day. Maybe a short day on Avon itself might be a good diversion water permitting. I am not one for sitting on a trip point, eating my sarnies, only to stare out at think, impenetrable, mist!

From Ballater things are easier. There is the high route that Humph and I were planning last year and which we had to abort. Mind you. What happens if the weather is as bad again? DO I really want to risk Aboyne again?

The Fettereso is now a must, Humph having introduced me to its subtle pleasures.

But those boring bits! What to do?

Maybe I’ll adopt the Phil and Lou tack. I’ll put in a route but then just walk East everyday. You still get to the coast in the end!

Well, it’s here at long, last!

Everything should be working although the CSS code probably need tweaking here and there (which I will do over the next few days).

I hope you enjoy reading this more than I did walking it!

TGO Challenge 2011: Acharacle to Stonehaven