Scotland's Great Trails are long-distance "people-powered" trails in Scotland, analogous to the

National Trails National Trails are long distance footpaths and bridleways in England and Wales. They are administered by Natural England, a statutory agency of the UK government, and Natural Resources Wales (successor body to the Countryside Council for Wal ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

or the

Grande Randonnée The GR footpaths are a network of long-distance walking trails in Europe, mostly in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain. They go by the following names: french: link=no, sentier de grande randonnée, vls, link=no, Groteroutepad, nl, L ...

paths of France. The designated routes are primarily intended for walkers, but may have sections suitable for cyclists and horse-riders; one of the trails, the Great Glen Canoe Trail, is designed for

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the ter ...

ists and

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word '' qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each s ...

ers. The trails range in length from to , and are intended to be covered over several days, either as a combination of day trips or as an end-to-end trip. In order to be classified as one of Scotland’s Great Trails, a route must fulfil certain criteria. The route must be at least in length, and be clearly waymarked with a dedicated symbol. It is expected that visitor services will be present along the way, and that the route will have an online presence to help visitors in planning their journey. Trails are required to run largely off-road, with less than 20% of the route on

tarmac Tarmac may refer to: Engineered surfaces * Tarmacadam, a mainly historical tar-based material for macadamising road surfaces, patented in 1902 * Asphalt concrete, a macadamising material using asphalt instead of tar which has largely superseded tar ...

NatureScot NatureScot ( gd, NàdarAlba), which was formerly known as Scottish Natural Heritage, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for the country's natural heritage, especially its natural, genetic and ...

is the custodian of the Scotland's Great Trails brand, maintaining the official list and providing some finance and publicity, the responsibility however for creating and maintaining each route lies with the

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

through which a route passes. There are 29 routes, providing of trails in total. Additionally, the northernmost of the

Pennine Way The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...

between the

Anglo-Scottish border The Anglo-Scottish border () is a border separating Scotland and England which runs for between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. The surrounding area is sometimes referred to as "the Borderlands". The ...

and Kirk Yetholm lie within

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, although are designated as one of the

National Trail National Trails are long distance footpaths and bridleways in England and Wales. They are administered by Natural England, a statutory agency of the UK government, and Natural Resources Wales (successor body to the Countryside Council for Wal ...

s of

. The route of each of the Great Trails is marked with coloured diamonds on

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

''Explorer'' (1:25000) and ''Landranger'' (1:50000) maps; the SGT logo of a

thistle Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves ...

within a hexagon is also used to highlight the routes at the 1:25000 scale.

History

The trails grew out of the Long Distance Routes (LDRs), which were proposed and financially supported by

Scottish Natural Heritage NatureScot ( gd, NàdarAlba), which was formerly known as Scottish Natural Heritage, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for the country's natural heritage, especially its natural, genetic and s ...

(SNH), and administered and maintained by the local authorities. The Countryside (Scotland) Act 1967 provided the legal basis for the Long Distance Routes, but the first one was not opened officially until 1980. By 2010 there were four LDRs: *

West Highland Way The West Highland Way ( gd, Slighe na Gàidhealtachd an Iar) is a linear long-distance route in Scotland. It is long, running from Milngavie north of Glasgow to Fort William in the Scottish Highlands, with an element of hill walking in t ...

, opened in 1980 *

Speyside Way The Speyside Way (Doric: '; gd, Slighe Shrath Spe) is a long-distance path in the Scottish Highlands. The route begins in Buckie and ends at Newtonmore, away. There is an optional spur leading off the main route to Tomintoul, adding and of as ...

, opened in 1981 *

Southern Upland Way The Southern Upland Way is a coast-to-coast long-distance footpath in southern Scotland. The route links Portpatrick in the west and Cockburnspath in the east via the hills of the Southern Uplands. The Way is designated as one of Scotland's ...

, opened in 1984 *

Great Glen Way The Great Glen Way ( gd, Slighe a' Ghlinne Mhòir) is a long distance path in Scotland. It follows the Great Glen, running from Fort William in the southwest to Inverness in the northeast, covering . It was opened in 2002, and is designated as ...

, opened in 2002 Following the passage of the

Land Reform Act (Scotland) 2003 Land reform in Scotland is the ongoing process by which the ownership of land, its distribution and the law which governs it is modified, Land reform, reformed and modernised by Property law, property and Regulatory law, regulatory law. Land ow ...

, the public has a right to responsible access to most land in Scotland, in accordance with the

Scottish Outdoor Access Code The Scottish Outdoor Access Code provides detailed guidance on the exercise of the ancient tradition of universal access to land in Scotland, which was formally codified by the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. Under Scots law everyone has the r ...

. Access rights for new routes therefore largely no longer required to be negotiated and many named walks have been developed by local authorities, tourist organisations and guidebook authors. In 2010 SNH decided that it would not formally designate any further LDRs, but would instead encourage more locally-based proposals for new routes for long-distance footpaths. Within this approach it was recognised that there was a need for a strong "brand identity" to aid marketing of Scotland’s longer distance routes internationally. Minimum standards would be applied in the selection of these branded routes, which would take account of factors such as:SNH Commissioned Report 380. p.p. 87-97. *safety *attractiveness of scenery *trail surfaces *information *facilities and services *signage and waymarking *route definition and continuity *accessibility *access by public and private transport *route management "Scotland's Great Trails" was chosen as the brand identity, and as of 2018 there were 29 officially recognised Great Trails.

History

Routes

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

See also