FIRST FOOTING

January 2023

About five years ago I had an idea of writing a blog based on creating and running an imaginary, alternative John Muir Way.  This was to be a coast-to-coast route that went from Muir’s birthplace in Dunbar to Greenock, where his ship docked on route to America.  The notion was to explore the wilder parts of the Central Belt between the two.  The pandemic put the brake on that project, half finished.

Lockdown, the ongoing climate emergency, and the cost-of-living crisis gave time to reflect on the importance of locality, of valuing the landscape and people closest to home.  Muir, never really a people person, became less of an overarching influence.

In Scotland the Central Belt or Lowlands - geologically the Midland Valley between the Highland Boundary fault to the north and the Southern Upland fault to the south, has a bit of an inferiority complex.  As a nation, our heart is in the Highlands.  But the Central Belt remains the homeland for the majority of us, a landscape, no doubt imperfect, but full of complexity, surprise, and human stories.  Close to our major towns and cities we can still find quiet places with both beauty and a sense of wildness about them.

Dunbar is on the Southern Uplands fault, whilst Greenock is where the Highlands start.  The route between the two, skirting the south of Edinburgh and Glasgow hopefully demonstrates there is lots to explore.  Generally, I have stuck to the high points of the Lowlands – hence restarting this blog and renaming it Running High and Low.  

The route has been sub-divided into eight different character areas - Tyne, Muir, Glen, Pentlands, Plateau, Clyde, Braes and Heights.  There will be a few blog posts for each - both old (rewritten / edited) and new, as I finally lace up my running shoes and get back out there.

The background map is the John Bartholomew, c.1900 half inch series.  These attractive and popular Edinburgh published maps did much to popularise and facilitate outdoor access.