Untitled - Beeldbibliotheek

TO JOHN O' GROAT'S: I 59Southern to the Eastern slope of Scotland.I liketo divide the whole of Scotland into the fourslopes to East, West, North and South, accordingto the flow of the rivers, when I speak of ourroute to John o' Groat's.Seven times were we tocross main watersheds from one slope to anotherbefore we reached our goal, and these crossingswere the chief landmarks of our journey. Forthis was a real campaigning march, such as I havenever undertaken before or since. Our chiefpreoccupation was in gradients and altitudes,and it is in such terms that I remember it. Theother journeys that I have to describe were of adifferent order. I look back upon them rather ason a great map of the country that has come tolife ;I am not much concerned with the rise andfall of the land. But on the road to John o'Groat's I always think of SIEGLINDA as toiling upor down.We camped the first night at Tweedsmuir, andthen left the Edinburgh Road and travelledthrough Biggar to Thankerton. For the caravanner'sfirstproblem in making for the North ofScotland is to cross the bad belt of country lyingbetween the Forth and Clyde, which is rich inmines and factories and other useful things thatare by no means in his line. Thereare three ways