Walking in a straight line might sound easy, but two Highland adventurers would beg to differ.
Broadcaster and outdoors enthusiast Calum Maclean and record-breaking cyclist Jenny Graham have just completed a gruelling four-day challenge to walk the longest straight line in Britain, without the use of roads.
The pair hiked, climbed, scrambled and waded the route from the A9 to the A939 through the heart of the Cairngorms National Park, wild camping along the way.
The adventurers had to stick to a strict 67 degree bearing for four days while crossing differing land with crags, gullies, bogs, peat hags and many miles of thick heather, adding to the challenge.
After ascending the equivalent of 18,000ft and hiking 48 miles, they completed their route on Monday.
Mr Maclean said: “Walking in a straight line did feel very unnatural. I had a mix of feelings, from monotonous and depressing to really joyful. Overall, it was quite gruelling.
“But, then, when we reached the summits and got the opportunity to gaze back from where we’d come, it was a real feeling of satisfaction.
“We could draw a line with our eyes, which linked the heather below our feet to the river in the glen below, the deep hidden gullies, rocks on far off hills and beyond into the distance.
“In those moments, I think the purpose of walking a straight line became a bit clearer.”
Ms Graham, who became the fastest woman to cycle around the world in 2018, said: “Walking in a straight line sounds like the simplest of all adventures but it turned out to be the most complex navigation of any trip I’ve been on.
“However, completing the route and sticking as close to the line as possible while exploring the national park in such a unique fashion was pretty special.”
4 days walking in a straight line..?
We just did it
😎🚶♂️🚶♀️➖ https://t.co/NkuLVBlV8E— Calum Maclean (@caldamac) August 31, 2021
Expectation vs Reality
The pair say that navigating a straight line across unpredictable and challenging terrain was much harder than they first thought.
When encountering obstacles such as gullies and rivers the obvious thing to do is find a suitable place to cross but the duo had to stick to the straight line and therefore when first faced with an obstacle had to then cross it there.
Ms Graham said: “It’s really tricky to stop yourself veering from the bearing on rough ground. You think you know what a straight line is but then you look at the GPS and realise you don’t.
“We walked in a straight line for 11 hours and we covered just 10 miles on day one. They were the toughest 10 miles of my life.
While some aspects of the journey were harder to tackle, some of the highlights for the adventurers included a hidden waterfall.
Mr Maclean, an avid swimmer, said: “We found a stunning series of waterfall pools tumbling through a gorge, which resembled a series of steps.
“It was a place I might never have visited if it weren’t for walking the line – and they’re now bookmarked for a return to swim, as they were about 100m off the line, which was too far for us.”