Mapping the real Rob Roy MacGregor

Later this month, we’ll hike the Rob Roy Way in Scotland. I abandoned Sir Walter Scott’s Rob Roy, irritated by the convoluted prose and historical inventions. Instead, I found a solid history book and used it, along with Wikipedia, to map out some actual locations (as blue pins) from Rob Roy’s life. Red pins mark our hotels. The Clachan Inn, once owned by his sister, is the only Rob Roy pin on our trail, so we will have to sample it.

Mapping a Scottish hike

Since I was a child I’ve had a soft spot for British Ordnance Survey maps; the 1:25,000 detail is perfect for the inn-to-inn hike we’ve planned for Scotland this April. However, after struggling with the Ordnance Survey website today, I switched back to Grough Routes. It’s a much more professional mapping application that uses the same high-quality mapping data.

Hiking the Rob Roy Way

Next year, we’re joining two friends in the UK to hike the Rob Roy Way in Scotland. We’re thankful we can still manage a long-distance trail, even if it means more hotels (I booked nine today) due to shorter daily sections as we get older.