Although I’m not going to be on the 2026 TGO Challenge, thoughts have already turned to 2027 when I should be back in the game, assuming I get in of course. This would be my 7th Challenge, and as I always use a new start point that I’ve not done before, this would mean I’d be halfway through the list of 14 possible start points.
With every completed Challenge, choosing a new start point for the next one becomes that little bit harder. I know some people struggle to choose a start point, so I thought I’d share some thoughts on how I choose one, and some thoughts on those starts I’ve done and those I’ve yet to do.
This is just some personal musings and no substitute for the guide to the start points on the Challenge website, which contains a lot more information on each point, and details of how to get there.
My “Method” for Picking a Start, and Thoughts about the Starts I’ve done
I don’t have a defined method as such, but over the last few Challenges a pattern has started to emerge – the start points fall into 3 rough clusters (northern, middle and southern), and I tend to at least try to rotate through them. This is to provide a bit of variety, and in particular to ensure I get a very different route experience compared with the years before and after. This does also mean that if I want to repeat a bit of the route I did two or three years before, I don’t feel that I’m squandering opportunities to do something new, because it’s been long enough since I went that way.
This aside, there is usually a specific motivation for picking either a specific start point or one of the clusters. I’ll take you through them…
#1 – Dornie (2017, Northern). Like many newbies, my first start was picked as something straightforward to get to, with easy route planning for the first few days. In picking Dornie as my first start, the fact that the Affric Kintail Way started down the road was very helpful – it essentially meant I could ease myself into the Challenge following a waymarked trail for the first 4 days. I still had to plan camp spots etc, but this reduced the mental load, especially as the next section was across far remoter terrain. This start involved a train to Inverness, then a coach to Dornie. There were a decent number of fellow Challengers too, including some newbies. Some of the people I met in Dornie are still friends to this day. I liked Dornie, but don’t feel the need to use it again soon.
#2 – Oban (2018, Southern). My second start was simply a matter of what was logistically easy to get to, because I had a walking partner who had very limited annual leave and so couldn’t faff about getting the the start. The irony here is that my walking partner withdrew 3 weeks before the Challenge so I ended up walking it solo anyway. Oban was very easy to get to by train, although I did have to change at Crianlarich with a bit of a gap between trains. This is probably why it is consistently one of the most popular start points. Oban is well supplied with shops, eateries and accommodation. I really like Oban as a start point, and I will be using it again. Indeed, it’s the most likely repeat start point if I repeat one before completing the list.
#3 – Mallaig (2019, Middle). Number 3 was also similarly driven by logistics and for the same reasons as the Oban start. My walking partner did actually make this one. Another easy to get to one, by train from Fort William, which also makes it one of the most popular. Like most Mallaig starters, we then got a ferry the next morning to Knoydart. There are other options too. Mallaig was fine as a start, but it’ll probably be a while before I repeat it.
#4 – Lochaillort (2022, Middle). For my 4th start, I weighed up several possibilities. With one of our group having done the Shiel Bridge start (we’d planned together for 2020) in 2021, and me having lost enthusiasm for it, I actually went for a different choice. Planned as a duo, this again meant something logistically easy to get to, which brought Lochaillort into the frame. Another one of the musketeers asked to join up, and we became a group of 3, although in the end only 2 of us made the start. Lochaillort is on the railway line to Mallaig (as is Morar), making it easy to get to from Fort William. There’s nothing there apart from the hotel where you sign out. That plus the abysmal conditions we set out in, mean this is a start point I won’t be using again until I really am sick of the others.
#5 – Kilchoan (2024, Middle). This start was chosen in the bar at the Park Hotel in Montrose at the end of the 2022 Challenge. I wanted to do something special for my 5th and all it took was a chat with one of my Challenge friends who is a connoisseur of this start point, to lock in Kilchoan. This was certainly not chosen for logistical simplicity, as it took a coach journey, a train, a ferry, a bus and a final ferry just to get to the signing out point. This was chosen purely for the stunning Ardnamurchan coast. For this one, you have to look at getting to the start as part of the adventure. I loved this start, although the route out from it I made too hard.
#6 – Ardrishaig (2025, Southern). This start became a serious contender on my road trip of Scotland in 2023 (a fallow year). We ended the trip in Argyll, journeying south from Oban to explore the area of prehistoric remains, and the Crinan Canal. This put it near the top of the list, and a friend doing this start in 2024 helped nudge it to the top of the list. Getting here involved a coach from Glasgow. I loved this start point, possibly the most of all 6 that I’ve done, by which I mean the place itself. The route I gave myself out from here was again probably too hard. But starting along the Crinan Canal and then walking through the prehistoric remains around Kilmartin was fabulous. For such a great start point, it’s surprising it’s one of the least popular.
The Starts I’ve Yet to do
As of the time of writing, there’s 8 of these, so I’ll go into what attracts me to each, and what that means for the order in which I’m likely to do them. It may be that by the time I get around to doing one or more, that they might have been dropped, but that’s the risk I’ll have to take.
I’ve grouped these by cluster from North to South – this isn’t the order that I’ll do them in.
Northern Cluster
Torridon
The furthest north start point, and on the boundary of the Challenge area, it’s a small place on Loch Torridon. My wife and I went there on our 2023 road trip, approaching down a long single track road with not enough passing points. We stayed in the youth hostel there, which is the sign-out point. This is a start that gets you straight into the mountains, and is generally one used by more experienced Challengers. There are two options for getting there from Inverness – train to Strathcarron, then a small bus that may or may not be running, or club together with other Challengers and get a taxi from Inverness.
This is a start that I will probably do, but not imminently, purely because of the hassle to get there.
Strathcarron
On the railway line from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh, so simple to get to, albeit it’s a long journey from the south of England. The start is at the hotel by the station. This start is high on my list because of being straightforward to get to, and because it offers a good variety of route planning options. I have several ideas for routes from here. This will probably be the next northern start point that I use.
Plockton.
Also on the railway line to Kyle of Lochalsh, Plockton faces east, which is what attracts me to it. Supposedly plotting a route from here requires a bit more ingenuity, and this is one of the least popular starts. This is the other northern one that’s towards the top of my list.
Glenelg.
A tiny fishing village, this is not so easy to get to, which is why it’s one of the least popular. You can get as far as Shiel Bridge by coach, but then have to either walk or attempt to get a taxi the rest of the way. If I were to do this then it would most likely channel me down into Kinloch Hourn and lead to some repeating of 2019 from there on. Or I would end up back at Shiel Bridge. I’m sure there are more creative routes out of here, but for the above reasons, this is probably bottom of my whole list. It just doesn’t grab me. Yet.
Shiel Bridge.
My 2020 route, and those of 3 friends who I coordinated with, were originally planned to start from Shiel Bridge. The four of us all planned our individual routes, we shared them on a group Google map, and refined them with a bit of discussion. What we ended up with was an intertwined set of routes where we would each have a mixture of solo and accompanied walking, and a mix of high and low. Subsets of the group would meet up for a day or two, then as routes branched the subsets would change. Obviously 2020 didn’t happen, and I decided to not to take part in 2021, taking the free deferral to 2022. One of the group did actually attempt the Shiel Bridge route.
Shiel Bridge is just down the road from Dornie and with fairly minimal facilities. Routes out of there seem to involve either the Forcan Ridge or can be quite similar to those from Dornie, meaning I probably won’t actually do Shiel Bridge until I need a short quick Challenge (it’s the furthest east start point, leading to theoretically the shortest crossings).
Shiel Bridge is easily reached by coach from Inverness or Glasgow though. As of the 2025 Challenge, it was the most popular start point, and is consistently up there as one of the top 3.
Middle Cluster
Morar.
This is another lightly used start, and very much the territory of those with a decent number of Challenges under their belts. The stop before Mallaig on the railway from Fort William, but this one funnels you east through a lot of trackless terrain. It’s not the sort of start that I like, preferring some easier walking on good paths to settle me in, and for that reason this is towards the bottom of my list. And seemingly everyone else’s too, as it’s one of the least popular starts.
Acharacle.
I passed through here early on day 3 in 2024 on my Kilchoan start. It can only be reached via the “school bus” from Fort William, the times of which didn’t look like they’d fit well for me coming from the south of England. It’s also not on the coast, requiring some extra walking to dip feet.
This was low on my list until I realised that it’s one of the best options for one particularly hair-brained scheme that I might deploy on one Challenge. And that scheme is to one year do the Challenge without actually having to miss parkrun each Saturday. To do one on the first Saturday of the Challenge means it has to be Ganavan Sands (close to Oban), Crinan Canal (close to Ardrishaig) or Fort William. A thursday start from Acharacle would work for this. Whereas, for the Oban or Ardrishaig ones I’d have to waste most of Friday. I did actually consider it for 2025, but I would have lost so much time by doing it, it wasn’t worth it.
So that’s the main reason I’d do Acharacle, but getting there is a bit of a pain due to the few options. It’s still the one from the middle cluster I’ll probably do first though.
Southern Cluster
Portavadie.
Portavadie is the newest of the current start points, and also the furthest south. Getting there involves a bus from Glasgow and a ferry and for one of the two options another bus too. This is a bit of pain. But this start offers a good way to hit up the southern extremities of the Challenge area. When I do this I’ll be getting there by the same bus I took to Ardrishaig, but continuing onto Tarbet to get the ferry straight across to Portavadie.
The main route option out of Portavadie is the Cowal Way, a waymarked trail and one of Scotland’s Great Trails, which plonks you right across Loch Lomond from the West Highland Way and Great Trossachs Way with a convenient ferry to join it up. This feels like it could be a Challenge of stringing together several waymarked trails, which would make for an easy, albeit not very sexy, route. It’s either that or do furthest south to furthest north or some such madness.
What’s likely to be Next ?
With 5 northern start points unused compared with 2 middle and 1 southern, it really ought to be a northern one. And I haven’t done a northern start point since my very first Challenge. The most likely candidate is therefore, Strathcarron, or maybe Plockton. Or even Shiel Bridge if I want a really sociable route, given it was the most popular start this year.
If I went for a middle start point, it would be Acharacle. And if I went for a southern it would actually be a toss up between Portavadie and a repeat of Oban.
The long and the short of it is that I really won’t know until I’m planning the route in earnest. But the above gives some clues as to what I’ll be weighing up. I sense that it won’t take a lot of thought before I decide on the start point. What will be a lot harder will be picking the finish point, which I’ll cover in my next post.
