There have been quite a few changes since the first edition of the End to End Trail was published in 2007.  Some of them were included in the 2014 reprint, but that was only the things that had been brought to my attention by other walkers, or that I could check via the Internet.  At the beginning of 2017 I started work on a new fully revised edition, and I have now rewalked all the maps in the book, and revisited all the stage ends for the sections not covered by my maps.  The material for the new edition of the End to End Trail is now with Cicerone, and I’m hoping it will hit the shops in late 2019.

In the meantime there are walkers who want to head out this coming summer, so it seemed a shame to keep them in the dark about what’s changed, now I’ve checked the route out again.  These notes are intended to help those people.  I’m not sure whether Cicerone still have copies of the first edition, but there are still some around in shops.  if you can’t find one, I’d suggest trying the secondhand market (e.g. bookfinder.com or abebooks.com).

These notes only cover the main points that have changed, in particular major route changes and places where you may get confused with the old guide due to changes on the ground.  There will far more detailed changes in the new guidebook.

General points

Equipment

Some things on the equipment front have improved in the past few years:

• You’ll probably want to take a mobile phone and charger!  The days of phone boxes everywhere are over.
• If you’re planning to wild camp, please take a poo trowel with you, and use it to make sure you leave no trace.  Ultralight Outdoor Gear sell an orange nylon one for £3.99 that weighs just 52 grams.
• Lightweight drybags last a lot longer than binbags to keep your gear dry.
• Freezedried meals for backpacking have improved a lot over the past few years, and they’re easier to get hold of.
• I’d take a tick-remover.  You should be able to get one from your nearest vet.

Bothies

The MBA is no longer secretive about where their bothies are, and you can find out about them from their website.  There is also a great book about bothies: “The Scottish Bothy Bible” by Geoff Allan.  This includes photos and descriptions of all the bothies (both MBA and others) on the Scottish part of the Trail apart from the one at the head of Loch Choire (Day 58).