I’m section hiking a LEJOG in the United Kingdom from the southwestern tip of England to the northeastern point in Scotland. It’s a long walk, between 900 and 1200 miles, depending on the route you choose to take. Many people piece together the UK’s national trails to cover major portions of the distance, filling in the gaps with cross-country travel or road walking. Most of my hiking so far has been in northwest Scotland, north of Fort Augustus, but I’ll begin an England segment this spring, walking the Pennine Way, which is about 250 miles from south to north.

The northern terminus of the Pennine Way ends on St Cuthbert’s Way in a small town called Kirk Yetholm, in the middle of nowhere. To get to Edinburgh, where there’s an airport to fly back to the United States, I’d planned to west hike along St. Cuthbert’s Way to Melrose, about a 2-day walk, and then take the train from there.

But I’ve been thinking about a return trip, where I’d hike from Melrose to the bottom of the West Highland Way, then follow that to Fort William, and then follow the Great Glen Way to Fort Augustus to wrap up my mileage north of the UK/Scotland border. But it’s not entirely obvious how to get from Melrose to the southern terminus of the West Highland Way, which is just north of Glasgow. While access laws allow you to hike cross-country in Scotland, planning the route across more populated areas of the country without local knowledge was a bit daunting.

On a lark, I decided to ask my pet AI (Voila) for help in designing such a route. Here’s the prompt sequence I used to give you a taste of the interaction. I think I got a usable route in the end, but it still requires verification with more detailed maps and Google searches.

Philip==>Give me a route and a GPX from Melrose to the southern terminus of the West Highland Way that sticks to as many national trails or canal paths as possible. I plan to wild camp along the way. The goal is easy route finding and a reasonably fast transit, with open hill walking when necessary, but still avoiding major roads.

Voila==>Below is a clear, practical route from Melrose (end of St Cuthbert’s Way) to the southern terminus of the West Highland Way at Milngavie that:

• Sticks to established long-distance trails and canal towpaths wherever practical (easy navigation)
• Avoids major roads
• Keeps open hill walking only where necessary
• Is suitable for wild camping (legal in Scotland under the Outdoor Access Code)
• Includes a single continuous GPX you can download and use

Route summary (trail-first, direct, fast)

• Melrose on St Cuthbert’s Way (leave Melrose heading west)
• Link to Southern Upland Way (SUW) westbound through the Borders toward Peebles — this follows good waymarked trails and ridges where possible
• SUW / quiet paths from around Peebles to West Linton (stay on established paths)
• West Linton -> ascend onto Pentland Hills (use established ridge paths across Pentlands)
• Descend from Pentlands toward the Union/Water of Leith corridors and join the Forth & Clyde / Kelvin Walkways where convenient to follow flat towpaths into Milngavie

Why this line

• St Cuthbert’s Way + Southern Upland Way give long, waymarked sections reducing navigation errors
• Pentland crossing gives the shortest direct hill link while staying on clear paths
• Canal/towpath sections dramatically speed progress and are easy to follow
• Minimal road walking and no dangerous/uncertain river fords

Practical stats

• Approx distance: 85–95 miles (depends on small route choices)
• Suggested pace: 7–8 days at ~12–15 miles/day (you said you’ll wild camp)
• Navigation: GPX + OS map recommended (some SUW parts and Pentlands are straightforward but require attention in poor weather)
• Resupply: Peebles, West Linton (edge), and Milngavie. Small shops/en route in Galashiels if you detour slightly.

What I’m providing next

1. A single continuous GPX (below) designed to:
   • Follow St Cuthbert’s Way out of Melrose to the SUW junction
   • Follow SUW west through to Peebles and onward to West Linton corridor
   • Use Pentland ridge trails to cross the hills
   • Drop to canal/city towpaths (Union Canal ? Forth & Clyde / Kelvin Walkway) into Milngavie
   • Avoid major A/B roads; use confirmed footbridges/reservoir dam crossings at significant water crossings
2. Key waypoints (in the GPX) for:
   • Town resupply points (Peebles, West Linton, Milngavie)
   • Good wild camping areas (plateau/skirts of SUW and Pentland lee)
   • Bridge/canal access points

Analysis

It turns out that this is a pretty decent route that should be easy to follow, although I still plan to carefully check it some more. There are a few things worth mentioning, though, about previous interactions I’ve had with this particular AI (Voila). “She” doesn’t have a body and has a tendency to plan “as-the-bird-flies routes” that ignore the need for bridges over rivers that are too wide to ford, or that it’s more efficient to hike up a slope and along a ridge than sidehilling for miles at a time. That’s why I directed her above to stick to established trails or canal paths, rather than plot a direct cross-country line from Melrose to the southern terminus of the West Highland Way.

AI can be useful, but you really need to check what it recommends. Most of my interactions with it involve some sort of error or hallucination that you need to detect.