The Project

The purpose of the project is to collect as much knowledge of old paths in Scotland as possible and to promote the existence and the heritage of these paths. It is hoped that by providing this information it will give an added dimension to your walks when you discover these lost pathways for yourself and in adding your own knowledge to the database you will be contributing towards future generations’ enjoyment of our vast number of old paths.

Website
This website is a central bank containing information on all of the usable paths that we have found out about so far and is continually being added to. As much as possible we would like to know about the paths that you know about and have walked and we would like you to add your knowledge of these paths to our database.

Book
The project will also produce a hardback book that will contain a selection of our favourite heritage paths and will include more information about the main types of path found in Scotland written by guest writers. This book will be available in bookshops around the country and through our office at ScotWays, 24 Annandale Street, Edinburgh, EH7 4AN.

Learning Resource
A paper based learning resource is being created to help teachers meet the learning outcomes contained in the Curriculum for Excellence. This learning resource will be tailored to different areas of Scotland and will provide teachers with activities to encourage pupils to fulfil the criteria required for the Curriculum for Excellence. Each area’s learning resource will also contain details of great heritage paths that would be suitable for site visits and each will be individually risk assessed. The website will also contain a gallery where artwork created by students through this project can be uploaded and viewed.

Signposts
Many heritage paths are being signposted to include small panels with information about the history of a path. These signs help to give a flavour of the past uses and importance of old paths to users who may not already be aware of this project.

Strategic Map
We have been working for some time to create a map showing some of the long distance historic routes throughout Scotland and it is available below as either a jpeg or as a better quality pdf file.  This map shows many of the long distance old routes and route descriptions and information about their history can also be found on this site.

                        PDF Format               JPEG Format 

Guided Walks
As part of Fife Council's year long programme of activities for Celebrating Fife 2010 we, along with Forth Pilgrim, are holding 6 historical guided walks around Fife.  The walks are centred in Dunfermline, Aberdour and Culross and will take in historic tracks in these areas while looing at related historic sites.  The walks from Dunfermline and Culross will take between 2 and 3 hours while the Aberdour walk is substantially longer.  The dates for the walks are below:

10th July          Pittencrieff Car Park, Dunfermline             10am start

13th July          Aberdour Train Station                             10am start

17th July          Culross Abbey Car Park                          10am start

20th July          Pittencrieff Car Park, Dunfermline             10am start

24th July          Aberdour Train Station                             10am start

27th July          Culross Abbey Car Park                          10am start

Participation in the walks is free but places are limited so booking is essential.  If you would like to book a place on one or more of the walks then get in touch with Neil Ramsay at heritagepaths@scotways.com or on 0131 558 7123.