Blog

Intro The Great Outdoor Challenge (TGO challenge) is an annual communal coast-to-coast crossing of Scotland; each year, 400 “challengers” set off from one of 14 different start points located on the west coast of Scotland, aiming for the east coast. Some will head to the hills and attempt to bag as many Munros as possible, shunning small towns and villages and choosing to stay in t …

What is the TGO Challenge? The Great Outdoor Challenge (TGO) has been attracting people wanting to explore the best of Scotland since 1980, after the idea for a non-competitive event was pitched to The Great Outdoors magazine by Hamish Brown. Hamish, having crossed Scotland coast to coast himself, believed this could be accomplished and enjoyed by others. Whilst the TGO has changed thro …

Famously my journeys up to Scotland are always disastrous. Last time it was my ferry to Aaron cancelling, resulting in a bus trip around the entire Kintyre peninsula to catch a different one. So, I wasn’t shocked when sitting in Middlesbrough train station awaiting my 6.30 am train to Glasgow, I received an email informing me, that my 12.30 train from Glasgow to Mallaig, had been cancel …

Day 1 Inverie to Kinlock Hourn: 15 miles The Great Outdoor Challenge, or the TGO, as everyone affectionately abbreviates it, is, for the uninitiated, as I was less than six months ago, a coast-to-coast crossing of Scotland like no other. It has no set route and no fixed start or end point. All 400 challengers start within a set time frame, in this year's case over 5 days, so you a …

TGO Challenge 2019 - Overview and Logistics There were 14 possible start points for the 2019 TGO dotted along the west coast of Scotland. Challengers can pick any one of these points to register at and start from. Challengers can then finish anywhere on the east coast between Fraserburgh and Arbroath. For a successful crossing you had to reach the control in Montrose by the cut off time …

Planning the route was much harder than I had envisaged. There are so many possible places to start and amazing places to walk through. You have to be disciplined and accept that you can’t include all your bucket list routes in one Challenge (a good reason to come back year after year as many people seem to). In the end, I decided on starting in Mallaig and the ferry across to Inverie in Kno …

TGO Challenge 2019 Several of our customers had told me about the TGO Challenge and encouraged me to sign up. In the end I decided that I had to give it a go. In essence the TGO Challenge is a self supported crossing of Scotland over 2 weeks in May, from west coast to east coast. There were 14 possible start points on the west coast of Scotland and challengers can finish anywhere on the …

Summary Weight (g) Weight (lbs & oz) Basic Gear Carried 6779g 14lb 15.1oz Discretionary Gear Carried 460g 1lbs 0.2oz Subtotal 7239g 15lbs 15.8oz Consumables 4051g 8lbs 14.9oz Subtotal 11290g 24lbs 14.9oz …