Virtually Back to Scotland

The last time that I was in Scotland, in real life, was in 2010, when I went with my best buddy, Stu, to find Roland Axam's home and to do some research for my novel, Gyeosunim.

Man... to think I've been working on the sequel to Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary for nearly 12 years is depressing. Then again, I hadn't yet finished Songsaengnim and that trip really helped me put the final details on it. That novel took me a decade to complete.

I'm a procrastinator extraordinaire and a very slow writer.

Last year, I took a virtual journey and made my way from Land's End, in the Cornwall region of England, to the northern tip of mainland Scotland by cycling, walking, and kayaking in Ontario, and plugging my distances in to The Conqueror Virtual Challenges app.

I've spoken about this app at length over 2021 and hope I haven't bored you.

Last Thursday, I finally wrapped up a nearly 3,670-kilometre virtual journey along America's famous Route 66. By working out on my spin bike, I covered the final 20.7 kms from Hollywood to the Santa Monica pier. It took me 147 days to complete that challenge and I'm very happy to put that long trek behind me.

But no sooner had I crossed the virtual finish line than I set up my next challenge, connecting my smart watch to automatically apply a workout to the next route. And once again, I find myself--virtually--back in Scotland.

The North Coast 500 Virtual Challenge is a 500-mile (805.5 kms) circuit that starts and ends in Inverness, cuts through the Scottish Highlands, and follows the northern coastline in a clockwise fashion. Once again, I'm back in one of my favourite countries (virtually).

The final 20-percent stretch will be along familiar roads, as I head down from John o'Groats (the finish line for the LEJOG challenge) back to Inverness.

And I would walk 500 miles... and spin.

I've calculated that it will take me five weeks to complete this trek but it'll likely take me less time than that. (I like to buffer in a few days, just in case I get sick or have an injury and need to rest.)

Before I went to bed on the day that I completed the Route 66 virtual challenge, I tallied up the distances that I had accrued through a walk, moving around the house, and shovelling the driveway, and I applied them to the North Coast 500 challenge. On the same day that I found myself (virtually) on the Santa Monica pier, I had then completed more than 15 kms, on foot, in Scotland.

I need to cover about 23 kms, each day, to meet my target for completing my new challenge. Considering that I was covering at least 30 kms along Route 66, this shouldn't be a problem.

Wish me luck.