Sam Heughan, recognized to legions of followers as Jamie Fraser within the standard TV present primarily based on Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander sequence, not too long ago determined it was time to stroll the rigorous West Highland Way in Scotland, a long-distance mountaineering path that runs from north of Glasgow to Fort William within the Scottish Highlands. He wished a solitary problem and a pause within the appearing profession he has labored tirelessly at, and packing 96 miles into 5 days appeared like it will present the best mixture of endurance and introspection. In his exceptional, thought-provoking memoir, Waypoints: My Scottish Journey, he welcomes readers alongside for the journey.
Before Heughan stepped out the door onto the West Highland Way, he was a runner, not a walker. Marathons, sure; strolling slowly, not his factor. His tenting and mountaineering experiences had been restricted; he even thought mountaineering poles had been “cumbersome” and virtually threw them away as soon as he hit the path. His overstuffed rucksack, full with whiskey and cigars, weighed him down. The rain in late October virtually ruined him on the second day, and he quickly selected snug wayside inns over his tent. But he was nearing his fortieth birthday (making him the identical age because the Way) and, regardless of these challenges, felt it was merely time he obtained this performed.
Bracketing Heughan’s journey is an account of his go to to his dying father in faraway British Columbia, Canada. The man was a stranger who deserted his household way back, however Heughan and his brother felt nonetheless compelled to supply a goodbye. Once they arrived, Heughan was surprised to study that his father had been following his appearing profession all alongside. He recorded their go to on his cellphone, however later, again on the set of “Outlander,” the cellphone vanished. It was, he writes, “a fitting epitaph.”
The award-winning actor, creator, philanthropist and entrepreneur provides loads of particulars of his stroll to Fort William, together with a frightening hike up Ben Nevis, the best mountain within the United Kingdom. Along the way in which, Heughan has a transparent, exact and entertaining model. He is a humorous man, and his encounters with roaming sheep, different hikers and clusters of mushrooms are splendidly comedian.
If Waypoints had been merely about Heughan’s stroll, it will be pleasant, instructive and engaging. But this can be a memoir, in any case, and it’s his reflection on his life and work, interspersed with the challenges and discoveries of the Way, that lend his story heft and grit.
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