Tracing Gail's Route, continued
Touring the Islands of Britain and Ireland.
I’m back with another geographic update about Gail’s travels thus far — this time tracing her route through the United Kingdom and Ireland. We’ll pick up in Loch Lomond and end with her sailing away back to Paris, but in between she really does cover some ground!
I did my best to trace her steps in the maps and lists below, although this time was slightly more difficult than the first round as it’s sometimes unclear in which order she visited which places according to her letters. I’ll also note that most of the travel here was done by hitchhiking, which, according to Gail, is ‘the only way to really see a country.’
Leg 1: Scotland and the Lake District
Loch Lomond
Glencoe
Inverness
Aberdeen
Edinburgh
Keswick, England
Kendal
Stranraer, where she sailed to Larne
Leg 2: Northern Ireland and Dublin to Southwestern Ireland
Larne
Shore road to Portrush (impossible to note on Google Maps!)
Londonderry
Belfast
Newcastle (She mentions at one point some “shells she picked up in Newcastle” so I assume that must have happened between Belfast and Dublin)
Dublin
Limerick
Killarney
Ring of Kerry
Cork
Back to Dublin, where she sailed to Holyhead
Leg 3: Wales to Cornwall
Holyhead
(She mentions spending time in Wales but no city or town names…)
Chester
Shrewsbury
Hereford
Bath
Cheddar
Minehead
Devon
Clovelly
Hayle
St. Ives
Land’s End
Leg 4: Land’s End to London and Cambridge
Land’s End
Salcombe
Hastings
London
Cambridge
London
On to Paris!
I’m very curious to see if she does in fact make it to Spain and Italy after France, and where she is able to ski! I hope you all are looking forward to the next leg of her journey as much as I am.





Yes, dear Hannah, i am definitely looking forward every day to a new installment of mom's letters! The maps increase my awe of her amazing fortitude and intrepid nature! thanks so so much!