How a journey through the Highlands changed the way the Scottish actor looks at life. Sam Heughan is a man who rarely stands still. He has a heavy Outlander schedule as Jamie Fraser that sees him sometimes working 12 hour shifts and breaks in filming that being filled with other TV and film work such as Channel 4s crime thriller Suspect and SAS Red Notice or his upcoming 2023 film Its All Coming Back to Me which also stars Celine Dion and Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
Throw in his award winning Sassenach whisky and tequila along with charity work for his My Peak Challenge which has raised raised over $7m and helped thousands around the world lead a healthier life and theres little time to spare. If there is he’s likely to be tearing up the tarmac on his beloved motorbike or pounding the streets preparing for yet another marathon.
However last year he slowed things right down and in a break in Outlander filming decided on the spur of the moment to walk the West Highland Way a journey that saw him discover a whole new way of being and record his travels in his memoir Waypoints: My Scottish Journey the follow up to his previous book Clanlands with fellow Outlander Graham McTavish.
I think we all have busy lives he says joining me on the phone from Milngavie on the fringes of Glasgow in a break from filming Outlander season seven especially now with online and you get pulled in every direction. Its been incredible I have been on this great journey especially with Outlander but I think I have also hit a point in my career where am a certain age and feeling content with where I am but also excited for the future. So it felt like the right time to reflect on how I have got where I am and to be thankful for my life in Scotland and my upbringing, and look forward to new challenges. I wanted to document it.
The book follows Heughan from his birth in Balmaclellan Dumfriesshire the dissolution of his parents relationship, his move to Edinburgh as a teenager and the start of his acting career through his time at RSAMD to his years trying to establishing himself before landing the role of Jamie Fraser in Outlander and beating his self-imposed deadline of making it before he hit 40.
Many people are very aware of the West Highland Way but have never done it. Its close to Milngavie and I was looking for a wee adventure when I got this week off last year. It was also a great way to be solitary and get out to do a walk and a bit of reflection. Foolishly I thought I will just leave the day before Halloween it will be easy and actually I had not really prepared or thought much about it until the rain almost stopped me in my tracks.
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