I walked to all of the Alliance capitals (image heavy)

JoeCapricorn

I begin my journey at the Great Tree of Elden Root. The air is warm and sweetened by the smell of smoked meat, because of Bosmer and their carnivory.

My journey was simple: Walk to all of the Alliance capitals, starting at Elden Root, passing through Mournhold, then finally trekking to Wayrest. It was a journey once thought impossible, but I may have found a way.

I hiked north toward Cormount, passing the gate into Northern Elsweyr. I take the road that leads through the Tenmar Forest. I fight off Senches and Harpies through the warm jungle. I wave to the Khajiiti farmhands as I pass by Merryvale. Near Hakoshae, I hear the roar of a dragon flying overhead. I pass through a gate to a long winding trail, with Blackwood on the other side. It's still warm here, but it's a lot wetter. This is truly the nicest portion of Cyrodiil - no Alliance War going on here, and plenty of moist swamps. I pass through Leyawiin before heading east, crossing the Cyrodiil border with Black Marsh and entering Gideon. There is a road north-east of Hutan-Tzel that crosses a shallow lake and leads into Shadowfen. I swing by Hissmir to flirt with Gentle-Heart but she is still too busy with the several tons of fish she accrued just a few weeks ago during New Life Festival.

I almost never follow the roads in Shadowfen and always find myself stuck somewhere that I have to go around, but that's how it goes, being Fen-Wander... wandering the Fen. Stormhold is the next town I visit before heading toward the Morrowind border.

Soon, after passing by Deepcrag Den, I see off in the distance the magnificent city of Mournhold!


As I continue north-west, I near the town of Serk, and the smell of brimstone is starting to be apparent. Better than the smell that hit me when I first visited this town so many years ago - that of death, fear and the Llodos plague. After crossing into Stonefalls, it is a near straight-shot north to Fort Virak. As I get closer, I can feel a cool breeze fighting against the warm front from the volcanic climate of Stonefalls. I take the marshy underpass to avoid entering Fort Virak itself, since it still smells a bit like zombies, and the trees are changing to an autumnal color.

I am now in Skyrim and soon I pass through Riften before continuing north. I bully some bandits at Fort Greenwall on the way toward Windhelm. As I head to Windhelm, I approach the bridge leading to the city - and then take a left to head to Voljar's Meadery. There is a roadway that leads north-west, to this building...



Inside, I go to the basement. The last Wardrobe on the left is a secret passage that leads to the legendary Blackreach.



At the west end of the cavern of Mzark is a Dwemer ruin that leads to the Greymoor portion of Blackreach. I stay in the south and continue west through some of the prettiest scenery in Tamriel. I pass by Dark Moon Grotto before entering Arkthzand Caverns, a name which makes me sneeze every time I pronounce it. I head west toward the Library of Arkthzand and take the lift back up to the surface world. I navigate the foothills of The Reach and reach Markarth. There is a cart that leads to Bangkorai, and while I wouldn't normally count this as "walking" the entire way, since the other end is at a roadway I give it a bit of a pass. It would be nice if there was an actual road leading out of the Reach somewhere that connects it with Bangkorai, or a footpath into Craglorn, but this still connects The Reach with Bangkorai.

From there, I just hike west to Evermore, cross the bridge into Stormhaven and I find myself standing at the gates of Wayrest soon enough!

Something I would love to see in the far future, if we have a Central Skyrim, Southern Hammerfell and Western Cyrodiil zone, is an overland "highway" route that can circumnavigate all of Tamriel, with only gates and border crossings - no boats, carts or wayshrines. However, already the world of Tamriel feels more connected than ever before. I remember when each alliance was absolutely severed from each other, and even when we got to Veteran rank the version of the zones we were seeing were still exclusive to our Alliance. That changed with One Tamriel, but ever since Greymoor and Blackwood, there has been even more connection between the zones.

I'd like to see roadways into Alik'r, and the northern edge of Blackwood seems to have a roadway that leads to the Bravil portion of Cyrodiil. There are tantalizing hints of more overland connections to be made. But I hope you all enjoyed this journey I shared!

GBllt

Wait there is a passage between Eastmarch and Western Skyrim ?
Do you know how many time it takes for all this travel ?

TaSheen

Joe, that's really nifty! What an engaging travel plan, and you did a great job of explaining the whole route! Sounds like fun, I might have to take my next lowbies on a trek like that.

Thanks for posting!

JoeCapricorn

GBllt wrote: »

Wait there is a passage between Eastmarch and Western Skyrim ?
Do you know how many time it takes for all this travel ?

Well, if you are easily distracted by shinies like I am, this entire route takes about 3 hours

ZOS_Kevin

@JoeCapricorn I felt like I was traveling with you. Thanks for much for sharing your entertaining journey with us!

Supreme_Atromancer

I absolutely loved this @JoeCapricorn . Thanks for sharing! Great screenies, btw.

I love doing this myself from time to time. Sometimes I'll plan out a few dailies/endeavours and just ride a section of this route doing random fun stuff.

My route deviates slightly; across the White River from the inn you've shown in your post, there is a Dwarven Great Lift upon a ridge above the Dolmen there. If you've done the prelude quest for the Western Skyrim Chapter, you can access this lift- it might take a little finangling, but I use streak on my sorc and have no trouble with it. This creates a little shortcut, coming out very close to the door that leads to Greymoor Caverns proper.

Also, for anyone curious; because the Great Lifts also open in Western Skyrim zone, if you prefer the crisp cold air rather than the warm humidity of the caverns our Argonian friend above would enjoy, you can come up earlier, and ride through W.Skyrim to the gate at the Reach, and follow the path that way.

I echo your appreciation for the connectedness becoming more and more available as the time goes by. I'm very grateful that ZOS have recognised this.

I also really hope in the future we can get a road to Alik'r.

A road connecting Blackwood and Murkmire would also be super appreciated. Although it wont help future circumnavigations, there is currently no way to get to Murkmire other than wayshrines, which is a bit disappointing. Given the landscapes seem to fit together so well, I hope ZOS sees the effort in putting one there would be worthwhile.

And finally, I'd love a road between The Reach and Dragonstar- the story in Craglorn describes Nords migrating out of Skyrim to settle this place, and in future (in-universe) lore, Dragonstar is considered to straddle the border between both provinces, with Dragonstar sometimes being considered belonging to both. The two zones also form part of a really nice landscape that's enjoyable to explore and a good mat-farming route so it would be greatly appreciated!

SeaGtGruff

GBllt wrote: »

Wait there is a passage between Eastmarch and Western Skyrim ?

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/6796537/#Comment_6796537

GBllt

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

GBllt wrote: »

Wait there is a passage between Eastmarch and Western Skyrim ?

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/6796537/#Comment_6796537

Thanks 🍻

zaria

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

I absolutely loved this @JoeCapricorn . Thanks for sharing! Great screenies, btw.

I love doing this myself from time to time. Sometimes I'll plan out a few dailies/endeavours and just ride a section of this route doing random fun stuff.

My route deviates slightly; across the White River from the inn you've shown in your post, there is a Dwarven Great Lift upon a ridge above the Dolmen there. If you've done the prelude quest for the Western Skyrim Chapter, you can access this lift- it might take a little finangling, but I use streak on my sorc and have no trouble with it. This creates a little shortcut, coming out very close to the door that leads to Greymoor Caverns proper.

Also, for anyone curious; because the Great Lifts also open in Western Skyrim zone, if you prefer the crisp cold air rather than the warm humidity of the caverns our Argonian friend above would enjoy, you can come up earlier, and ride through W.Skyrim to the gate at the Reach, and follow the path that way.

I echo your appreciation for the connectedness becoming more and more available as the time goes by. I'm very grateful that ZOS have recognised this.

I also really hope in the future we can get a road to Alik'r.

A road connecting Blackwood and Murkmire would also be super appreciated. Although it wont help future circumnavigations, there is currently no way to get to Murkmire other than wayshrines, which is a bit disappointing. Given the landscapes seem to fit together so well, I hope ZOS sees the effort in putting one there would be worthwhile.

And finally, I'd love a road between The Reach and Dragonstar- the story in Craglorn describes Nords migrating out of Skyrim to settle this place, and in future (in-universe) lore, Dragonstar is considered to straddle the border between both provinces, with Dragonstar sometimes being considered belonging to both. The two zones also form part of a really nice landscape that's enjoyable to explore and a good mat-farming route so it would be greatly appreciated!

It looks like DLC are not connected to the map while chapters tend to be if practical. No idea why.

The surprising part is that the prologue Blackreach is connected to the one in western Skyrim who is connected to Rift's Blackreach.