It is a little known fact that walking 500 miles in a straight line in almost any direction from Leith (the hometown of the Proclaimers) will lead to a not inconsiderable amount of drowning. So let’s assume that a certain amount of curving paths is involved.
Does it bother anyone else that this song is sung by two men – two brothers, in fact – in first person singular, which seems to indicate that this thousand mile walk is an endurance challenge for the hand of the unnamed fair maiden to whom the song is addressed?