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Journal: |
I slept reasonably well, despite seemingly being under the
flightpath for Edinburgh Airport, and wasn't disturbed by any of the
locals. I got up at 7am and was walking by 7:45am, with the
aim of reaching Broxburn for breakfast. My route for the whole
day pretty much involved walking on canal towpaths and I soon
reached the Union Canal at Lin's Mill Aqueduct which carried the
Canal high above the River Almond. The engineering and vision
for building this kind of infrastructure back in the 19th Century
always impresses me. The calculations and surveying they must
have done to get all the levels right is mind-boggling.
There are pros and cons of canal towpath walking. On the
positive side, the walking is flat and it's possible to maintain a
good speed and cover log distances. On the negative side, the
footing is often hard and the scenery can be monotonous if the
vegetation is high along the canal sides. Having your foot
fall exactly the same way every time on the even hard surface is a
recipe for sore feet and mine became quite sore and tired during the
day.
Broxburn seemed to be a socially-deprived small town, with plenty
of boarded up shops and people lounging in the main street. I
reached there about 9:15am and found a cafe where I ordered
breakfast. After considering my options for the day, I decided
to walk to Linlithgow for lunch and Falkirk for the night, without
really knowing how far each was. I rejoined the canal towpath,
which had no canal boats at all, and set myself to walk to
Linlithgow. A kilometre or so out of town, I passed a gypsy
camp, a collection of caravans and motor-homes parked on an
industrial vacant lot adjacent to the canal, and shortly after some
huge old orange slag heaps. There were a few other users of
the narrow towpath, and I was surprised a few times by cyclists
coming up behind me, but generally I had it to myself.
It was humid and the temperatures mild and I felt pretty grubby
after my night camping. Looking forward to a shower. I
can get BBC4 on my radio again, after a few days out of range, and
that gave me something to listen to on a day which was becoming
quite arduous. I plodded on, counting up the bridges over the
canal which are all assigned numbers, but that didn't seem to make
the miles go any quicker. A lot of the time I was in a sort of
green tunnel, but I also had periods where I could see out across
the rural landscape to the many towns and villages, factories,
construction sites and in the distance to the north, the Firth of
Forth and the Highlands. The canal was close to a rail line,
the main Edinburgh-Glasgow link, I think, and trains were whizzing
by regularly in both directions.
It took longer than I hoped, but I eventually reached the busy
tourist town of Linlithgow, where I had a quick look around the
ruins of the Palace before finding a pub for lunch where I could
watch some of the World Cup. I left there about 1:45pm for the
walk to Falkirk, reputedly a large town, where I hoped to arrive
soon after 4pm and be easily able to find some accommodation.
The afternoon passed slowly, and my feet became sore and tired, but
I trudged on, counting up the bridge numbers. I have found the
BBC radio station which broadcasts all World Cup games live, so I
have been listening to that. Not as good as on TV, but still
interesting to me. Another high aqueduct took the Canal over
the Avon River before I eventually reached the outskirts of Falkirk
around 4:30pm. Before heading into the centre of town, I
decided to complete the section which took the Union Canal through
the 631 metre long Falkirk Tunnel. It was quite an experience,
with dim lighting, and water falling from the rocky roof in many
places' making it dank and eerie. At the other end I left the
Canal and walked a kilometre into the centre of Falkirk, where it
took me a little while to eventually find a hotel offering
accommodation soon after 5pm.
I spent time after dinner trying to book some of my nights for
the next week, including my four days on the West Highland Way,
which I hear is very busy at present. I still have a few
nights to sort out and may end up camping a few times. I also
finally managed to connect with friend, Ian, skipper of the yacht we
used in the UK Three Peaks Race back in 2004, who lives near
Glasgow. He's going to come up and join me for the last two
days of the West Highland Way, which will be fun.
I'm a bit ahead of where I need to be and will, therefore, have a
few easier days coming up which my feet will welcome. Tomorrow
is mostly canal walking again and the weather forecast to be more of
the same.
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