5 May 2013: 35km. Started 09:00. Arrived 17;30.
The kind lady who served my breakfast seemed a bit perplexed by my walk. This hotel is evidently not on the route of most end to enders, unlike the snack van in the car park yesterday. She would love to be able to do something similar but in fact had never walked any further from Broxburn than to the aqueduct I had passed the previous day. “I would need to get fitter first….” The Scottish Co-op across the road also seemed to find visitors a curiosity – the lady serving was chatty and put me “Top of the class” for giving the exact money. The real reason for this was to get rid of excessive coins from my wallet.
It was sunny and warm and a Sunday. Hence after the initial trek down the road back to the canal, there were lots of people out for a walk, dog walk, run or cycle ride. It was an easy, flat and defined path so I could make rapid progress. I saw a canal boat moored up and a couple more boats travelling along the canal. One seemed to be driven by beginners – they were trying to moor but had managed to get the boat jammed diagonally across the width of the canal. There were heated exchanges between the people on the boat – and I moved on feeling that the last thing they needed was a spectator.
By lunch time, I was starting to find the endless flat path a little monotonous so I diverted into Linlithgow for coffee and cake. It looked like an interesting town with a castle (palace) and a loch – somewhere worth spending more time than the hour I was there.
So back to the tow path as far as Falkirk. There were more canal boats and an even bigger aqueduct than the one yesterday – plus I saw a boat crossing it. I saw a boat going the same way as me and kept up with it for a couple of miles, which improved my average speed. The people on it had come up from the Midlands using the canal system. They said that the canals further south are much busier and it all takes a lot longer getting through locks. They felt that this area is very underused.
The boat sped up and I said “good bye”. Soon after the peace was shattered by two motor bikes speeding past – illegal on the towpath and other walkers and cyclists were unhappy about it too. Apparently it had “been reported”.
I was surprised to pass an out of town Tesco on the outskirts of Falkirk. Somehow, despite a large calorie intake I always lose weight on long distance walks. I visited the café for my second coffee and cake stop for the day.
Having almost run out of reading matter, I bought an interesting looking novel – “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” by Rachel Joyce. Harold Fry is determined to walk six hundred miles from Kingsbridge in Devon to the hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed wearing his yachting shoes on his feet because, he believes, as long as he walks, his friend Queenie Hennessey will live. I don’t actually remember most of the books I read on my walk, but this one sticks in my mind as an amusing and readable yet poignant story and very appropriate to read while on my own long walk. I thoroughly recommend it.
Soon after Tesco’s I arrived at the canal tunnel which I knew I needed to walk through to get to Falkirk. It was an interesting and spooky experience. The tunnel was very dark and half a mile long. Fortunately there was a hand rail to guide me. I met cyclists pushing their bikes the other way and an American couple walking. I was glad when I emerged on the Falkirk side of the tunnel.
My B+B was difficult to find, even after I phoned the owner to ask for directions. However she helpfully went outside to stop me from walking straight past. It was inexpensive despite the town centre location and there was a bath. Breakfast was just juice and cereal, but I could easily supplement that. I ate at a very noisy Wetherspoons – which was also not expensive.
Where's Kathryn? 