6 May 2013: 35km. Started 08:15. Arrived 17:30.
The town was already quite busy as I left my B+B and headed back to the canal, turning away from the tunnel that I had traversed the previous day. I reached the impressive Falkirk Wheel at 09:30. Unfortunately there were no boats on the wheel and the visitor centre didn’t open until 10am. I did not want to wait 30 minutes given that I had a long walk ahead of me.
The wheel is a feat of engineering designed to solve the problem of lifting canal boats the 35m height between the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Grand Union Canal. It opened in 2002. The canals had previously been connected by eleven locks and it would have taken most of a day to move a boat between them. By the 1930s, the canals had fallen into disuse and the flight of locks was dismantled in 1933. Apparently the boat lift takes about fifteen minutes, although there are still a pair of locks to negotiate for the final lift on to the Union Canal.
As I left the wheel behind me, it started to rain. I had fifteen miles of canal tow path walking ahead of me along the Forth and Clyde Canal. In that entire distance I only saw one motor boat from which people were fishing, and no narrow boats. This contrasted with a relatively well used towpath – bankside fishermen, walkers and cyclists all sharing the path. I did spot a grey heron on the opposite bank – an impressively large bird.
I saw part of the Antonine Wall – less known than Hadrian’s Wall but probably more historically significant, this was the northernmost frontier barrier of the Roman Empire. It ran for approximately 63 kilometres (39 miles) between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde and was about 3 metres (10 feet) high and 5 metres (16 feet) wide.
I was glad to leave the canal towpath at Kirkintulloch. By then it was raining a lot. I went to MacDonald’s for coffee and cake. It was just convenient as I passed near. In my dripping waterproofs and with my large rucksack, I am sure I looked incongruous alongside the usual clientele of families with young children.
I just had the last three miles along a converted rail track to my booked country house hotel at Lennoxtown. I received a warm welcome and was delighted to find that not only did the rooms have baths, but the bath was a jacuzzi bath and there was a waterproof television in the bathroom. Despite having just covered distance with very little in the way of elevation, I was tired and this touch of eccentric luxury was just what I needed. Tomorrow is a planned short day and I would not need to leave early.
Where's Kathryn? 