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I was up early, not long after dawn. I did a quick cow check but none were about. The sun was out, as promised, and I set off for Corston Hill hoping for great views of Edinburgh. At the top of the hill the sun was out and the gamble I’d made to get up extra early had paid off. Unfortunately, the sun was low and in the east so the photos don’t do the views justice.

I climbed down from the last hill I would encounter until the West Highland Way (which isn’t all that hilly either) and entered the Almondell and Calderwood Country Park to find a wonderful thing, a snack wagon. A bacon roll and a coffee with three sugars later and morale was high. The guy serving immediately knew where I was going as apparently the only walkers that come this way are doing LEJOG.

The walk through the country park was pleasant in the sunshine. I stopped briefly in Mid Calder for refreshments at a shop and headed on for some riverside walking. I was looking forward to crossing an aqueduct before joining the Union Canal, the way ahead across the industrial heartlands for the next day and a half.

The riverside walking was truly memorable in the sunshine. Lyn’s aqueduct even more so with narrow boats chugging across at least 30 metres above the river below.

I then began the 11 mile walk along the Union Canal towpath to Linlithgow. It was a pretty towpath but 11 miles is a long way and the tarmac is hard work for your feet after a while. I worked out there were 25 bridges, all numbered, until my destination. Mentally, I was checking them off as I went and was not happy to find that additional bridges without numbers had been constructed, but not included on my map. The fact that number 41 had been demolished didn’t begin to even the score.

The towpath covered a similar route to the Shale Trail and there many strange Shale Bings, remnants of the shale extraction process in the area’s industrial past, but very striking now covered in vegetation.

My mood lightened as I arrived in Linlithgow which was pretty and had a full compliment of restaurants, pubs and amenities in general. I decided to eat at a delicatessen called Taste before heading off to a campsite nearby. They were about to close but relit the grill for me once they realised how far I’d walked and how hungry I was. They even gave me a free fruit scone. I was doubly pleased as I associate scone eating with the Scotts and wanted to partake of one at some point on my trip. Similarly, I ate a scotch pie for my tea. I’d always loved them when living in Scotland as a young lad.

Finally, everyone I met in Linlithgow was talking about the marches that would happen the next day. The marches I was told when nothing to do with sectarianism. They were the most important event in the town each year. They started at 5 am so I could have a look at them before I sit out on my walk the next day.

Day Summary

Too many bridges. Aqueducts, canals, rivers and towpaths. Scotch pies and scones.