Day 71: Linlithgow to Bonnybridge (14.3 miles)

I was delighted to meet a colleague, Paul Dodd, at Aran cafe for a catch up over coffee, and for me, breakfast, at 8am. I was meeting David Philp at Falkirk Wheel later in the day to walk onto Bonnybridge and he had alerted me that Paul actually lived in Linlithgow and it was good luck that Paul was able to fit in a coffee before heading off to Perth for the day. When he left I spent some time exploring Linlithgow Palace where Mary, Queen of Scots, was born. Unfortunately, it didn’t open until 9:30 and I needed to head off so resolved to return and spend more time in this beautiful town at some point. I headed off back onto the Union Canal, via Subway to pick up some lunch - a new experience for me!

The heavy rain had gone through during the night, and I only had light rain for a short time 3 or 4 times during the day - to the extent that when it rained mid afternoon I didn’t bother putting my waterproof jacket on. 

I found the canal walk today more interesting than yesterday - the scenery was more varied, there were more people on the walk, and the air was beautifully fresh and invigorating. I met a family with two young boys obviously enjoying walking with their parents - and they were all interested to hear what I was up to.

I reached Avon aqueduct at 10:45, much longer than the Lin Mill aqueduct but no more dramatic. That cascading water yesterday was something else! Shortly after, the ruins of Almond Castle came into sight.

Around midday, I met a lady whose husband has had dementia for 5 years and is 79. I had a long chat with her; she obviously needed to off-load, and I urged her to look after herself and make sure she got help and support. It really impressed on me how important it is that the carers get adequate support. The impact on those around someone with dementia is massive - having Alzheimer’s Society focus on supporting the carers, as well as those suffering and searching for potential cures, is hugely important.

I was just thinking about lunch at 13.00, when I came to the long, spooky tunnel people had been warning me about. It is 640 metres long but is lit, with a strong handrail, so wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. There was a lot of water coming through the ceiling of the tunnel at the northern end though which was somewhat un-nerving.

 I ate lunch on the hoof, not wanting to keep Dave waiting - he was being dropped off at 13:30 to walk out to me, and then join me to walk to Bonnybridge. I was no more than 1.5 miles from Falkirk Wheel at that point. I saw a lock coming up and was surprised I’d not seen Dave yet. I got chatting to two backpackers - Peter and Martin from Portsmouth- who, having done a number of long distance walks over the years had realised they could join them all up to complete LEJOG - they were camping this time between Milngavie and Kirk Yetholm. Whilst chatting to them, Dave rang me. He was at Lock 14. I was at Lock 9, I walked through another tunnel and realised I’d arrived at the Wheel. So where was Dave? I texted him and he called back - he’d gone down the wrong canal and was 4km away, heading for Grangemouth!

Living close by he was able to get his daughter, Sophie to rescue him and drop him back at the wheel arriving at 14:30. This worked out well for me as I was able to get a coffee and watch the Wheel in action - an amazing feat of engineering.

We then spent a very pleasant hour walking down the Forth and Clyde Canal - in the right direction! - to Bonnybridge. Dark clouds loomed but it only really started to rain as we arrived at my stop for the night - early at 15:30. Sophie came to pick Dave up so I was pleased to have a quick chat with her before they left and I settled down to write my notes and relax. My pace was obviously picking up with the lighter backpack - it would be interesting to see what happened when I added the camping equipment again at Loch Lomond.