Day: 021
Date: Tuesday, 21 June 2022
Start: Linlithgow
Finish: West Linton (then bus to Biggar)
Daily Kilometres: 40
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 607
Weather: Cool to mild and overcast all day
Accommodation: Hotel
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Bacon & egg sandwiches
Lunch: Chicken, bacon & mayonnaise baguettes
Dinner: Fish & chips/Chicken nuggets & chips
Aches: Both still a bit under the weather with head colds, tired feet
Highlight: Getting back into the heath and grass covered hills during the afternoon after a few days of canal towpaths and suburbia.
Lowlight: Arriving in the village of West Linton at 5:45pm at the end of a long day to find the only hotel in town, which had told me two days ago they had no vacancies for tonight, with a sign outside saying “Rooms Available”. Instead, we had to wait for 40 minutes at the bus stop outside for a bus for the 20-minute to the next town, Biggar, where I had booked a hotel for the night instead.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
We were walking by 7:00am and soon rejoined the Union Canal towpath which we followed for the next two hours to the village of Winchburgh where we bought breakfast and ate it on a bench in the park across the road from the store. It was still overcast and cool, which was good for walking, but always a bit chilly when we stopped.
After another hour of towpath walking, we left the canal for the last time at the village of Broxburn and, following our navigation app for the next few hours, walked on a series of busy roads, quiet roads and marked walking paths, through industrial wastelands, brand new housing estates, farmyards, historic parkland and farmland.
Our route was taking us around the southern side of Edinburgh and eventually we joined an old droving path that made us feel like we were back in the highlands again. Not that the mountains were steep, and if we looked back we could see the Edinburgh suburbs and the pillars of the grand Firth of Forth bridge in the far distance, but it felt like we were leaving civilization behind again. The path, which was quite rough underfoot in parts, gradually climbed up to a low pass where we took our last break for the day before gradually descending towards the village of West Linton.
By this time it was getting late in the afternoon and we were ready for the day to be over as we trudged down the long quiet rural road to the village. We were disappointed to find we had to wait a while for a bus to Biggar where we had a hotel room booked and it was 7:00pm before we finally checked-in. We’re now into our last few days in Scotland. Time is flying!
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