Distance - 15.1 miles
Weather - Overcast
For this segment of the LEJOG we initially caught the train from Stirling to
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| Visitor Centre, A&C Country Park |
Edinburgh Haymarket, then took a subsequent train out to Kirknewton. We left Kirknewton station and walked into East Calder and through the Almondell and Calder Country Park. This ensured that not only could we use public transport (much cheaper than using two cars) but, more importantly, there were no gaps in our LEJOG route.
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| Lin Mill Aqueduct |
As mentioned in a previous blog, the journey through the Almondell & Calder Country Park is very pretty. Our route used a footpath running beside the River Almond, which we followed to West Clifton and afterwards we followed an artificial feeder channel to a confluence of waterways around the Union Canal. Just before we met the canal we got a good view of the Lin Mill Aqueduct. At this point we chose to follow the wrong side of the canal over the aqueduct and had to retrace our steps so that we had a tow path available once we had actually crossed the aqueduct. Neither Al nor I were brave or stupid enough to jump over, regardless of how narrow the distance seemed!
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| New M8 Motorway Bridge |
The Union Canal was opened in 1822 to link Edinburgh and Glasgow, but never really got much use as the railways provided a faster alternative in the 1840s. It was closed for ages, but was reopened in 2000 following a grant from the National Lottery Millennium Fund. This included the construction of a new bridge for the M8 motorway south of Broxburn, which we later passed. It didn't look as pretty as the Victorian architecture, but at least someone had tried to make the bridge look a bit more than a slab of concrete. The route here wasn't all that scenic and some people have commented that the stretch of canal between bridges 23 and 27, through the housing estates of Broxburn, is possibly slightly more risky than Cross Fell in poor weather! Luckily we didn't encounter any problems, although there were plenty of empty Tennents Super Lager cans lying around!
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| Bings At Niddry |
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| Interesting Marker |
Further along the track we passed by some
bings at Niddry - these are spoil heaps from shale workings. The bings all have a flat top to ensure there are no mud slides. Apparently the shale bings of Lothian are the only examples of a shale bing in the UK and are important sites for biodiversity. This stretch of the LEJOG seemed steeped in industrial archaeology, as later we passed an interesting marker (although we never found out what this was about).
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| Distant View Of Linlithgow |
We continued following the tow path, which first passed through some woodland, then meandered through fields (often running parallel to its nemesis the railway) for the rest of the way into the ancient and royal town of Linlithgow, with its palace and strange church steeple. There are frequent reports of UFO sightings around Linlithgow and if they are actual UFOs and not just aircraft from nearby Edinburgh airport, then I think the church steeple must be the thing that attracts them! We left the canal at Linlithgow and made our way to the station to catch a train back to Stirling.
We continued following the tow path, which first passed through some woodland, then meandered through fields (often running parallel to its nemesis the railway) for the rest of the way into the ancient and royal town of Linlithgow, with its palace and strange church steeple. There are frequent reports of UFO sightings around Linlithgow and if they are actual UFOs and not just aircraft from nearby Edinburgh airport, then I think the church steeple must be the thing that attracts them! We left the canal at Linlithgow and made our way to the station to catch a train back to Stirling.
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