17 July 2010 - LINLITHGOW To Falkirk
Distance - 9.8 miles
Weather - Sunny
We started off our walk by leaving the station and
making our way to the canal tow path - or more specifically, the very nice cafe by the canal, where we enjoyed some refreshment before we set off. Once we had left Linlithgow behind us, we found ourselves walking alternatively alongside trees or fields. The canal here was in a much more rural setting than it had been for the previous stretch. It also seemed this whole section was much favoured by cyclists, runners and dog walkers, as we spent a considerable amount of time getting out of their way.
We had only walked about four miles before I discovered my trainers were rubbing my heels a bit, so I asked Alistair for a couple of Compeed. It was at this point he confessed that he hadn't brought the medical kit. I then did the worst thing possible and decided to ignore the chafing. My heels were quite sore as we approached Polmont, where the tow path became a bit more urban - especially as we passed Polmont Young Offenders Institution. Alistair asked if I'd like to stop at Polmont station and just catch the train back to Falkirk, but I stubbornly decided to carry on.
About a mile on from Polmont, I was rolling down my socks and fashioning them into buffers to stop the rubbing. It didn't really work and by the time I reached the 631 metre long tunnel, just before Falkirk High station, they were red raw and bleeding. Incidentally, their is no need for a tunnel at this point, it was dug purely to stop a certain rich industrialist, William Forbes, from seeing the canal from his estate. It was quite dark and wet in the tunnel and I was grateful for the handrail and railing put there to stop walkers from falling into it. I was even more grateful when we got to the car and the day's walking was concluded.
It's ironic that in all the miles we walked during the LEJOG, that section was the one which gave me the most painful blisters - it demonstrates what can happen when you omit to take adequate care!
To get to the start of this section of the walk, we drove to Falkirk, then caught a train from Falkirk High to Linlithgow. As it was a very short stretch and all on level tow paths, I did a foolish thing. I decided I would wear an old pair of trainers, rather than my walking boots. Alistair also did a very foolish thing. He decided not to pack a medical kit. As I'll discuss later, both of these decisions turned out to be a bit silly.
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| Canal Just Past Linlithgow |
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| Rural Scenes |
We had only walked about four miles before I discovered my trainers were rubbing my heels a bit, so I asked Alistair for a couple of Compeed. It was at this point he confessed that he hadn't brought the medical kit. I then did the worst thing possible and decided to ignore the chafing. My heels were quite sore as we approached Polmont, where the tow path became a bit more urban - especially as we passed Polmont Young Offenders Institution. Alistair asked if I'd like to stop at Polmont station and just catch the train back to Falkirk, but I stubbornly decided to carry on.
About a mile on from Polmont, I was rolling down my socks and fashioning them into buffers to stop the rubbing. It didn't really work and by the time I reached the 631 metre long tunnel, just before Falkirk High station, they were red raw and bleeding. Incidentally, their is no need for a tunnel at this point, it was dug purely to stop a certain rich industrialist, William Forbes, from seeing the canal from his estate. It was quite dark and wet in the tunnel and I was grateful for the handrail and railing put there to stop walkers from falling into it. I was even more grateful when we got to the car and the day's walking was concluded.
It's ironic that in all the miles we walked during the LEJOG, that section was the one which gave me the most painful blisters - it demonstrates what can happen when you omit to take adequate care!
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