David's 2022 Walk - Lands'End to John o'Groats

Lennoxtown is connected to the West Highland Way by the John Muir Way which for most of the way follows a dismantled railway line.  The forecast wasn't good for the morning and we set off in the rain. The route was quiet. At Strathblane, the John Muir Way joins the West Highland Way. This is by far the busiest part of my walk since the start in April and within 5 minutes we could see walkers ahead and behind and it remained that way until we arrived at Drymen.  The weather improved throughout the afternoon and for the last few hours we were walking in lovely sunshine. We'd only just checked in when Paul, Caroline and Aaron arrived from Edinburgh - great timing. Total distance walked so far = 974.3 miles Total ascent so far = 114 146 feet

Chaos and confusion. Train strikes and bus replacement services!! Walking down to Haymarket station we crossed over the canal and watched a guy magnet fishing. In five minutes we watched him retrieve the metal spout of an old kettle and a road sign! We eventually caught a bus from Edinburgh to Linlithgow and a train onwards to Croy where we started our walk. The John Muir trail initially follows the line of  Antonine Wall and the remains of some Roman forts particularly Principia.  It then follows the Forth & Clyde canal to Kirkintilloch where it turned sharply north and quickly became more rural in character before it picked up Glazert water and led to our hotel. Total distance walked so far = 957.7 miles Total ascent so far = 113 169 feet

Two rest days in Edinburgh meeting up with  Lindsey with Taggert at The Meadows.  Q only to find out afterwards that Lindsey'd been featured in the Scotsman that day for her work as an agent for children's authors and for her glowing review 25 years ago of JK Rowlings first Harry Potter.  On Saturday we met up again with Barrie and Sheila at Bennets Bar where Barrie met someone from her village in Co. Leitrim - it's a small world! I didn't recognise Ian Rankin who was apparently standing next to me at the bar.....mind you, he didn't recognise me either!!!  On the way home we spotted a front page on the newsstand.... !!!

Total distance walked so far = 948.4 miles Total ascent so far = 112 826 feet The prospect of walking through miles of suburban housing estates didn't appeal so I decided to get a bus 'outta town'. First challenge of the day - find the right bus route. Second challenge of the day - find the right bus stop. When bus stops have no name, no number, no suggestion of what bus might stop there and no visible timetable it took a lot longer than I'd hoped. Eventually I found a bus to Linlithgow. Quite a contrast with Livingston!! An attractive High St with attractive buildings and Linlithgow Palace - birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots.  I'd planned to walk from Linlithgow to Falkirk before heading back to meet Sally in Ediinburgh this evening. However, because of the train strikes in England, though the trains were still running in Scotland, the last train from Falkirk to Edinburgh was at 17...

Total distance walked so far = 941.7 miles Total ascent so far = 112 522 feet The pub didn't do breakfast so their recommendation was to go a few yards down the road to Pyet's deli.-  What a popular place - an oasis?! There we met Ryan who was helping out. and Graham a fine artist who'd had a bad motorcycle accident some years ago but is still going strong!. Then in walked Jackie and Raven who we'd met yesterday afternoon. Graham and Jackie set up a dog walking group some years ago which had grown from strength to strength. Jackie had recently acquired Raven, a beautiful black labrador - who had a leg sprain - so she was trying to contain his puppyish enthusiasm by keeping him on the lead for the time being.  Not easy! All he wants to do is enjoy those tantalising smells and be off chasing those wabbits! Jackie lectures in nursing and had originally trained as a paediatric nurse at the "Sick Kids" hospital in Edinburgh. It...

It was great to meet up with Barrie and Sheila who were just starting their three week tour of Scotland and had arranged to stay in West Linton before joining me for breakfast so that Barrie could walk with me for the day.   The week-long Peebles Festival was in full swing and as we walked out of the town passed houses festooned in bunting and flags we attempted to translate the Latin town motto  Contra Nando Incrementum and spotted a number of red flags. Apparently the arrangent of fish on the flag refers to the migration of fish travelling upstream to spawn and implies that for every salmon swimming up river, two return to the sea. Contra Nando Incrementum  - increase by swimming against the stream!? The trail led out of town and through good farming land up on to Hamilton Hill. Coming towards us for the next couple of hours we met groups of cyclists who were participating in an event riding from Edinburgh to M...