Day 75 - Livingston to Linlithgow and Falkirk - 6.7 miles

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 1750.

So the decision was made for me! Because of the late start this morning, rather than walk to Falkirk, I'd go by train.

From Falkirk High Station, I shared a taxi to the Kelpies.

Our driver, 

Jack McNeil is a local historian, an author of humourous Science Fiction and a taxi driver.

Jack described how the 'Charlotte Dundas' was one of the first steam tugs and was tested on the canal at Grangemouth to Falkirk.  Apparently, because of its speed and the concern over the erosion it would cause to the banks of the canals, it was banished to work on the Clyde for the next 60 years.

The Kelpies are amazing- it's hard to appreciate their scale from a distance.

I walked back

along the canal from the Kelpies to the Falkirk Wheel on the way passing a sculpture of Robert Barr

 who in 1904 had launched Irn Bru and cleverly marketed it as "Scotland's other national drink".

At the Wheel,

 I met Manjunath, Suneetha and Shlok.

They're on holiday from Bangalore where Manjunath is a civil engineer . Suneetha worked for Asta Zeneca and Shlok was keen to tell me that he has his own YouTube chanel.

I then walked back to Falkirk station along the route of the Antonine Wall and canal towpath.

I arrived back in Edinburgh in glorious sunshine just before 1800 and walked up from Haymarket to meet Sally and her mum in time for a G&T and supper.

Great timing.!