LEJOG
Distance walked – 34km (21.3miles)
Total Distance – 1487.5km (929.7miles)
A lot’s gonna change
In your lifetime
Try to leave it all behind
In your lifetime
Weyes Blood – A lot’s gonna change
We had our ducks in a row?
It was another hot, hard walk today as we followed canal towpaths for a second full day, in the warmest weather of our journey so far. When we look back at our LEJOG journey in the future, I am sure that we will both recall this afternoon’s walk as one of the hardest segments of the entire route. Endless kilometres along a seemingly never changing canal in full sunshine without any shade. We dug deep though and got the job done (with some philosophical help).
Avon Aqueduct
View over the Avon River
The day started beautifully though, as we left Linlithgow having both chosen to wear the shorts of optimism (we also carried the rain-jackets of experience). Our optimism proved correct however, with a brilliant, cloudless blue sky surrounding us. After a road walk, we eventually regained the Union Canal and were almost straight away rewarded as we crossed the Avon Aqueduct, which at 250metres long, is the second longest canal aqueduct in the UK.
Canal Path
The John Muir Way, a Scottish long distance walking path, follows the Union Canal along this section. It is a coast to coast walk across Scotland named after the famous conservationist, naturalist and “Father of the National Parks” in the USA who was born in Scotland before emigrating to America when he was eleven. We had briefly contemplated following it all the way from Edinburgh, but it takes a much more circuitous route than the canal and would have taken us an extra day or two, although I think it would have been more interesting and kinder on our feet!
Canal Bridge
The canal and countryside were beautiful, sparkling in the perfect summer weather. The only down point was a short urban section through Polmont passing a very ugly Young Offenders Institution, but we were soon back in pretty, open countryside and were making very good time on the flat level surface.
Falkirk Tunnel
After rounding a bend, we arrived at one of the highlights of the day, as the canal disappeared into the 631metre long Falkirk Tunnel. Apparently, it was only built to appease a wealthy landowner who didn’t want the canal visible from his property.
Water dripped from the ceiling as we entered the atmospheric tunnel. The lights gave surprisingly little illumination as we gingerly made our way towards the tiny light at the far end of the tunnel. Several cyclists passed us mid-way through the tunnel which was an interesting experience on the narrow path in the dark.
The light at the end of the tunnel slowly grew in size and we eventually escaped the underworld to return to the land of the living.
Falkirk Wheel
Shortly after the tunnel the Union Canal joins the Forth and Clyde Canal at the Falkirk Wheel. The Wheel is a rotating boat lift which was opened in 2002 allowing the two canals to be reconnected. Originally, the canals were connected by a series of 11 locks which were dismantled in the 1930s after the canals were closed. When they were re-opened as a Millenium project, planners decided to create a dramatic 21st century landmark, rather than rebuilding the locks. It certainly is dramatic, and very popular.
We fought our way through the crowds to watch the wheel operate. Interestingly, it seemed to be mainly tourist boats which take people up and then back down again. We didn’t see any boats using the wheel that were travelling along the canals. Maybe it was a quiet day for canal travel? It was certainly a busy day for the tour boats. We had lunch on a shady patch of grass watching the engineering marvel of the wheel turning, raising and lowering the boats in their own bathtub of canal water.
Canal Life
After lunch, we set off along the Forth and Clyde Canal for an afternoon of hot, repetitive walking. It was much wider than the Union Canal and felt more like walking beside a river. It was, however, very long and there were several dead straight sections which seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see. By this time, the sun was at its full strength, and we were struggling with the lack of shade on the long open sections.
Our conversation usually dies out during these difficult stretches while we both concentrate on the walking. In my own world, I contemplated the sameness of the canal scenery when it occurred to me that it wasn’t the same at all. It was constantly changing in small subtle ways, almost imperceptibly, as we slowly moved along. Heraclitus, the Greek Philosopher famously said, “It is not possible to step into the same river twice”. Even if I stopped moving the canal was constantly changing, in constant flux such that it will never be the same as when we walked along it this afternoon.
“It is not possible to walk the same canal twice”, I said to Louisa. “Too bloody right” she responded. “I won’t ever be walking along here again!”. We walked on in silence, eventually arriving at our Hotel after many hot hours, Heraclitus forgotten on the ever-changing canal. . . . . . .
