2.5 Forth Bridges
Crikey! A weekend with great weather? Well, we just had to make use of this, so with some clever planning Jazz and I could continue our march eastwards on the John Muir Trail from South Queensferry to Leith. It’s roughly 9 months since we were here and it’ll give us a chance to see how the new bridge is coming on. I’m no civil engineer but I think they need to fill in the gaps before it’ll be ready. Continue reading
Falkirk Wheel
Continuing the tradition of doing canal walks in July Jazz and I were doing the middle bit of the Central Belt’s canal network. We were dropped off near the Castlecary arches and quickly reached the canal. It was at about this point we discovered that the map was still in the car currently heading west. Well, we were on a canal and the John Muir Trail (JMT) that is sure to be well sign-posted: what could possibly go wrong…? Continue reading
This is a section of the John Muir Way in the heart of the Central Belt with industry all around, but turned out to be one of the greenest, tranquil sections you could hope to find with a variety of scenery, engineering and history to keep us amused. Continue reading
Canal near Kilsyth
A bit of good luck today: the Missus wanted to cycle to see the Falkirk Wheel and offered us a drop-off and pick-up: this meant we could do another linear section of the John Muir Trail. So we were back in Strathblane heading east. It was a lovely summer’s day and the only grit in the oyster was the memory that last time we did a section of the Forth-Clyde Canal the cycling hordes were a pain. Surely I was just in a bad mood then; it’ll be better today. Nope.
Dumgoyne
“That’s one small step for man, one long walk for man+dog”. Given today is the 45th anniversary of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the Moon (closely followed by Buzz) it seems appropriate to paraphrase his comment for this second section of the John Muir Trail (JMT). Continue reading
Local Hero
When I read that the John Muir Way (JMW) had been extended and now stretches from Helensburgh to Dunbar this was a nice infusion of new walking options. Today we started our campaign with the start at Helensburgh. It’s 215km (134 miles) long and splits into nice day sections, and unlike our friend the SUW, there is actually some public transport (and obliging relatives) to help us connect up the stages. Today we gave ScotRail our custom: we parked at Balloch station and took the train to Helensburgh and walked back. Continue reading
Tow-path near Dullatur
With Last-born at T-in-the Park, a weekend of rain was expected and indeed forecast, so you can imagine our complete lack of surprise to have a lovely walk in hot sunshine. A bit of a change this week with a nice circular walk taking in a bit of the Forth-Clyde Canal and the Antonine Wall near Kilsyth and so getting two engineering marvels in one go. Continue reading