Day 53 Linlithgow to Kilsyth

Today was set to be a groundhog day as once again my route was totally along canals albeit a mix of the Union and the Forth and Clyde. Also as Debs happily pointed out, today was going to be my last day ever "sprightly 41 year old" but as I constantly remind her, she is still older than me!

Unfortunately the weather God decreed that today would also be a damp and at times a bit of a miserable day so it was on with the waterproofs first thing. Once again I didn't have to pay for my B&B as Nan at Belsyde House asked me to donate it to my fundraising. Dropped back down to the canal and it wasn't long before I met the first of the three amazing man made feats of engineering : the 273 metre long aqueduct straddling the river Avon. This is the 2nd longest with only Telfords aqueduct in Wales being greater in length. Still can't get my head around I'm running alongside water in mid air! After this there wasn't really much to write about over the next 6 - 7 miles except that it had stopped raining for a while. I then came to the 2nd of the days "interests" but this was causing me a bit of mental turmoil. The canal disappeared into a huge dark tunnel that I obviously had to go through and thought of it really scared me. Although dead straight so I could at least literally see the light at the end of the tunnel, it was 690 metres long and dimly lit every 25 meters of so. The path was wet and slippery in places and water was dripping constantly either into the canal or onto the footpath echoing in the tunnel. At least there was a guard rail to stop you accidentally walking into the canal! The sides of the tunnel were raw rock and these made eerie silhouettes. However I knuckled down to the task, took loads of deep breathes and ventured into the darkness. Inside was so wet that the sides had the appearance of a damp cave with stalactites and stalagmites. To saw I was relieved to be back out in daylight would be a mega understatement and I was very proud of myself to have conquered that particular demon! Didn't really care that it was now pouring, at least it was rain rather than tunnel water.

Then it was the turn of the third of today's features and this time it was a wow. 100 years ago the Union was linked to the lower Forth and Clyde by a series of eleven locks but when the canals fell into disuse they were demolished. Nowadays a huge "ferris wheel" type steel contraption called the Falkirk Wheel lifts boats to and from the two canals - the only one of its kind in the world and really has to be seen to be believed. I then transferred to the Forth and Clyde canal and passed through industrial sites (yuck), towns (OK) and countryside (much preferred) but just as I got to the later and was running along a dead straight piece of the canal stretching for nearly 3 miles the heavens absolutely opened and before long I was drenched.

Kilsyth is at first glance a town full of pebble dashed houses and flats, not really appealing but luckily I'm staying on a farm at the top end of town. Reading the visitors book quite a few end to enders have stayed here in recent days and there is a card from a guy walking North to South who had massive blister problems just getting here. He lasted one more day before buying a bike and cycling the rest of the way!

Mileage 21.74 Time 4.38