JOGLE 6.5 Day 3 Wed 4 Sep 13

Depart Kilsyth at 0910. Arrived at Linlithgow at 1745. Distance 18 Miles.

A normal breakfast followed by a reasonable start time. We set off along the Forth and Clyde Canal. Stopped at the Falkirk wheel for an hour and had a good look around the visitors centre and also had our lunch. We climbed up alongside the wheel to get onto the Union Canal towpath. It was very pleasant walking along the canal. The weather was overcast and breezy to start with but progressed into sunny cloudless sky with a gentle breeze. There were lots of cyclists trying to run you over and ignoring signs about not cycling through the tunnels and under the bridges and annoyingly disturbing the peace and quiet by ringing their bells (and making me jump!). I put my MP3 player on and drowned them out with a bit of rock and roll and because I couldn’t hear them coming I couldn’t be made to jump out of their way, that made them slow down, well some were going so fast as to be positively dangerous. Bonney Bridge saw some locals extending their gardens along the canal that were full of flower and very beautiful to look at. It seems that visitors like their BBQ on the banks of the canal and then proceed to throw all their beer cans in the hedges and woods and leave the remains of their BBQ laying around - yep great very nice! Not!  We came across a very long cavernous limestone tunnel to walk through showing roots of plants through the roof and stalactites were forming as well. But there were not many canal boats around. We went for a walk around Linlithgow town and called into Bar Leo for a meal - pizza! Surprisingly cholesterol free without the cheese. We had a quick look around the castle and then to bed for an early night. The Strawberry Bank B&B was a typical four star B&B and very nice but a bit overpowering with flowers and poofy smells (for me anyway). The breakfast menu was very imaginative scrambled egg and bacon on toasted bagel drizzled with maple syrup - yum and Scrambled egg with poached salmon on triangles of brown toast with a toasted croissant.