JOGLE 6.5 Day 4 Thu 5 Sep 13

Depart Linlithgow at 0840. Arrive at Edinburgh at 1700. Distance 21 Miles.

Today saw us setting off along the Union Canal.  The one thing about long distance walking is that you spend days at a time walking a section that is very samey.  The only blessing about canal walking is that it is always level as it follows the contours. The disadvantage because it follows the contours is that you can do big loops instead of taking a straight line. This happened today as made our way around a massive industrial complex outside Edinburgh.  This particular stretch of the canal happened to be right under the flight path of Edinburgh airport.  I managed to wave off some friends as they flew over the canal, they had been staying in Edinburgh for a few days.  Unfortunately we couldn’t get their fast enough to meet them before they left.  We also saw canal boats owned and run by the St John Seagull Trust who appeared to be taking people out on day trips.  They seemed very pleased to see us and waved vigorously as they went past. We also came across some very high aqueducts that made you feel a little bit giddy when you looked over the side. I came across a fire crew coming towards me along the canal with all their gear on and various tools of the trade.  I wasn’t quite sure what they were doing, maybe putting the canal out? There was also a weird looking dredging boat making its away along and churning up the bottom of the canal as it went. The days walking was long and tiring but there were certainly many interesting things to see on the way. Coming off the canal and walking around the Edinburgh ring road to our B&B proved to be a little bit challenging as the footpaths were few a far between. Ian and I made out like cyclists and used some of the cycle routes, although it wasn’t easy to pretend you were peddling as you walked, luckily we didn’t get a flat tyre!  We arrived at our quirky School House B&B in Conniton.  Conniton has retained much of its village style and the local shop keeper knew who our B&B host was and give us some good directions to get there. We ate out at McKenzie’s a local restaurant which served a very nice meal and looked after us well.