A summer stroll

Monday 25 June – Kilsyth to Milngavie

Today we reached two milestones: it’s exactly two months since we started our big walk, and we have now covered three-quarters of the total distance.

The day dawned sunny and warm and forecast to get to 25 degrees, so it was just as well it would be relatively short at 21km, and relatively level.

We’d enjoyed our lovely hotel in Kilsyth, the Coachman, a rather upmarket place with great service and even better dinners – Peter says the salmon with lemon potatoes he had for dinner last night was superb (or maybe it was the Jura single malt whisky that followed it!) Soon we had rejoined the cycle/footpath along the Forth & Clyde Canal, which we followed for much of the day. It was another great day to be out walking and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Around noon we reached the outskirts of the town of Kirkintilloch, and as luck would have it, right by the towpath was a café – such great timing! So of course it was a coffee for Peter and a lemonade for Val and a couple of scrumptious scones. Kirkintilloch itself doesn’t appear much on the map, but it proclaims itself to be a walkers’ town and there is a whole network of footpaths and links to yet more amazing history.

By the time we left it was quite warm indeed, so any shade along the canal path was gratefully accepted. It was similar to yesterday, with lilypads and tiny fish and dragonflies and occasional ducks and swans, so relaxing and peaceful.

Sadly, in the mid-afternoon we had to leave the canal to cut across to Milngavie (pronounced Mull-guy – it’s derived from an old Gaelic name), a satellite town for Glasgow and our night’s rest. We had thoroughly enjoyed the near-three days of canal walking and will miss it a lot. We also had enjoyed an unexpected surprise: the small towns and villages of the Scottish Lowlands, each with their own charm and history. But now we have the delights of the West Highland Way as from tomorrow, which over seven days will take us north, past Loch Lomond, and eventually to Fort William. Some places are quite isolated so we are expecting communication black spots – blogs and emails may be hit and miss!

The forecast is superb for the next few days, sunny and quite warm, probably even too hot – Glasgow will be 28 on Wednesday and even hotter on Thursday, before cooling off. We’re hoping that where we’ll be walking will be a tad cooler….

Distance today: 21km/13 miles

Distance covered since start: 1369km/850 miles      (wow, sounds impressive eh ??!!)

Who needs Monet?