DEBBY

I recently received the sad news that breast cancer has claimed the life of Debby Cusak. Debby was not only my friend, but the friend of everyone who ever met her. You could not meet Debby without instantly being befriended by her.

Debby loved animals as much as her friends – she had rescued two dogs that I know of. An avid hiker and a former officer of the Outback Hiking Club of Southern Utah, Debby initiated dogs’ days out – weekly hikes for dogs, but to which two-legged critters were also welcomed.

Debby was an inspiration. The last time I saw her she shrugged off the dire prognosis from her physicians and was rebuilding the energy which had been sapped by her treatment. She was thrilled that she could walk to the end of her street with the aid of a walker, and she looked forward to getting back on the trails some day. Her attitude was contagious, and one could not help but be thrilled by her spirit. Unfortunately, even a positive mind can’t control what nature intends for the body.

My heart goes out to her husband, Stan, and the rest of Debby’s family.  Debby was 58.

Rest easy, Debby. You’ve earned a smooth trail.


© 2011 Ken Klug

Day 67 – Saturday, August 06, 2011 – Kirkintilloch to Drymen, 17 miles

Underpass near Lennoxtown

Today’s walk was a connecting route from the Forth and Clyde Canal to the West Highland Way. The route out of Kirkintilloch follows another rails-to-trails route until it reaches Strathblane. From there, a pleasant walk through the forest along a creek named Blane Water connects to the West Highland Way.

This is my third time on the West Highland Way, so the sights along the way were familiar to me. A few things have changed since the last time I was here, 9 years ago, when Janet and I walked the WHW with our Canadian friends, Keith and Cathy. First, there was an early section of a mud slog where cattle were frequently penned. The route now bypasses that on a clean, dry path.

Rory

Second, in the village of Gartness, Rory has established an “honesty shop” with soft drinks and ice cream – help yourself and leave the payment.

View from WHW

The biggest change appears to be the number of walkers on the WHW. In the past, I encountered other walkers only occasionally. Today, I encountered at least a dozen on the three hours I was on the WHW. We’ll see how many I encounter over the next 10 days. Obviously, with so many walkers, I can’t talk with and photograph everybody.






© 2011 Ken Klug

Day 66 – Falkirk to Kirkintilloch, 17 miles

Today was a dry day, but other than that, quite similar to yesterday’s walk next to the canal. I started on the Union Canal out of Falkirk. Two miles later, the Union Canal ended, and I then followed the Forth and Clyde Canal to Kirkintilloch. The Forth and Clyde Canal was built in the 19th century to connect the River Clyde with the River Forth for the transportation of goods between the west and east coasts of Scotland. By tying that canal to the Union Canal, goods could be transported between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The canal system didn’t last very long, as it was replaced by railroads.

The Union Canal was quite a bit higher than the Forth and Clyde Canal, so a series of locks were used to connect them. After the canals were abandoned, the locks were filled in. When British Waterways reinstituted the canal system recently, it became necessary to re-connect the two canals. Rather than re-build the locks, a very expensive device known as the Falkirk Wheel was built. It is an engineering marvel for its simplicity.

Basically, it is a Ferris wheel with two buckets. The lower bucket is the “lock” that runs to the Forth and Clyde Canal.

Lock is inside the circles

The upper bucket Is the “lock” that runs to the Union Canal. Each lock is the same size and holds the same amount of water, so they weigh the same. When a boat enters the lock, it displaces water equal to its weight, so the weight in the lock remains the same. It’s a simple matter to rotate the lower lock to the upper position while the upper lock counterbalances it and rotates to the lower position. I can’t imagine how much all that simplicity cost, or how anybody justified the expense to move a few long boats. So far as I observed, nobody is using the Union Canal.

Campsie fells

Despite the distance, today’s walk was easy, with nice views of the Campsie Fells to the north. I’ll be seeing those hills more closely tomorrow as I move to the West Highland Way, which may well be the most popular national trail in all of the United Kingdom. Despite the numbers of walkers, the West Highland Way traverses some very remote areas, so internet connections will be spotty. Accordingly, I expect that my postings during the next ten days will be sporadic until I reach Fort William.

Garden along towpath

© 2011 Ken Klug

Day 65, Thursday, August 04, 2011 – Broxburn to Falkirk, 17 miles

Bing on far side of canal

I said my good-byes to Ann of the Tartan, but not before she had packed a good lunch for me. Then Dr. George and Lady Ann drove me to Broxburn, and I resumed walking along the Union Canal where I had left off on Tuesday. Just outside of Broxburn, the canal is lined with “bings”, heaps of shale tailings from which oil was taken in the 19th century. Vegetation is now growing on them, and in another 300 years, you will hardly know that they differ from the surrounding countryside.



John and Paul

 The Union Canal isn’t as busy as the previous canals I’ve walked along – indeed, I saw only one long boat the entire day. Perhaps that was due to the weather – it rained on and off all day, and there was very little activity along the canal. The first people I met were John and Paul, out exercising their dogs. Paul is the President of the Scotland Youth Hostel Association, and we had a nice chat as he walked along with me a short while.

The weather obscured the promised view of the Firth of Forth bridges, but the scenery was nonetheless superb.  Indeed, the mist which obscured distant objects gave a nether-world appearance to old castles.

Avon Aquaduct

The Union Canal has no locks. It is a contour canal that maintains the same level its entire length. As a result, the walking was easy, the footing good, and the rain caused only a few puddles I easily stepped over. In order to keep the canal level, the engineers built a high aquaduct for the canal to pass over the River Avon. (This is not the same River Avon of England, which empties into the Severn. This one empties into the Firth of Forth.)

JOGLERs Ben and Tolga

The highlight of the day for me was meeting Ben and Tolga, the first End to Enders I’ve met during my entire walk. They started at John O’Groats and are headed south, camping whenever they can. I wish them good luck on their journey, and hope that they have as much fun as I’m having.

Just before Falkirk, the Union Canal passes through a tunnel 1900 feet long. As I approached the tunnel, a local cautioned me against entering it, “It’s dark in there.” It was dark, but there are some lights so it isn’t entirely black. I had brought my headlamp, but the tunnel wasn’t so dark that I needed it.




© 2011 Ken Klug

Day 64, Wednesday, August 3, 2011 – Rest Day in Edinburgh

Haggis, neeps & tatties

Last night Ann of the Tartan cooked a delightful dinner, including the Scottish national dish: haggis, neeps and tatties. Tatties are mashed potatoes; neeps are parsnips; and haggis is… well, you don’t want to know. It tastes good, though, and Ann’s was especially tasty. Followed by a macaroni and cheese casserole with a heavy cream sauce, and a superb dessert of fruit, custard & cream (no, make that custard, cream and fruit; or maybe cream, custard and fruit), my taste buds were never so happy.

Today, Ann of the Tartan escorted Dr. George, Lady Ann, and me around to the best sights of Edinburgh. Edinburgh is a pleasant city with gobs of history, but it suffers from the same festival condition that afflicts other British towns and cities. The Edinburgh Fringe starts this week, as does the world famous Edinburgh Tattoo, which has nothing to do with having pictures drawn on your body. As a result, about 400 million tourists were in Edinburgh today. To make matters worse, today was sunny, to that brought out the residents, also.

We tried to visit Edinburgh Castle, but there were too many tourists. We walked down the main tourist street, but there were too many tourists. Ann of the Tartan then had a wonderful idea: we toured Edinburgh’s fancy new parliament building, from which the tourists stayed away in droves. After Dr. George and I saw how our tax dollars were being spent (hey…, even though I’m an American I’m still paying the 20% British VAT for all the goods and services I am purchasing on this walk), we needed a drink, so we dragged the two Anns to a café for lunch and ale.

Lost-a-lot, Ann of the Tartan,
and Lady Ann

Following an after-lunch walk around the city, we returned to Ann’s home for afternoon tea. Then out to a pub for dinner, after which we toured Queensferry to look at the two bridges over the Firth of Forth that I should be able to see tomorrow from Linlithgow as I walk along the Union Canal.



Oh, and then we returned to Ann’s home for a whiskey. It’s occurring to me that Scotland is a lot like England with all the eating and drinking. It’s a strange custom. I would never do that at home.





© 2011 Ken Klug

Day 63, Tuesday, August 2, 2011 – West Linton to Broxburn, 18 miles

Tomorrow will be a rest day in Edinburgh with Dr. George, Lady Ann and their friend, Ann of the Tartan. I had arranged to call Dr. George when I arrived in Broxburn. As the day wore on, I began to wonder whether I would arrive in Broxburn.

It rained hard last night, but by the time I left West Linton, the rain lessened to a light mist. The route out of West Linton heads into the Pentland Hills by starting on quiet lane past a golf course and expensive golf course homes. As the lane rises and gets more remote it changes to a gravel track passing several farms and a reservoir. Eventually the track is reduced to a footpath known as "Thieves Road" because in the 18th and 19th centuries, robbers used to lurk there and pounce on travelers.  I was assured that thievery was no longer a problem.  The footpath continues to ascend to a high ridge known as Cauldstane Slap. Cauldstane Slap is a divide – the watershed to the east fills the River Tweed, while that to the west feeds the River Almond.  

As I climbed higher, the mist grew progressively heavier until I was quite confident that the two rivers would not be drying up anytime soon. Nor would the river flowing down the track I was following. At the top ridge, I was no longer concerned about the rivers, but rather the bogs which were holding all the water for later release.

It’s interesting how slowly one moves while trying to avoid puddles and streams to maintain dry feet. It’s silly, of course, because eventually your feet get wet, and then your speed increases again because you are no longer trying to keep your feet dry. At that point, all you need to focus on are the bogs – you just need to be sure you don’t step in something that’s going to sink you into the muck.

Even the bogs lose their significance when you approach something more formidable. I’m in Scotland now – the home of Highland cattle. These are cute – almost cuddly – little creatures, but they are armed with big horns. Even the cows have horns. Highland cattle are reputed to be docile, but did I mention that they have big horns? An interesting thing about those horns is that they grow longer the closer they are to the trail. And the cows seem less docile when their calves are close to the trail. It’s moments like this that make the peat bogs less formidable, so you leave the trail to the cattle and make a wide circle through whatever is lurking in the heather.

Eventually, of course, you either sink into a bog never to be heard from again, or you make it down to Broxburn where you can call Dr. George to be picked up – wet, muddy feet and all.

© 2011 Ken Klug

Day 62 – Eddleston to West Linton, 8 miles



View from trail

 After a wonderful breakfast of croissants and French toast, I headed off to West Linton -- only 8 miles because today was a rest day. After some preliminary route finding difficulties, I finally reached the trail I had been searching for, and had clear walking the rest of the way. I moved slowly because I knew I had plenty of time, and because I needed to frequently check the map to be sure I made the proper turns on the unsigned, remote trail. No mistakes, no bogs, no rain.



Not the lost ones



I encountered only two people all day. The first was a rancher who was searching for a dozen lost cattle. When I told him my route, he gave me his phone number in case I happened upon his cattle. Unfortunately, I didn’t find them.  I believe the standard reward is 10%, and it would have been really cool to have a pet steer to carry my backpack.



Lesley

The second person was a friendly lady riding her bicycle. She was quick to sense that I wasn’t a local and immediately stopped to talk. The fact that I was exiting the grounds of a large, private estate when she rode by may have been her clue. I knew I wasn’t on a public route, but, as we learned yesterday, being a foreigner is akin to having license to trespass – especially when the private route is much shorter than the public one.

I arrived at West Linton shortly after 1:00 – far too early to check into my B&B. I’m now sitting in a pub writing this posting, and lamenting about not having been able to claim a reward steer to carry my backpack tomorrow.

Solution to last week's puzzle about long-handled forest tools (you may need to enlarge the picture to read the sign):

© 2011 Ken Klug