Day 7 - Linlithgow to Castlecarry

We arrived in Castlecarry after another long day of walking.  There was lots of motivation today as we are in a hotel tonight, we are planning on sleeping in tomorrow morning, and we only have 10 km of walking tomorrow.  Tomorrow is our planned easy day to mark the midway point of our long walk.  The first thing I asked when we arrived at the hotel was if we could get a late checkout.  Yes!!

It started raining last night around 2:00.  The rain and wind were pretty harsh at times but the tent held up quite well - we only had a small puddle in one corner when we woke up.  It was still raining quite hard when our alarm went, so I decided to wait until there was a lull, which came around 9:00.  Unfortunately by the time we were all packed up and on our way to find breakfast we were soaked.  Luckily by the time we finished breakfast the rain had stopped falling and we dried up as the day progressed.   Our tent is hanging in the bathroom right now in hopes it will be dry by the time we leave tomorrow.

Most of the day was spent along the Union Canal again, which doesn't offer a lot of scenery.  There were, however, a few more notable points than yesterday.  First was the biggest  aqueduct in Scotland (2nd largest in the UK) at 250 m long, and 26 m tall.

Avon Aqueduct

Next point of interest was the Falkirk Tunnel, 630 m long.  It felt like walking through a Walt Disney attraction - dark, humid, creepy.

Falkirk Tunnel

Finally, at the end of our stint on the Union Canal we saw the Falkirk Wheel, a boat lift that connects the Union Canal with the Forth and Clyde Canal.  The wheel takes the place of 11 locks that were filled in when the canal was closed in the 1930's.  The wheel is a very impressive engineering accomplishment and a Scottish icon.

After a rest there, we finished the day walking along the Forth and Clyde.  This was much more picturesque and gave us a look into what we would be doing the next few days.

After cleaning up we had dinner at the hotel pub while watching Andy Murray's Wimbledon match.  I don't need to say who everybody in there was cheering for.  We will watch a little TV before bed and then hopefully get a long restful sleep.

Tomorrow night will be wild camping so no update.  It will also be the first of four nights in the tent.  We will be going through towns though, and I'll try to update then.

Thanks for reading and good night!!!