Kirkintilloch to Milngavie (Muhl-guy)

Back on the bus this morning to Kirkintilloch. Stopped at the library at Bishopsbriggs to catch up on blogging as this was a short day. (Future walkers take note: must have photo ID or piece of mail which states your address to use the computers.)

20 minutes into the walk we stumbled onto the typical canal-side pub that Gavin had looked for all 18 miles yesterday... obviously this was too early in the day to stop though! Alas, the fourth successive day of canal walking did not prove much more interesting than the second or the third. We were looking forward to the mid-way point, when we were forced to use our heads and leave the canal and hitch up with the 'Kelvin walkway'. We assumed a river (the most straight-forward route) would have a walking path along side it which would run straight into to the Kelvin w. It didn't. 20 yards along the river it cut 90 degrees for another town that lay to the north. Fifteen minutes off the canal and we were already in trouble...!

"Where that wee path gone?"

We tried to follow what looked like a large path (on the map) that ran right through the golf course. But the path wasn't there, and moreover it ran directly through a lake. We figured out how we could swing by the clubhouse (no time for tea though) and then cut round to the edge of the course (dodging tee shots along the way) and then follow the edge of the course till it came close to a road. We heard the cars, cut through some heavy thickets, and found our road. (By now it was again quite hot and sunny).

We thought this would be okay, since it was a yellow road, not the busy red kind. Another wrong deduction. This road must have been the narrowest road in Scotland. There was barely enough room for two lanes of traffic; certainly not enough for two lanes of traffic and one lane of slightly lost hikers (even slim ones).

We finally made it to the next route change, a red road. True it was a bit busier than the narrow yellow one, but at least it had a pedestrian walk. We finally reached the Kelvin walkway, much lower down, and a few hours later, than we intended. Kelvin wasn't so much a walkway, as it was a narrow path running through nettles. It meandered along a small river all the way into Milngavie, where the 'walkway' finally emerged. We reached Milngavie by early evening, hastened along in the last mile by very large clashes of thunder and lightning. After three sunshine-filled days in a row, the rain was finally here.