Wednesday 27th August 2025
While walking along the John Muir Way I stayed in various youth hostels that were a significant distance away from the trail, making use of public transport to get to and from the hostels. To start, I spent two nights at the Glasgow Youth Hostel, twice travelling into and out of the city centre, and then on the next two nights I stayed at the youth hostel in Stirling, even though this was not near the trail. One advantage of this arrangement was that for half the walks I had a light rucksack, but on the other walks I had a heavier rucksack when I had to carry all my clothes. This was one such occasion as I left the youth hostel in Stirling and caught a train to Linlithgow. While walking back through the streets of Linlithgow my rucksack felt noticeably heavier than it had been the day before, though I had to remember that my rucksack had been much heavier while on the Cambrian Way three months earlier. After a lengthy walk through Linlithgow I finally reached the John Muir Way at the crossroads, near Linlithgow Bridge, where I had left the trail the day before, and followed a road north, but when the pavement beside the road ended, before crossing the A9 motorway, I became anxious that I had lost the trail. I checked the description on the walkhighlands website for reassurance and discovered that it recommends taking a route from the station that takes in views of the Palace and Loch. Unfortunately, it was too late for me to do that and there was no avoiding walking along the road, which soon bent right while I continued to head north along a footpath.
I had started this holiday feeling very tired through stress and lack of sleep so I had hoped that the trail would refresh me, however, I was still up and down and on this day I was feeling very tired again. My route continued gently uphill on quiet roads interspersed with paths until I reached Kinneil Wood where I had a relaxing walk downhill under the soothing pines which were much more open that would be found in a conifer plantation. It wasn’t long before I reached Kinneil House, beside which is the cottage used by James Watt while developing the steam engine. The broad drive brought me out of the estate and onto a road on the outskirts of Bo’ness where a steady descent brought me to Kinneil Foreshore Nature Reserve and soon I reached the coast, on the Firth of Forth. I had started the John Muir Way on the west coast of Scotland, beside the Clyde estuary, and in four days I had crossed to the east coast of Scotland, coast to coast. However, I was only about half way along the trail, so there was still a lot of walking ahead of me as I followed the footpath through a delightful nature reserve that had surprisingly previously been a coal mining colliery. I ignored signs that said the footpath was closed, hopping over the repairs, and continued beside the coast past a noisy sawmill at Grangepans and other industrial units at Bridgeness. Later the trail took me through woodland while in the distance I had views down the River Forth towards the bridges under murky, overcast skies and across the tidal mudflats.
This walk along the shore of the Firth of Forth reminded me of four years ago when I did the Fife Coastal Path, which follows the shore on the other side of the river, though it doesn’t stick as strictly to the coast at that point as this trail was doing. As a headwind developed and Blackness Castle now dominated my view, the trail took me right to the gates of the castle before crossing beside the walls to continue along the shore around Blackness Bay and into Wester Shore Wood. After crossing Midhope Burn I was diverted away from the coast to climb around the very grand Hopetoun House. At this point in the walk I was feeling particularly weary from the long miles I had already covered and after having started the day tired, so it was becoming a test of stamina just to keep going, so I was beginning to wonder whether I would be able to reach the point where I had planned to end this day and contemplated stopping early. The sight of the Forth Bridges now looking very close spurred me to keep going and soon I passed underneath the newest bridge, the Queensferry Crossing, and entered the eponymous town. After passing underneath the Forth Road Bridge I passed loads of shops and loads of tourists who seemed to be taking pictures of inconsequential buildings for no apparent reason, while the only thing that interested me was the original bridge, the Forth Bridge, which carries the railway over the Firth of Forth.
I took loads of pictures of the Forth Bridge as it mesmerised me and looked particularly striking with the dark clouds behind it, as I just gazed in awe at the impressive railway bridge. Eventually I left the crowds behind and soon entered the woodland of the Dalmeny Estate, which hid the bridges from my view. As I entered the wood it started to rain, which further spoilt my view and, although it briefly stopped while I was near Dalmeny House, it was never far away and continued when I turned inland along a country lane that took me to the busy A90 road near Cramond Bridge over the River Almond. I was now on the western edge of Edinburgh so at that point I caught a bus into the city centre to find my booked accommodation. It is astonishing how much the Forth bridges reinvigorated me so I was able to complete the walk as planned despite feeling very tired beforehand. The weather had not been great with cloud cover all day and rain from mid-afternoon, but I had enjoyed seeing the Forth bridges up close and to be reminded of my memorable walk along the Fife Coastal Path four years ago.
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