Image for May 1, 2011 - Union Canal - Ratho to Linlithgow

Union Canal Aqueduct

The Union Canal features several aqueducts that carry the canal over roads, rivers and walkways, sometimes all at the same time. It's a strange feeling to be walking along the secluded path only to come out over a roadway with cars speeding underneath. I guess it's easier then building a bunch of locks to help the boats transverse the landscape.

I threw in an extra photo from this day of Dave and I in front of a field of rapeseed that a fellow walker took for us. The rapeseed fields were in full color and photos will never fully capture the intense vibrancy of the yellow flowers. For the first part of the walk, we'd see the yellow fields far off in the distance shimmering like the yellow brick road, seen but always out-of-reach. Finally at this point of the hike we came right alongside a field and had to use it as a backdrop. I've done a far bit of solo hiking, but I always prefer to have a good friend along. Anyone reading this would be fortunate to have a friend as good as Dave has been to me. He's a solid trail companion and I look forward to many more adventures in the future with him.

Hal and Dave along the Union Canal

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Image for 4-30-11 - Danger of Death!

I love that sign, saw while hiking the Union Canal. It's warning against the overhead power lines. Judging from the barbed wire wrapped around the pole, I guess they've had a few people try and climb it. I think that sign is applicable anytime though. The end can come anytime, so you better get out there and live your life. The samurai would "freshen their minds with death" every morning to remind themselves how short and fragile life is. I do the same.

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Image for 4-29-11 - The Old Castle Town

The castle is the symbol for Edinburgh. I saw this old relief logo on the side of a small utility shed (or was it a public toilet?). I'm a sucker for peeled paint and I like the icon design.

I pulled the photos off the camera last night, all six hundred and fifty-two of them. I know my pal Dave shot about double that. It was a very well documented journey. We saw and did a lot in the twelve days we were on the ground there, the trip featured a little of everything, some hiking, visited new places I had not been to before in Scotland, catching up with old friends, some urban exploring and finally, Dead by Dawn, my favorite horror film festival. It's been six years since I last set foot in Scotland, also for DbD, as my circle of horror film friends refer to it. I was surprised at how little had seemed to change in Edinburgh, a few new shops  here and there, but when the city's essential layout was made in stone hundreds of years ago, there's no easy way to modify that without obliterating part of your history. Tidewater (I refuse to use "Hampton Roads", a rant for another time), seems to revel in destroying any building new or old that stands in the way of "progress", I use the term loosely as it generally means making way for a parking lot, chain drug store or, more likely, luxury condos. I'm sure that if I lived in Edinburgh for a while, something I'd love to do, that I'd see the creepy corporate influence there as well. On this trip, I was blissfully happy to wander The Meadows (a large park in the southern part of the city) or hang out in the Grassmarket ( area with pubs and shops in the shadow of the castle). Oh Edinburgh! I love you!

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Back in Edinburgh

My flight arrived on time. After all the drama yesterday, I'm amazed that I got out at all. Fully expected to be sleeping in Newark airport last night.

My friend Alan Smart picked me up at the airport. I know Alan from my time living in Ireland. We were both kitchen help in an Italina restaurant in a small town in the west of Ireland. A long story for another time.

Edinburgh is strangely quiet today because of holiday for the Royal Wedding. The empty streets fits my mood.

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