OSGB GRID REF. NT458446. STOW

JOGLE RUNNER JOE BEFORE HIS FRINGE ACT

EDINBURGH'S ROYAL MILE

I WASN'T THE ONLY ROAD USER

IDYLLIC STOW

FIONA WITH NEIL WITH CHILDREN AIDAN AND MAGGIE

On my way along Edinburgh's Royal Mile to meet Sarah on the Friday evening, I was approached by a chap called Joe Donnachie who had spotted the John o'Groats to Land's End banner on my rucksack. Joe had recently run between the two end points himself and was interested in comparing routes, etc. He was presenting his experiences the following day at a one-man Festival Fringe show entitled 'The Road to Endorphia' and gave me a flyer. 

Sarah lives just a couple of miles from the centre of Edinburgh so we walked in to enjoy Joe's show. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching various street performers and drinking in the lively Festival atmosphere.

On the Sunday we saw an act called 'Circa' at the Assembly Hall - a kind of mixture of gymnastics and contemporary dance. It was really engaging, right to the end. 

The easy-going weekend, coupled with daily baths and the regular application of anti-inflammatories had resulted in my leg feeling much less painful. Just as well as the walk resumed on Monday.

I said my grateful goodbyes to Sarah and was on my way at 9.00am. Leaving Edinburgh inevitably involved some road walking. After Gorebridge I had intended to follow a disused railway track, but wasn't convinced that it was walkable, so I ended up doing a bit of car dodging on the A7 instead. Happily, at Heriot, I was able to divert to an old road which ran parallel to the A7. The road was at a more elevated level than the A7 and undulated like a switchback over the hills, but gave me great views of Gala Water and the path of the old railway line below. I had seen several official notices stating that certain areas of land on the path of the old rail track were to be 'vested' by the local authority to enable a new railway service into Edinburgh to be constructed. Later, I noted that at least one house had been built on the old line, so I assume that this will be demolished. 

My route turned out to be a good choice for the relatively easy walking enabled me to cover about 23 miles, getting me all the way to Stow (pronounced as in 'How Now Brown Cow') by 8.00pm.

One of the attractions of Stow, or so I thought, was that it had a pub. My disappointment when I stood outside the closed premises was considerable. I chatted to couple Fiona and Neil living opposite, and they confirmed that there were no other pubs in the village. My heart sank. Such was Fiona's sympathy that she rushed inside and returned with 4 tins of cold beer. In an otherwise uneventful day, this was yet another example of how generously the people of Scotland treat visitors. I wild-camped by the river and enjoyed 2 of the beers with my al fresco beef and rice supper. The others I will enjoy tomorrow.