We drove to Livingston and parked the car near to Livingston North railway station where we were to get the train to Bathgate and the start of the walk. After some initial confusion on my part we eventually sussed that we had to get the train on platform 2 (there are only two platforms!). At the time of writing this there are engineering works taking place at the railway station and the route to the platform isn't immediately obvious. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
The train journey from Livingstone North to Bathgate only takes seven minutes and cost £1.90 each for the single fare. David had only just found out my plans for the days walk and as you can see was still looking a bit confused on the train.
On arriving at Bathgate we both realised that we hadn't ever been to the town before and don't know much about it. There looked to be a bustling town centre but we didn't have time to explore and made out way across the car park in front of the Focus DIY store to the start of the walk.
This walk actually follows part of National Cycle Route NCR75 and is very flat along surfaced paths. Although the paths were snow covered the going was easy, in fact it stayed very cold all the way along the route and this kept the snow from becoming slushy and wet.
Before very long the route takes you past this sculpture by Jeremy Cunningham called 'Poured Metal'. It is a reminder of the heavy industry which used to dominate the area and is very clever, looking like the bucket is suspended in mid air.The walk is very well signed for the entire route and you just follow the NCR 75 directions towards Livingston. We walked around the outskirts of Bathgate past the golf course to our left. Being a keen golfer, I realised that I haven't played Bathgate but it looked like an interesting enough wee course.
Just before leaving Bathgate, Davy took this picture of a tit, standing next to an oddly shaped hill!The route follows the line of the railway out of Bathgate before turning south towards the M8 and the famous 'Pyramids'. I have seen this sculpture many time during my travels at work along the M8, but obviously always from the motorway. What has become apparent during the walks so far, is that you see well known landmarks from a completely different perspective.
There are usually sheep grazing over the grass on the pyramids. Nothing unusual about that except that is that their wool is usually dyed bright red.After crossing over the M8 via a bridge constructed for the cycle route, the path winds its way southwards away from the motorway and traffic noise towards Blackburn and Seafield, two other towns which I have never been to.
The path then passes close to shale bings, no doubt remnants of industrial waste. These seem to attract dirt bikers as there were numerous tracks over the bing.
The path then continues eastwards towards the outskirts of Livingston. This 'new town' was started in the 1950's and we were immediately struck by how similar it looks to Glenrothes in Fife (which is another new town built in the same period).
The walk takes you past a housing estate near to the railway line. We immediately noticed how many houses were boarded up with metal shutters. I easily counted more than 100 empty properties and could see that the whole place was run down and looked like a ghost town. It was also apparent however that there were families living in these streets. Often we would see one occupied terraced house surrounded by five or six empty and boarded up houses either side. It is a real shame to see this kind of neglect, particularly when there is such a national shortage of affordable accommodation.
The last part of the walk followed the railway line back towards Livingston North station where we had parked the car.
The walk lasted approximately two hours and, maybe because the walking was all on constructed pathways, I really felt in in my legs at the end. There was no immediately obvious places to eat in the area around the railway station so we jumped in the car and drove to Dunfermline where we enjoyed our lunch in the pleasant surrounding of Dobbie's Garden Centre.
A different type of walk this one. It was all on constructed pathways, which although they were snow covered, made for tired legs at the end.The other difference on this walk to the others we have completed so far was that the scenery was more urban and industrial. Enjoyable just the same though.
As with our other walks so far, this one is also featured in the book, 25 Walks Edinburgh & Lothian by Roger Smith and printed by
No comments:
Post a Comment