| Hike Southbound through
Britain with Daryl May Click for Northbound hike |
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The
pictures are from my Benches of Britain collection, featuring some of
the more interesting of the genre
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| Days S21 - S27 Central Scotland | |
| Southbound
Home Start hiking here Scottish Highlands Central Scotland Southern Scotland North of England English Midlands English West Country Northbound Home |
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Time of departure: 7.45 am Time of arrival: 1.45 pm Place departed: Renfrew, Glasgow Place arrived: Rutherglen, Glasgow Miles: 12.5 Cum miles: 327.7 Percent complete: 33.7  Burnside Hotel. Rutherglen ****Cost for bed and breakfast: £35 ($70) |
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| This bench shot is by Richard Fosh, whose end-to-end site has some great photos | |
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It wasn't a
satisfying day. The weather was kind, but my familiar aches and
accommodation challenges resurfaced.
The aches centered on my right foot and knee, probably both brought on by non-stop hard surfaces in the form of asphalt sidewalks. I thought I could stop taking an anti-inflammatory on the basis of my long, relatively pain-free walk yesterday. Apparently not. I would have walked further than I did, though, if I'd had better accommodation results. My plan was to get going early, and to reach Hamilton, 20 miles from Renfrew. It was a bit far, but I would then be lined up with a sequence of nicely-spaced B&Bs beyond Hamilton running all the way to the English border. Besides, I had a list of four B&Bs in Hamilton, all conveniently clustered so that I could try them all, and one would surely have space. Phoning
ahead, Aaron
reported full, McAuley
impatiently announced she
wasn't in the B&B business any more, Jones didn’t
answer, and Glenmohr
sounded like the phone had been disconnected. This left me
with the dilemma that I could get all the way to Hamilton - at about my
limits - and find nowhere. With my foot and knee aching, and my
accommodation listings used up (but for Jones), I decided to stop
whenever the opportunity presented itself. Having passed no
accommodation at all thus far today, I expected to cover several miles
yet. But, shortly after I made that decision, I came across the Burnside Hotel. I'd
covered only 12.5 miles.
Navigation today was quite difficult. The GPS was having one of its late lie-in's, and the maps don't give street names. I had a great many turnings to find and take, avoiding freeways, crossing rail lines at available bridges, and going through many roundabouts with their pedestrian-control fencing. Tomorrow, which is Wednesday, I've booked in Larkhall. On Thursday, the nice weather is expected to end and the long Easter weekend starts just as I get into remote areas again. On some days, photo opportunities don't present themselves. On others, it rains too much to risk the camera. Today was a "slow photography" day, and so I'm taking the space to share some of my Benches of Britain photo collection - all taken on the end-to-end route though, of course, not all of them today. The Benches of Britain series continues on day S41, rest day 17, and day S62. I think it was hiking veteran, Mark Moxon, who wrote that the end-to-end hike is like filling a gallon can one drop at a time. Indeed, he's right, almost to the point that you get so used to adding a drop that, at the end, you're surprised that the can is full. But here in Glasgow, with the can only one-third full, each drop feels so small and the can looks so empty. |
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| Day S24 © 2007 and 2008 Daryl May Day S26 | |