West Linton to Livingston: LEJoG Day 51

In the morning I crossed the last of the hills of the Scottish Borders, in the afternoon I visited Livingston New Town where I once lived as a student.

I left the Gordon Arms early having eaten breakfast in my room. After a leafy lane by houses I continued on into the hills on the Cross Borders Drove Road. Soon I was in the clouds, everything at any distance shades of greyish white. I was on a path used for many years by drovers taking their cattle to market in London from the Highlands, by thieves who attacked them (part of my route was known as "Thieves Road") and by day trippers in Victorian times who installed a sign confirming it was a public path. The highest pass I crossed was called Cauldstane Slap, a saddle between two mountains but the best views came later from Corston Hill. Fortunately the clouds had lifted somewhat when I reached it. To the east I could see Arthur's seat, an ancient volcano in Edinburgh and beyond that the conical hill at North Berwick (the Law) over 60 kilometres away. I could also see the Queensferry Crossing, the new white road bridge across the River Forth, apparently at 2.7 kilometres the longest three tower, cable stayed bridge in the world.

Corston Hill trig point looking back at Cauldstane Slap.

After coming down from Corston Hill, the landscape changed as I started crossing the Central Lowlands of Scotland. My guidebook had found an excellent route, avoiding urban areas, above a brook among birch trees and ferns. I followed it as far as Mid Calder, but then chose a route less scenic, but perhaps more representative. As a student I had lived in Livingston, a new town built to cope with overcrowding in Glasgow. Houses, prefabricated in factories, have a similar appearance with a pebble dash exterior in white, grey and a reddish brown. Planners designed the layout to separate pedestrian paths from roads for cars; great for safety but a little difficult to find your way at times. Following the river into town, I found I was on the Shale Trail, based on the now defunct industry of retorting organic rich oil shale to produce paraffin. My aim was to reach the shopping centre for a late lunch, however the many paths were more complicated than I remembered, and the shopping centre not where I expected. Then I stumbled on an absolutely huge ASDA superstore, beyond that was a much larger shopping mall than there was in my youth. After a baguette and coffee I walked by my old address. There was a four storey building similar to the one I lived in but I was confused. The grass at the back was now a road and two storey buildings had replaced what I recalled as another four storey block. At the front there was now housing where I once proudly parked my new "Metro" car (then called the AA man to fix it), a car I had just acquired on starting my first professional job. I guess after 40 years you should expect a few changes. Walking north, past parents meeting their children at school gates, Livingston seemed much, much bigger than I recalled. Then again as students our trips were to the Stirrup pub, more distant hostelries or the shops, I did not really explore the town...

Block where I lived as a student.

One of the hostelries I visited at that time was the Houstoun House, a posh hotel, where the McEwans Export was more expensive but you could indulge in the ambiance of a 16th century tower house and its thick carpets. Tonight I am staying here at a very reasonable price (possibly due to the decline in business travel with the Coronavirus), although they will profit from the meal prices, and that of my glass of Malbec!