Ayrshire Coastal Path 2013 Prologue

Prologue

I left Fort William on my way to Galston, where I had arranged to stay with Tom, the brother of Liz, who was the friend of a work colleague, Rita, but I had a few diversions enroute.  As the train left early in the morning I was up just after 4 a.m.  The train ride was picturesque, with some (albeit not great) shots of the countryside between Fort William and Glasgow.  Little did I know at the time, 6 years later I would be making almost the reverse journey by foot, when I did the WestHighland Way.  Usually I keep to myself during train journeys, but on this occasion my fellow train traveller kept me entertained (or perhaps, horrified) by his exploits of being a sniper and almost being blown up.

At Glasgow I left my pack with a luggage service and boarded another train to Edinburgh.  Upon arrival, the place was overcrowded with people.  I wandered the streets, at first looking for a shop where I might purchase a kilt (of my clan, the Arrolls) but when told it would be between £400 and £800 and would take some time for the fabric to be woven, I thanked them profusely as I made my escape.  My foot/ankle was very sore but, as this might be my only visit to Edinburgh, I wanted to see as much as I could.  Unfortunately, the pain was too much for me to wander far: I made it as far as the suburbs below Arthur’s Seat (although I wanted to walk up on it) and around some of the shopping centre with views of the castle.

I sat in a park near the train station to read until the train back to Glasgow, where I collected said pack from expensive storage, then got onto a local train to find a suburb where my host for the night would collect me.  I finally found Liz & Tom’s cousin’s house, where I joined them for dinner.  Afterward, Tom drove Liz and I to his house in Galston.

Day 1