Linlithgow wanderings; ceilidh band jigs

This starts off on the second Friday in June with the Crying of Linlithgow Marches to warn the townsfolk that the Marches ceremony will take place four days later, always the first Tuesday after the second Thursday in June! The town crier and his followers pass along the High Street stopping at various places. The two shown here are by the "picture house", the scene of many happy memories now sadly disused and the foot of the Cross Brae. The Big Day itself follows with the town's Reed Band leading the procession along the HIgh Street. For an overview of the town, take the golf course road through the Dark Brig under the Union Canal. Seen across the canal, an ugly metal railing replaces a stone wall which formed the parapet of the Dark Brig. How can you sit on a metal railing?! A short diversion will take you up the glen to where trout could once be caught in the Mains Burn. Continuing uphill past the golf course leads to an odd widening of the road which would seem to be the boundary between two estates. A wooden stile takes the walker to a path beside a field eventually rising to the summit of Cockleroi, Linlithgow's hill. The housing estates on Braehead on the lower left and Preston on the right are separated by the campus of Linlithgow Academy. Beyond the loch, the hill known locally as "the Flints" rises to the policies of Grange with the Hope monument on West Lothian golf course on top. Return down the golf course road to where the towpath of the canal makes a fine walking route. The milestone indicates 8 1/2 miles to the Falkirk end of the waterway. Through the Williamscraigs bridge there is a small car park which used to be where clay was kept to repair the canal in an emergency. The view from the Avon aqueduct shows the viaduct which carries the main Edinburgh-Glasgow railway line. At the foot of the aqueduct is a lovely glen beside the Avon. Heading back towards the town will take you past Katie Shaw's Brig named after a woman who used to drive cattle over it. The palace looks well at any time but its place at the end of the rainbow says it all! Chanel took over the palace and the peel for a fashion launch, constructing temporary pavilions which gave the area a rather medieval appearance. The path west along the lochside crosses over a charming bridge which carries the path over the Mill Burn. This exit from the loch used to supply water to Lochmill, one of two papermills in the town. Downstream of the mill site the burn passes under a minor road at the site of Jock Mason's caravan before joining the Avon at Little Mill now a ruin. Jock was one of several real characters in the town in years past. He is commemerated by a seat bearing his greeting, "Cuckoo my love", where his caravan stood. The Marches day procession ends with the whole parade going three times round the Cross Well about twelve hours after the first notes on the fife and drum were heard in the town and Lnlithgow can relax, knowing its boundaries are secure for another year.
The first tune is Linlithgow's national anthem, The Roke and the Wee Pickle Tow, known locally simply as "The Roke". This is followed by The Quaker, Donald's awa' to the War and Castlebay Jig before returning to The Roke.