Hullo. How are you? I hope you are having a good day. I’m Mark and I’m walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats…
The first half of the walk today was along the B-Road I’ve been following since Lockerbie, with a long but easy ascent for the first 8 miles or so.
I met a man fixing a puncture at the side of the road and we got chatting for a while. He is also on his way to John O’Groats and I wagered he’d get there before me. Though, given this was his third puncture in three days, perhaps not!
The road was very quiet today and, with no wind at all, the tops of the hills made for a peaceful and reflective walk in the morning mist.
Eventually, the road dropped down out of the hills to pass under the motorway, which had been a couple of hundred feet below me all morning in the valley.
On the other side of the motorway, I then started into Happendon Wood for a few miles, where I came across an abandoned boat, before following quiet country lanes towards the river Clyde.
Reaching the Clyde, I made my way to Bonnington Linn, the first of the three waterfalls making up the magnificent Falls of Clyde, which has inspired its visitors for centuries, with Wordsworth writing poetry here and Turner painting the highest fall.
The walk from Bonnington Linn to New Lanark is a spectacular cliffside woodland trail, with extraordinary views of the river cutting its way through the rock.
The largest waterfall, Corra Linn, drops 84 feet and creates a fabulous backdrop to the countless selfies taken by the hundreds of thousands of visitors who flock to New Lanark each year.
I arrived into New Lanark to a wave of happy memories of spending time here with loved ones. The village is nowadays a UNESCO world heritage site, due to its importance in defining the Industrial Revolution, influence on urban planning, and highlighting the working conditions of the poor.
The mill manager, Robert Owen, showed how the lives of his workers did not have to be miserable. He provided good housing, recreation and education for the children of his employees. Owen was a pioneer in early education, forming Britain’s first infant school at New Lanark in 1817.
I checked in to the hotel, changed and pottered around the village for a while, which made me dig out some old photographs of me happily standing in the same spots years ago.
The Day 43 Vlog
Fundraising for MacMillan Cancer Support
As I walk from Land’s End to John O’Groats, I am hoping to raise £10,000 for MacMillan Cancer Support, who do such a wonderful job of supporting families through the most difficult times. If you are able to spare any amount and would like to donate to MacMillan, please do so through my Just Giving Page.
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