A day of relatively easy cruising from Falkirk to Kirkintilloch – we dare you try and pronounce the name rather than skimming over the top of it.
We had four locks to go through of which all were manned by volunteers. We had a widebeam hire narrowboat doing the locks with us. It had a crew of Swedes, so communication was just a little sketchy. We had to laugh at their total look of bewilderment, as the volunteers in their heavy Scottish brogues spoke to them. We can only just make out what they are saying.
In one of the locks, we had this rather forward pussycat who seemed to want us to pull our boat right against the side so that he could jump on for a squiz. He wandered up and down the roof of the boat and got a few pats and then just meandered off. There were a couple of dogs along the other side of the lock and they appeared to have had their noses put out of joint.
There are these rather peculiar rope hooks on the top side of the locks which appear to be recycled from chains you see on wharves.
They certainly made for easy catching with the ropes and before anyone mentions, we know the rope was on incorrectly and we did adjust it.
And of course we got the obligatory showers of rain. We cruised a total of 15 miles today, mooring up in the center of Kirkintilloch.
When on a canal boat, one must be able to adapt to any situation. In this case, when making our scones for lunch, we had no rolling pin or scone cutter. A glass sufficed for both of these tasks.
We had a wander around the small town center and counted five barber shops, five hairdressers, six cafes and seven charity shops in a space of about half a kilometer. Otherwise, there was very little other choice if you were not into any of these kinds of shops.
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