Day 236: Forth & Clyde Canal - Stockingfield Junction to Kilsyth

After a hearty walk-preparing breakfast which included Phil having his usual porridge, but the chef asking if he wanted a shot of whisky on it ("Of course!"), we were on our way for another day of walking. Wecaught the train at about 10 this morning from Anderston station near our hotel, and made our way back to the station at Gilshochill. On the train, a gentleman came about to clean and asked us where we were heading for the day (all kitted out in hiking gear, I'm sure he was wondering why we were dressed like that in Glasgow). He had the thick Glaswegian accent famous for being among the most difficult to understand. When we tried to pronounce Gilshochill to him, he had no idea what we were saying with our poor pronunciation of his language. Phil joked that we were sorry, but they didn't teach us proper English in school in Canada, which should have been Scottish. The gentleman was very friendly and funny, and a great start to our day.

At Gilshochill, we made our way back to the Canal at Stockingfield junction to resume our steps from yesterday. We started out going through some more urban areas of northern Glasgow, most notable for the amount of rubbish strewn about. Sad that in this day, with all we know and all that is available to us to make it easy to rid oneself of litter, it has to end up tossed in areas that should be pristine. Sigh.

The nice thing about today's walk is that we soon were spotting countryside, leaving most of the urban setting behind. Possil Marsh was next to us for quite a distance. This nature reserve  has a shallow freshwater loch surrounded by marsh, swamp and fen that support rare plants and provide a  staging post for migrating warblers and waterfowl. A meteorite fell in the area in 1804, and much excitement ensue as it is only one of 4 meteorites known to have fallen in Scotland...although there is so much desolate area around in the highlands, there could be a mother lode of them sitting somewhere!

Interior of Cadder Parish Church from the balcony. 

On the edge of a town called Bishopbriggs, is a village called Cadder. As we passed over a pretty bridge, the app we have that describes all the various locks and bridges along the canal, indicated that there was a pretty church nearby. We saw a sign pointing to Cadder Parish Church and noticed a gentleman working on the garden of the church while his black lab played around him. We went to have a look at the church, and the gentleman asked if we'd like to have a look inside. He had the keys, and opened up a back entrance to let us in, telling us a bit about the church, including that his family had been worshiping there for 300 years. He turned on the lights, and let us have a look around while he went out to finish up his work.

The history of Cadder Church and parish goes back to the 12th Century. At least three churches have been built on or near the present site. The present church dates to 1825. Around this time, there was a lot of money to be made by body snatchers who robbed graves to provide bodies to medical schools in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Only executed murders could be used for medical research. In 1828, William Burke and William Hare murdered 16 people (although they were suspected of more) in order to provide fresh bodies to Dr. Robert Knox for his anatomy lectures. It was the murder spree that brought to the public's attention the use of bodies in anatomy classes. Public outrage at the growth in grave robbing by "Resurrectionists" led to The Anatomy Act in Scotland, requiring anatomy professors to be licensed, and allowing any unclaimed bodies to be used for dissection.

The small building in the picture above of the church is the Watch House, built so families or "watch groups" could stay at night to watch over the remains of their loved ones. There is also a "Mort-safe" on the ground in the churchyard. It is a coffin-shaped contraption that was very heavy, taking several men to lift. It would be placed on a grave for several days in order to deter robbers.

When we left the church, we stopped to let the gentleman know. He was at the front of the church with his wife, and introduced himself as Billy Gilchrist. He reached into the truck of his car and gave us a small book he has written called "Farming History of Bishopbriggs." I am looking forward to reading it and then writing back to him to thank him again for his generosity.

We continued on the walk, which was mostly through quiet pastureland. We did stop for  lunch at a town called Kirkintilloch. It was funny; we had been meandering through the countryside along the tree-lined canal when we came up the ramp at the bridge at Kirkintilloch and were amazed at the size of the High Street and the buzz around us.

We then continued. Lots of beautiful birds to be seen including the occasional heron holding court in their section of the canal.

For most of the day, we'd been skirting the foothills of the Grampians, which you can see in the pictures below. There's a reason the Romans didn't want to go any further into the hills and the land of the barbians!

Long hike for this section of the canal today...by the end, we had walked about 28 kms.