Important Info

Planned kilometres: 26 (cummulative 1217)

Kilometres walked: 30 (cummulative 1281)

% Completed: 70.9%

Weather: Sunny with afternoon Thunderstorms

Pubs visited: Stonehouse Bar

Pints: 0 (cummulative 155)

Kms per pint: 8.3

Blisters: 0 (cummulative 4)

 

New Lanark to Hamilton

The sun is shining again and today I am walking along the Clyde Walkway which mainly follows the Clyde River, so no cars to worry about.

 

I crossed the main traffic bridge into Kirkfieldbank Village and this gave me a great view of the Clydesholm Bridge which was built between 1695 and 1699 and is now a pedestrian only bridge.

On the trail I met a lady who was in training with her dog to do a 62 mile (100 km) walk for Breast Cancer. She was expecting to do the walk in 30 hours. My feet start getting sore after 30kms, so I am not up for a 100km walk, although I am signed up to Oxfam Trailwalker 50km walk in Sydney in August.

 

Mauldslie Bridge and gatehouse used to be the entrance to a hunting estate and has now been incorporated into the house built next to it.

As I was walking along the path, in the distance I could see a ruined building in the trees. I later found out this was Cambusnethan House/Priory and is a derelict building.

I met up with another walker about 8km from Hamilton and he was a Hamilton local, who had caught the train to Lanark and was walking home for exercise. It was great walking with him as he knew the path and provided some history behind the area.

 

Thunderstorms were forecast for today and I was lucky that I got to my hotel just before the rain started.

 

Since I was born in Hamilton, New Zealand I thought I would see what its Scottish name sake was like for a Saturday night. Hamilton Scotland is not a great looking town and I went past about 6 pubs/bars before I found one that I was happy to go into.

As you can see from the photo below, the Hamilton Town Hotel has seen better days, but some of the pubs open didn’t exactly look like they were in much better condition.

I came across the Stonehouse bar which had a few locals in it and I sat down to have a beer, but they were having trouble with the gas, so I decided that I would have medicinal bourbons for my knee instead (especially as the bar had Jim Beam). I got talking to Sandy who was drinking Vodka and Irn-Bru which makes a very unattractive Fluro orange drink and Casey Jones (Bar lady).