Walking the John Muir Way: Getting There

At the bus station in Portland and the airport in Boston people, 2 men, commented positively on my shirt.

At 5:00, 3 state police & 2 immigration police were at the gate. 2 state cops went away with a guy, but others went on the plane. We boarded soon after for our 5:45 departure. Gate agents seem unperturbed. The police disappeared & the guy returned.

Travel was uneventful. The Dublin to Edinburgh flight was just long enough for a quick drinks service. Then a tram and a train

and a cab, and we left our bags with the desk agent at The Coachman Inn before checkOUT time to walk around town.

People have been super nice to us, from George the taxi driver to a kid at the train station, the conductor who backtracked to be sure we knew to transfer at Linlithgow, to the librarian, shop workers, and folks in the park (one recommended The Scarecrow Pub). Today is the kickoff of a town festival, they have a kind of fair going on in the park, and a parade went past the Inn just after we checked in at 1:00. Bagpipes, of course.

A town green

features a bandstand from 1910,

and a memorial to dead from “The Great Wars.”

220 men from here died in WW1. It’s not that big a place! I find it overwhelmingly sad.

The park features a “traffic school” where little kids ride bikes with training wheels around a marked course, a trampoline park, clay tennis courts, and a green space with a basketball hoop on it

—here’s why you’ve never heard of any Scottish basketball players—that turned out to be a putting/mini-golf space. We’ve played golf at golf’s birthplace!😂⛳️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Jan & Bruce had nowhere near our good fortune. They were 3 hours late leaving Atlanta, and landed at Edinburgh as I was typing the above. Now Meg says a beer, either here at the Coachman Inn or at the Scarecrow, is calling our name.

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