Saturday 13 October - Along the Forth & Clyde canal

During our journey to Glasgow, it became clear that a major football event involving the Scottish team was being held today. Across the carriage, a group of men were playing poker, laughing loudly and uproariously all the way from Fort William to Glasgow. In the other carriage, the beer flowed freely (this is before 11 am) and Scottish football songs were sung raucously. On arrival into Queen Street, placards from First Scotrail (who operate the trains in Scotland) sternly forebade the consumption of any alcohol on their trains. Yeah, sure. After picking up a hirecar, mrs B's son acted as our chauffeur for the next two days. First off, he whisked us across town to join a canal barge which would take us up the Forth & Clyde canal to a point just east of Kirkintilloch - and back again. The pictures of that trip all have the same annotation. It was a nice sunny day, and it was a tranquil journey. The church you may discern has a gruesome reputation. During the 18th century, recently buried corpses would be disinterred at night and transferred by canal to Edinburgh, where professors of anatomy would dissect them. Without approval.

PS: Scotland beat Ukraine 3-1