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What a treat to not have a walk from the station this morning – the route goes right past Falkirk High, so when Hannah (colleague) and Andy (ex-colleague) and I hopped off the train we were eating up the miles straight away. But not for long, as we’d arranged to meet a volunteer, Frank, at the Falkirk Wheel for a not-quite-yet-earned coffee and cake. Our table was right under the Wheel, so we watched the boats (Antonine and Archimedes) spin round between the Union and Forth & Clyde canals, as Frank shared stories about his 60th birthday walk where he also had different people joining every day, and tried to find Yorkshire people in common with Hannah, and Andy entertained us with facts he knew about the Falkirk Wheel and stories of an early job connected to the construction of the nearby M80. I got my passport stamped (a bold inking putting yesterday’s to shame) and we got underway again, heading under the Wheel and following the course of the Antonine Wall over open ground, past the site of the Rough Castle Roman Fort and through a spooky tunnel to reach the Forth & Clyde canal towpath (route 754 of the National Cycle Network) at Bonnybridge and the long run towards Croy. After 3 miles of headwind and chatting about misheard lyrics and family traditions, we were ready for a sit down and stopped on the canal bank for a sunny lunch, visited by deer and dragonflies and talking about snakes, slowworms, John Muir’s journey to America and more. Almost immediately after setting off again, a flock of upwards of 40 goldfinch took off nearby – flashing in the sun and swooping along the verges….one of the most memorable sights of the walk so far. But not the most impressive thing of the day, which we came across as (fuelled by Colin the Caterpillars) we followed the route signs off the canal, past Wester Dullatur and back onto the course of the Antonine Wall. ‘Silvanus’ - named after a Roman god protector of forests, fields and cattle - is a seven-metre-high Roman soldier’s head made of weathered steel and designed by artist Svetlana Kondakova in collaboration with Big Red Blacksmiths as part of a wider Rediscovering the Antonine Wall project. We were all pretty impressed by him looking out from the line of the Wall to the Kilsyth Hills. Also impressive was Croy Hill, which the route passed over next, and the spectacular views across the surrounding towns and countryside, and green hills, ferns and trees as far as we could see. And a rope swing, just asking (Andy) to be swung on. We saw a raven and some earthball fungus as we descended the hill into Croy, and left the route to find the station and the train home. We cleaned a few signs today - John Muir Way signs, local signs and the 'Welcome to Croy Hill' interpretation board – again, the latter tagged with something not fit for sharing the 'before' picture. I’ve been fairly surprised and disappointed at the amount of targeted abusive things I’ve seen graffitied on this walk, but happy to remove some of it, and delighted at how little litter there was on the canal towpath – we struggled to even fill our #2minutecleanup bags.

We learned about right angles and how to measure a tree using a stick and measuring tape. Use a stick that is the length of your arm and then walk back until the top of the stick is in line with the top of the tree. When there is alignment use a measuring tape to measure from the tree to where you stopped walking. The measurement read will be the approximate height of the tree.

We identified different tree species within two different 10 metre ranges.

Day 8 and my relaxing mini-break (haha) away from home starts today. No more trains home at the end of each day, my bag is heavier and the weather isn't looking great. So, a pause to reflect - getting the train home from Croy to Edinburgh last night was quite eye-opening, to think I have walked that distance in the last week, and then some. In some ways, it's felt more of an undertaking than I thought - filling all my time and thoughts. But in others, it's been so much smoother than I expected...my body is in one piece (1 x real and 2 x preventative blister plasters being the extent of the damage) and the route has been much more varied and scenic than I thought it would be crossing the central belt. Big credit too to my husband for relieving the pressure by making me dinner every night and helping me sort out my kit, while I juggled photos and blogs and route maps and laundry. So three more days until I reach the opposite coast - 40.5 miles away. Better get started.

Back to Croy today and an eye-watering start marching up the steep slope of Barhill running along the course of the Antonine Wall ditch and with incredible views across the Kilsyth Hills from the trig point at the top. I started with Claire and Joseph today, who both volunteer for Sustrans and were very involved in a wildlife project I worked on, so we easily fell into conversation with a man called John who was birdwatching from the top, about what he'd seen and his memories of the nearby nature reserve that Claire is now managing. We stopped into Twechar Healthy Living Centre to get my passport stamped (a malfunctioning stamp causing more ink on the person than the passport) and then followed a shortcut told to us by John to bring us back to the canal towpath, rewarding us with the fourth kingfisher sighting of the walk. Joseph and I carried on from here, litterpicking and talking through ways to better manage the orchard on route 7 that we planted in 2015 and that he helps to look after. So great to have unlimited time to talk about this, and other habitat management. However the rain had become heavy, so we detoured into Milton of Campsie to find shelter for lunch and a coffee, and to meet up with Keith from Strathblane Paths Group - a group that Paths for All had suggested to me as a local community contact - and hear all about their local work. Keith, Joseph and I carried on to complete the section with over 6 more miles of Strathkelvin Railway Path (route 755) to Strathblane, picking up the bits of litter that hadn't made it into the green bags hung up by the local community, cleaning signs and recording artworks and wildlife, including a dipper bobbing on a stone in the River Kelvin. We chatted over volunteering, active travel, family careers, and more, and Keith leapt the fence to rescue an upside-down sheep, and alert the local farmer to its predicament. A final encounter with a small toad crossing the path, and we parted ways in Strathblane in the shadow of the Campsies. I ended the day with a phonecall from my walking companion tomorrow on the longest stage of the John Muir Way over the hills, suggesting (tongue in cheek I hope) that we might want to rope together because of the incoming weather. Eek.

Our Learning Adventure today took place in two separate Green Spaces and was made all the more special as we had the help of our friends (Sarah-Jayne & Alice) from the RSPB. Our investigation into our college environment started in the college green space as we made our way around campus finding and examining mini beasts! We then discussed their purpose in our environment, the essential jobs that they do and the impact they have on other areas of our lives. We identified the mini beasts that we found using an identification chart and with the help of Sarah-Jayne and Alice were able to increase our learning as we walked, talked, listened and learned......

We love learning through doing and taking part in so many activities all focused at helping us understand our environment, nature and our surroundings. We found a variety of amazing small creatures and even explored the depths of our small college pond. With everyone involved and some keen to offer their thoughts and opinions from what they had discovered it was with positive minds that we made our way to another local environment to continue our learning adventure.....

We made our way up to the brilliant Springburn Park where we met another group of friends and Community Partners - Friends of Springburn Park! With the help of Alice, Sarah Jayne and Danielle (FOS) we continued our Active Learning Adventure using a variety of equipment kindly supplied by Sarah-Jayne and Alice (RSPB).....