Linlithgow Loch

Crawford Macnab

26 February 2026

Unfortunately we called off the Rubers Law walk yet again with rain and high winds forecast.

Instead a few of us based closer to Edinburgh headed to Linlithgow Loch for a poor weather fallback.

Seven of us met at the Water Yett car park in Linlithgow - Sarah, Pamela, Stuart, Richard, Jo, Moira and Crawford. Also Meg and Cosmo.

With waterproof trousers and jackets deployed we headed off anti-clockwise around the path that mostly hugs the shoreline of the loch.

As expected it did indeed rain on and off but never came to much nor lasted too long.

At quite a few points on the walk we were visited by confident, curious Robins stopping to see what we were up to.

It is not a long walk and after just under an hour we reached the west of the loch that had a nice view back to Linlithgow Palace. Most famous as the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was born there in 1542.

At this point we stopped to chat with a ranger from Historic Scotland who was standing next to a large pile of vegetation.

As he explained, he was overseeing their operation to clear the only outflow from the loch, and had hired a company from West Lothian who were using their small Truxor DM 5000 amphibious boat.

The boat operator came in to the side of the loch to attach a fairly large saw blade / cutting attachment at the front of the boat.

Apparently they travel all over Scotland / Northumberland carrying out this sort of work. For a £1000 a day you could get your garden pond cleared!

It was an interesting and informative end to the walk.

Back at the cars we ditched the wet weather gear and headed to the nearby Lochside Cafe for excellent scones, teas and coffee.