The Shale Trail - West Lothian Walk

The Shale Trail, West Lothian’s newest walking / cycling / running route. Head from West Calder, past the five sisters, through Livingston alongside the river almond, through the forests of Almondell before trekking through Uphall and Broxburn, all the way to Winchburgh. A route lined with the history of Scotland’s Shale oil industry.
Altogether, It’s a 16 mile long, full day adventure, or you can choose to do little portions at a time. With some fantastic sights and lots of wildlife along the route, it really is a great day out. With a QR code on each post to give you the history and a separate QR code for the kids, there's plenty to keep your mind (and legs) occupied.
For maps and more information about the route, check out their website shaletrail.co.uk/
Route Map: osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/r...
Thanks for watching,
Kris.
All filming took place before boxing day restrictions.
00:00 Intro
00:47 West Calder
02:16 The Five sisters
03:14 Easter Breich Woodlands
04:20 The pools of Almond
06:23 Navigating Livingston
08:34 Almondell to canal
11:08 Canal to finish

[@johnnyboy-f6v]

Wow! That is some walk! West Calder to Winchburgh. Very interesting. Thank you.

[@RoyaltyTrader]

you walked past my house when you were going to see the five sisters.

[@davidlewington198]

A few miles from my home in East Whitburn, thanks for making this video 👍

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

No worries David, I'm glad you liked it! It's handy having a wee trail on our doorstep 😁

[@OldfieldSo]

Beautiful video

[@PAADVENTURES1]

Great video again kris. I'm really enjoying your bird shots. You put a huge amount of work into your videos! Cheers for sharing. Paul

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

Thanks Paul! Those shots are a nightmare to get, I'll need to get some camouflage so i stop scaring them away haha. Appreciate it! Kris.

[@GrahamSFarr]

That was a great one, Kris - really enjoyed it.

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

Thanks Graham! Much appreciated! 🙂

[@herbertvonzinderneuf8547]

There were 27 of these bings in West Lothian when I grew up, and few communities within the county did not have at least one towering over them. Although I am sure a few folks must have viewed them in a rather different light after the Aberfan Disaster of 1967. Whether this was a factor in their gradual removal - the red shale makes a fine packing for roads, I believe - I do not know. But, as of today there are but 19 remaining; 23, if you count Addiewell’s Five Sisters as separate bings.

[@kiplingandme2019]

Great video. I have been cycling the trail in sections and the video is a really good guide.

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

Thanks! I wouldn't mind cycling it myself one day, it's a fantastic route! Appreciate the comment!

[@alasdairmackenzie905]

Great video and wonderful commentary. Many thanks for making this. Just one issue with it: you comment on the Almond being polluted. While that was very definitely the case, much of it in more recent times from the overflow of the flooded abandoned Polkemet coal mine and the now closed sewage disposal plant, it is now very much improved and the river through Livingston is now home to otters, which is as good an indication you can get of its cleanliness, indicating also that there are plenty of fish living in its depths to keep them fed. As an aside, I wonder how many people know that this area is where the mighty BP had its origins and that West Lothian was one of the world's major oil producing areas long before Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and wherever else had ever been heard of !

[@brianmckendrick5062]

Brilliant video mate. Looking forward to walking it this summer.

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

Same here Brian. Just hope my fitness is still good enough to head for the hills 😅

[@davidmcgeachie4584]

Lovely video thanks..didn't know how nice WLothian could be when i grew up there.

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

To be honest, me neither David 😄 The more I explore though, the more surprised I am at all the nice wee areas there are.

[@benjaminzac_Man_Wi_A_Tan]

Very nice video. Again I like the history and the wildlife spotting too. Good stuff bud. Looks like your on the same wavelength as Beluga Lagoon.

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

Thanks man! Glad you enjoyed. I'll give them a check out! Cheers, Kris.

[@AlfStewartsRevenge]

5:09 you're right there, lol yes indeedy, good video.

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

Hahaha 😆 Cheers!

[@hamshanksproductions7161]

Really enjoyed your film. Regards Barrie

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

Thanks for watching Barrie. Appreciate it! Kris.

[@GazTheExplorer]

Just want to say congratulations on reaching 1K subs. You have made some great videos of West Lothian since the start of Lockdown including that video of the Bathgate hills👍 Hopefully we will get a camp together some time this year👍

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

Cheers Gaz! Much appreciated! It's been a lot of work as I'm sure you know! 😄 Yeh that would be good. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon and we can get back to the hills. Cheers mate!

[@jaybee2786]

Very good

[@WalkWithWallace]

Nicely done Kris, braw footage and narration. 👌🏼 Squint your eyes and that's the 5 Sisters of Kintail. 😁

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

Cheers Robin! Haha, I didn't tag it with five sisters incase folk thought i was trying to lure them in with clickbait lol 😂

[@WalkWithWallace]

@@ScottishMountainGoat ach, clickbait is alive and well on KZbin. 😂

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

So true haha 😄

[@JawzDiesel]

I done the full route back in July took me just 5 hours to complete it

[@kobebaba]

Nice one Kris

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

Thanks Sam. Glad I could help put the little one to sleep 😆

[@edinburghwalks9137]

excellent dear

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

Thank you, appreciate it 🙂

[@esperoutdoors9421]

great vid. really enjoyed it. i climbed the 5 sisters bings (sounds kinda funny/rude) afew years ago... alot easier than it looks.

[@smujiodome]

Great video.Thank you for sharing it. I wonder why the walk terminates at Winchburgh and not Philpston.

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

Thanks Bluesky! Appreciate it. I'm not sure either I'm afraid. They have a Facebook group and are pretty responsive at replying to chat messages . They might be able to give you a reason.

[@bigrstransport6783]

U should try walking near wester inch bathgate as there's is 3 disused mineshafts lefts abandoned some still lay open till this day

[@Tammar57]

At 7 minutes 5 seconds he says Livingston village was the only part of town to exist he forgets to mention Livingston station also existed well before 1962

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

Thanks for the correction Tam!

[@ToilerOnTheSea]

You missed out a Pint and/or a Dram in the Tally-Ho to finish with 🙂

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

Haha, I'll just have to do it all again and have 2 pints to make up for it 😄

[@NoFuture4World]

Another superb vid and nice zoom of birds. What kind of camera do you use?

[@ScottishMountainGoat]

Thanks, much appreciated! I use the Panasonic GH5 for most footage. The telephoto lens I use is the Panasonic Leica 100-400mm. I was thinking I might do a small video on my setup in future, if you think you would find something like that useful?

[@NoFuture4World]

@@ScottishMountainGoat Thanks, I think It's good idea. I do a lot of pics on my trips but I want to do some videos in the future as well.