Linlithgow Loch – A Lap of the Water below the Palace
About 2.3 miles on foot.
Linlithgow Loch lies right behind the High Street of Linlithgow, a small West Lothian town, with a ruined royal palace and the spire of St Michael's Church standing on a green mound above the water.
A path runs all the way round it, about 2.3 miles and an hour of level walking, with ducks and other wildfowl out on the loch. There's a café on the High Street for afterwards.
- Time
- About an hour: about 2.3 miles (3.7 km) round the loch, level all the way.
- The path
- Level, well-surfaced paths, tarmac along the south and west shores and narrow in places.
- Where to start
- Linlithgow Peel, at the top of the Kirkgate, EH49 7AL. Free.
- When to go
- All year in daylight. From November to January start by 2pm.
- Dogs
- Under close control and away from the birds: the loch's wildfowl are protected.
- Children
- Level and short; the path runs beside open water.
- Before you set out
- The palace is Historic Environment Scotland's and has its own hours and ticket.
The walk
Park at Linlithgow Peel, the parkland round the palace at the top of the Kirkgate, where parking is free. EH49 7AL is the postcode. Linlithgow has trains from Edinburgh and Glasgow as well, and the station is two minutes' walk from the High Street. The walk round the loch is about 2.3 miles and takes about an hour.
It's level all the way on well-surfaced paths, tarmac along the south and west shores and narrow in places. The loch formed from a block of ice stranded when the glaciers retreated, and it's one of only two natural lowland lochs left in the Lothians. Its wildfowl and its rare water plants are protected, so keep dogs under close control and away from the birds. From the far shore the palace stands whole above the water, with the spire of St Michael's beside it.
Mary, Queen of Scots was born in the palace in 1542. It belongs to Historic Environment Scotland and has its own hours and ticket, and this walk stays outside it. From November to January, start by 2pm.
If it rains
The path is level and hard, so a shower does no harm, but the far shore is open to the weather. On a wet day walk the south shore below the palace and back.
Afterwards
5 min on foot
The Coffee Neuk
Coffee
The Coffee Neuk is a small café on Linlithgow's High Street, 5 minutes' walk from the Peel. It's usually open from 10am to 4pm, and from 9am on Saturdays. It has no website of its own, so ring 01506 846097 before you count on it, most of all over Christmas and New Year.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Where to eat
The Coffee Neuk, a café in Linlithgow.
For further reading, before you go.