It's a place by 'the lake in the moist hollow', alright, but hollows will tend to be just that, moist, when they've got a lake in it?

The Celts simply said what they saw whenever it was they settled 15 miles west of Edinburgh. SlyBob, on the other hand, are settling for a few hours in Lithgae on the way to somewhere else.

Something else that's hollow and moist has been seen signposted to warrant a stop and there's a significant connection with a historic, Scottish figure.

Hmmm, wonder who that could be then?

No, it's not Robert Burns, for once, it's Mary, Queen of Scots and here she is in the grounds of Linlithgow Palace.

Every place in Scotland, every place, will claim some connection with Mary but only because Her Highlandness only ever stayed the night or stopped on the way through on a comfort break.

The palace, however, is her undisputed birthplace and it's currently a brown £Walter Scott to admire the bedchambers although the surroundings are free to wander.

You can loop around the lake that made the hollow moist where there's wildfowl, when in season, and the whole area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

They don't, as should be known by now, hand those out willy-nilly and strictly speaking, it's Linlithgow Loch.

Whatever the vernacular, the place is already getting a tick in the prospective overnighter column.

Beecraigs Country Park is just south of here and is worthy of, nay demands, a stop if you're in the area. Fine views of the Firth of Forth and the Kelpies over in Falkirk, not shown, following a short wander through the woods from the visitor centre.

You can see for even more miles up Cockleroy Hill, they say, and by 'they say', what is meant is we wouldn't really know.

What is known is that the Beecraigs road brings you into Linlithgow past a basin on the Union Canal and who doesn't enjoy a canal?

Lots of people enjoy a canal, actually, meaning there's nowhere to park so we've had to lug it back up and under the railway line from the high street.

The Linlithgow Union Canal Society operate the converted keepers' cottages out of which one can cruise, stroll or even paddleboard.

If any of those options could be considered too strenuous, just munch on some cake, yum yum, while you try to remember why the Union Canal is sort of familiar?

Originally running for 30 miles from Edinburgh to Falkirk, it fell into the inevitable state of disrepair before being restored in 2001. It now connects with the Forth and Clyde Canal a little left of Falkirk, which then goes all the way to Glasgow, by the way.

A small problem during the restoration, however, there was a 115-foot drop between the two waterways. Don't worry, simply construct a bespoke, rotating, metallic mechanism to bridge the vertical gap and that'll be the Falkirk Wheel.

That's why this is sort of familiar, then, and the Union is the one that arrives at the top of the Wheel - absolutely crackers!

Liz Burrows lived by the basin with her rescue feline Dudley. She was a founding member of a group of green-fingered individuals who still strive to 'enhance the urban scene generally' through floral displays, tree planting and hanging baskets.

Following Liz's death, a generous legacy was bequeathed and Scottish sculptor David Annand was approached to commemorate her and her contribution to the community.

He already had form in the form of Mary, Queen of Scots in the palace grounds and more of his bronze can be seen next to the towpath in Dudley the Cat.

Lovely stuff but this isn't the first Dudley we've encountered. Everybody remembers Dudley the Donkey from Cleethorpes, right?

Yes, statues of animals called Dudley are admittedly niche, and we're honestly not collecting them, honestly.

Linlithgow has some nice touches including a 16th-century dovecote in a small park behind Dudley.

A couple of rough-looking lads smoking fags will helpfully advise there's nae way oot other than the way you came in. They're not so knowledgeable, however, as to this being the last remaining doocot in West Lothian, no less, and it was basically a former fertiliser storage facility, phew-ey!

Emptying that lot is a job not many would fancy but employees can take their pick of the workplace, these days.

Here be commutersville central, you see, with direct road and rail links to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling although doesn't everybody pretend, sorry prefer, to 'work' from home, these days?

Meanwhile, back on the high street, the charm carries on helped by several architectural eye-catchers.

Victoria Hall is recently demolished, shame, where the clue was in the name to the boom time when the railway came and some of her contemporaries remain.

Linlithgow Burgh Halls evolved out of an even older town house and hosts artsy exhibitions while the original Council Buildings house a number of community services.

Both of these following successful restorations to utilise the existing structures but the former Sheriff Court, now a hotel, was built too late for any justice for James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray.

Considered to be the first 'political' assassination anywhere, ever, by shooter, it was all connected to Mary, Queen of Scots, obviously. Having switched religious sides and sporting a Rangers top, Stewart became a suppressor of support for his half-sister Mary in South Scotland.

James Hamilton, however, was an ardent admirer of Mary, not Moray, and himself and the wife had been evicted from the family home by, yes, the 1st Earl's henchmen.

Hamilton's motivation, therefore, was either ideological or a mere housing-related matter, or a combustious combination? What is known, though, is that he let his gunpowder off behind drawn curtains on this very street in 1570 and, later that night, the mortally wounded Moray was no more.

Here was a huge incident in Scottish history, not that we knew it, and if you've seen the 2018 film  Mary Queen of Scots, Stewart is the one on the horse to her left.

Linlithgow Community Development Trust are promoting projects including the benefits of home-grown fruit & veg. and their attempt to make Linlith-Go-Solar!

It's uplifting stuff and adds to the feel-good factor so the tick has moved to the definite overnighter column. Besides, we've spotted a tandoori on the drive out.

Who's to say that generations of visitors to come will be heard to mutter they knew Mary, Queen of Scots was born here but...

'We didn't know SlyBob stayed the night?'