Holytown and Carfin are just over 1km (3/4 mile) apart. Rudy took a little detour walking between them via a (seemingly unnamed!) park and then through the streets to look at Carfin Grotto.
A Park
Just north of Holytown station is this park with no name?! The site was historically used by Holytown Colliery and a Brickworks and now is a good walking park. The paths are a little rough rather than formal park tarmac but they seem maintained with only a few puddles after heavy rain.
Rudy was very much in a walking mood this day rather than stop & smell, maybe he’d made lunch plans back at home.
Waterlogged!
The next part of this walk was mostly through suburban streets but we cut corners where there was green spaces marked on maps. This bit turned out to not be a planned path but just a common shortcut through waste ground. Not a path for everyone after wet weather but Rudy didn’t mind!
Carfin Grotto
The Carfin Grotto was the idea of a local parish priest after a visit to Lourdes. Starting with a bare field and volunteers from the mining community it was constructed mostly during the 1921 Coal Miners’ Strike in an attempt to raise morale while there was no mine work being done.
The site was expanded greatly from the 1920s to 1960s and attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims each year. Rudy’s faith is based firmly in picnics and sleeping being the path for becoming a Good Dog so he was content to just pose for a selfie at the entrance and leave for his train home.