Retro-blog...Glasgow to Edinburgh on the Forth and Clyde Canal

On Saturday 14^th May, a group of six hardy souls met up in Glasgow with a view to joining others in Linlithgow, 37 miles away for a pub lunch. Our route was to be along the Forth and Clyde Canal, starting at the Port Dundas canal basin just north of the M8 motorway.

Thankfully the early morning gods were smiling on us and we headed off in dry weather, hoping to dodge the forecast showers along the way.

The first section of the canal route requires to you head west before you head east, for about four miles until you reach the main section of the canal. The spur from this junction to the restored warehouses at Port Dundas was built to appease Glasgow merchants who felt that they may lose out on trade when the canal was first built, and the Port Dundas basin has been renovated within the past couple of years. This four mile spur takes you past Firhill Stadium ( home to Partick Thistle FC and Glasgow Warriors RFC ), is well used by locals, and offers good views of the city to the south from its elevated position.

Upon reaching the main canal section you loop down under the canal and rejoin the towpath on the eastward side heading towards Kirkintilloch. The real joy of the canal is that you are immediately in countryside, and can simply pedal along the fairly good path taking in the scenery. It is great for kids too young to be cycling on the road, and there are usually plenty of families out and about along this route. With the sun on our backs we cycled along at a good average of 13mph enjoying the views, and saw plenty of nesting swans along the way. The ducks had already beaten the swans to it, and we saw loads of ducklings, but in a few weeks time there should be loads of little cygnets to see too.

As you near Kirkintilloch there are couple of lovely points for a rest stop. The Stables pub and restaurant is canal side with plenty of outdoor seating, and good food, and slightly further on at Kirkintilloch itself, the Kirky Puffer is on the right hand side of the canal as you cross the road through the town. Eventually you will also come to another pub ( Underwood Lockhouse ) at lock 37 where you can also sit outside – you can even get a curry here if you’re in the mood for one!. On this occasion however we didn’t stop and kept heading on till we reached Linlithgow, passing quite a few narrow boats on the way, and seeing a couple of locks and bridges in action. Katy, our youngest cyclist had her first puncture in this stretch. She was cycling on skinny road tyres not best suited for the canal path, which is generally good but can be a bit rough and stony in places, but this gave us a chance for a short breather while the boys were all hands on deck to repair the tube.

Our first real stop, where we paused for coffee and cake, was at the Falkirk Wheel. This is an amazing feat of engineering and design to join the Forth and Clyde canals over a drop of 24 metres. The two canals were originally linked by a series of 11 locks, which had been removed and filled in as the canals were no longer used for commercial traffic and fell into disrepair. Powered by the weight of the water in the two troughs, the wheel allows boats to rise the 24 meters in one go, taking no more than half an hour to compete the rise. The Falkirk Wheel is unique in the world, being the world’s only rotating boat lift, and was opened in 2002 as part of the Millennium project. Something Scotland should be really proud of, this is a good place to stop and see the lift in action while enjoying a picnic. Beyond the wheel the path follows the canal on a bit of a climb up the hill. A little further on you need to pass through two tunnels, the first of which is relatively short and can be cycled through providing there’s no one coming the other way. The second is much longer – about 500m, and here you will need to get off and walk your bike through. It’s quite dark, but dimly lit throughout so no need to worry about lights etc. Good fun for kids with echoes, stalactites and drips to contend with along the way.

Upon finally reaching Linlithgow, we parked the bikes up at the nearby railway station, which is where Richard had to hop on a train due to prior commitments. For the rest of us, our lunch stop was at The Four Marys on the main street, which can be reached by going down through the station and left along the high street. It was only then that we discovered that Al and I hadn’t been the only ones thinking seriously about continuing on to Edinburgh, another 21 miles away. The weather gods had continued to be kind, and it looked like it was going to remain a really nice day. You’ve got to take advantage of these in Scotland, so our remaining five cyclists decided to push on to journey’s end in Edinburgh. Our legs were feeling well warmed up and pretty good so an extra 21 miles didn’t seem that much to cope with.

This final leg takes you through some lovely countryside, round past the bings ( old mining slagheaps ) near Plean, and onwards, past the Bridge Inn at Ratho, through the outskirts of Edinburgh to it’s conclusion at the Fountainbridge basin. Katy, who had come with us mainly to avoid thinking about her exams, suffered a further two punctures, so another stop was required while these were repaired. We hoped this would be the last as both tubes were now patched and luckily she made it to the end! A quick run downhill from the canal’s end to Haymarket Station saw us able to sit down and relax on the journey back to Glasgow.

For anyone interested in canals and their history, or even just cycling along their tow paths, we watched a fantastic programme on BBC 4 recently ( The Golden Age of Canals ). It chronicles the original working life of canals throughout England and Wales (where the canal network is immense) and their demise as means of making a living, through to their loving restoration and revitalisation as a leisure industry. I was amazed to learn that many canals were deliberately destroyed in parts to prevent people using them for fun in the early 20^th century, to the extent that some locks were filled in with rubble and concrete several metres deep. The footage of the state of the canals in the 1940’s and 50’s is truly sad. You can’t help but be amazed by the work that was done by passionate individuals and groups to restore the canals in their own time, some working for nearly thirty years with only basic tools and their bare hands.

This programme offers a good slice of social history, had some great historical footage, and is worth a watch even if you think it sounds like it’s not for you! You’ll have to catch it fast as it’s only available on BBC iPlayer ( how did they ever get that one past Apple! ) until the 27^th May on www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

Who was there? ...Lesley - Alistair - Neil - Katy - Ken - Richard

How far we cycled - 59 miles ( or 95 km to make it sound even more impressive! )

Options for a shorter route- take the train to or from Falkirk or Linlithgow