Scottish Canals on St Andrew's Day.

In honour of St. Andrew's Day I thought I would share some photos of our boating Holiday we had up there in March 2011. Firstly though it seems to be quite a coincidence that St. Andrew was actually  that to have been born in Syria. He wouldn't have stood a chance today would he! He is the Patron Saint of Cyprus, Scotland, Russia, Greece, Romania, Ukraine and Bulgaria. He offers protection to fishermen, rope makers, fishmongers, textile workers, singers, miners pregnant  women, butchers and farm workers. He is also well known to guard against sore throats, convulsions, fever and whooping cough. All in all a good bloke to have as your Saint. The St. Andrew's cross, the X is said to represent the cross that he was crucified on as he didn't think himself worthy to be killed on the same sort as Jesus. Research has found that it isn't until the Middle Ages that this story gains currency so I'm not sure how the Scottish flag may have looked, or indeed the Union flag.

On our holiday we had mixed whether it is fair to say, but it didn't rain all the time. One of my brothers came with us, with his dog, and daughter Amy also attended. We picked the boat up at the foot of the Falkirk wheel and then headed towards Glasgow. I'm not sure how it is these days but all the locks and bridges had to be worked by C&RT employees and this made it awkward  as you had to give a definite time that you would be at the locks and bridges so that they weren't waiting around. If we had been on our own I reckon we would have had no trouble getting down to Bowling and Glasgow, back up to the Falkirk Wheel and into Edinburgh and back to Falkirk in the week. As it is there were few locks between Glasgow and Edinburgh but there are plenty from Glasgow to Bowling, so we missed that bit out in the end. We completed the entire length of the Union Canal from Edinburgh to Falkirk but not all the Forth and Clyde Canal.

The canal has some wide bits and some normal canal sized bits. A big draw back to the Forth and Clyde Canal is the fact that it is stoned at the sides so there are very few places that you can actually tie up.

The locks are wide beam and longer than the English canals as the canal was built to take seagoing vessels from the Forth and Clyde Rivers. Hence the name! C&RT said that lock keepers had to be used because of the volume of water but I don't think that they are too much bigger than the wide beam canals down south.

A more normal sized bit of canal.

We couldn't get to the end of the Union Canal as they were working on the bridge that guards the end of the navigation so it was a little further to walk to the city but it is still great to be on a boat this close to Edinbugh Castle.

At the other end of our trip on the outskirts of Glasgow we couldn't moor at the end of the navigation either. This time I think it was because the bloke couldn't be bothered to come and open the small bridge that allowed you in to this massive basin, with two boats in. Still you are very close to the centre. I seem to remember it was about as far as the Coventry Basin is from the centre of that town.

Despite Edinburgh and Glasgow at either extremity of the route it is the bit in the middle that is the highlight. The Falkirk wheel attracts many visitors and is a beautiful thing to look at as well as a marvel of engineering.

There is no juddering or jerking in the movement of the wheel as it effortlessly raises you up and down from the Forth and Clyde to the Union Canal.

As you enter the Wheel from the top you really do get a feeling that you are going to just drop off the end. Almost an 'infinity canal'. The views are great too.

This was the conceptual model of the 'Shelties' that was on show at the Falkirk Wheel. Of course they are built and in situe now and must make a glorious sight. They are on the Forth and Clyde arm that goes down past the Falkirk Wheel and meets up with the River Forth.

These are the two guys that did most of the lock and bridge work when we were on the Forth and Clyde. I must say they were pretty unhelpful and grumpy the whole time and were quite awkward about things most of the time. I was accused of being late at rendezvous etc and the fact of having to run to a time table and deal with these guys ruined the holiday much more than the weather did.

This is the staircase lock just up from the Wheel. The wheel and staircase were to replace the lost locks that raised the canal up originally. The Union Canal is much more canal like as it wasn't built to take the large sea going vessels. The girls that were on duty at the Falkirk Locks were much more pleasant too.

I think that this is the Avon Aqueduct on the Union Canal.

Just outside Falkirk is the Falkirk Tunnel. As you can see there is a little bit of everything on the small number of miles of canal in Scotland. We were really glad that we went but if we went and hired abroad again it would be to the canals of Ireland I think.

HAPPY ST. ANDREW'S DAY