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Canal game
Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal, summer 2004
The 20 million pound Falkirk Wheel
A 1-week potter from the Capercaillie hire base on the Forth and
Clyde below the Falkirk Wheel into Edinburgh and back; 68 miles and 8
locks (counting the wheel as one).
The Forth & Clyde Canal, forming a coast-to-coast short-cut across
Scotland for small sea-going craft, and the Union Canal, its link into
Edinburgh, were allowed to fall into disuse in the 1960s. On some sections
the line was lost under new building, and everywhere bridges were lowered
or the canal culverted. Then, to mark the millennium, a vast amount of
lottery money (getting on for 100 million pounds) was spent to restore
the link. It was re-opened throughout in 2003.
The daring centrepiece of the restoration is at Falkirk. Here the Union
Canal used to descend into the Forth & Clyde through eleven locks,
but all of this line had been buried under new housing development. A whole
new line of canal has been made to link into the Forth & Clyde at a new
junction about a mile to the west of the old one. To overcome the level
difference, rather than a new flight of locks, a unique rotary boat lift
has been built, with a futuristic aqueduct leading up to it. Below this is a
new lock and basin, and above a new tunnel and staircase pair. Compared
to the sort of money usually available for canal restorations this is
remarkable.
Along the Union Canal are dozens of new bridges, many of a standard
design with MM carved into them to celebrate the millennium. Through Wester
Hailles, a new high-rise housing development, the canal has been returned
from a culverted ditch to a beautifully presented recreational area, though
it does seem to require CCTV surveillance to keep it so.
It is clear that the restoration is intended to provide a route for
boats, there doesn't seem to be any of the horror of disturbing the ecology of
a derelict canal that has been seen on some English restorations. At the
moment there are not many boats about, hire bases are just starting to
appear, and there are none of the scruffy live-aboards and linear
moorings that disfigure so many miles of English canals.
Diary extract:
- Sat 2004-09-11 {18415}
- Set off about 07h30, got to the Falkirk wheel at about 14h45. There
was then a considerable period of faffing. There appear to be Black Prince,
Capercaillie & Alvechurch boats here, all run from the same office.
The boats are on a long linear pontoon in the E arm of the Forth &
Clyde canal, & to get to this it's a several 100m hike from the
disabled spaces at the wheel visitor centre. Access to the boatyard office
is also thro' the pay point for wheel visitors. You have to find a trolley
to get your stuff down to the boat in a reasonable time. Just the boss
Hamish & his wife seem to be doing the run-thro's, she first on the
inside & then he on the outside. We didn't get away until 17h00. BW
staff open the swingbridge & get the basin lock ready, & work the
lock. It's very windy, so the boatyard staff Colin (on us) & Hamish
(on the one behind) drove us from here. Last trip boat has gone so we get
2 boats up in the 18h00 wheel operation. It fits trip boat (12.5ft) + 1 narrow
boat, but the locks are 12.5ft only. Wheel is fascinating, but enjoyment
mixed with a lot of shouting & engine revving trying to get off the
jetty & into the gondola with the powerful cross-wind. It was supposed
to be 40mi/h at the upper level. Operation of the lift very smooth &
quite quick, about 5..10 min for the actual rotation, & seals appear
not to leak at all. It makes a half rev every 30 min, with some time taken
up loading & unloading & making & breaking the seals. The
double end dams rotate up from the bottom & between them the seal
expands hydraulically from fixed to moving; the space between the dams
is evacuated by pump; the sump is dry. It's made by Butterley. The rating
plate says that the max diff in levels in the gondolas is 75mm; think
this is done by careful control of levels in the basins above and below,
but pres could also adjust by pumping out before rotation. After the wheel
is a short tunnel then a 2-staircase, also worked by BW. Moor on the
pontoon above this at 18h45. Today 0.5mi 4l 1sb 1h45m. Boat is "Little
Weaver" (14.3m, Alvechurch), Isuzu diesel, quite quiet & smooth; diesel
space heating + aux HW, main HW from engine; has fancy vacuum &
macerating bog with push-button flush, but this means can't minimise
water transfer into holding tank (says ~2l per flush and 340l tank). Lots
of storage space & good firm high seating in cabin. 240V all over
with microwave & toaster, 12V car point for charging. Unlike England,
we're told that it's OK to moor either side. All of the canal here is
new. Originally the Union canal descended thro' 11 locks to join the
F&C near its lock 16, but this was built over. The whole of the
new locks, wheel, basin, tunnel, a mile or so of channel, a couple of
bridges and an aqueduct over a road are all brand new.
- Sun 2004-09-12 {18416}
- The wind's still up, doors banging & life belt rattling on roof.
Walk back to wheel, a long way round as the towpath is gated thro' the
tunnel. Pics of wheel in sunshine, with sun low behind me. Start 08h30,
in alternate rain & watery sunshine, always with a chilly wind. Pass
one other boat, a day-hire. Stop for lunch E of br 43 for Linlithgow at 12h,
lunch in the Four Marys, which was good, & the staff was appropriately
all female. Lots of good beers, inc London Pride. Walk around the outside
of the palace, a ruin. Re-start 14h15. Both other boats that came this way
with us also stopped at Linlithgow. Stop at Broxburn, before br 26, at 17h.
Moorings here with water & electricity near reasonable houses, tho' we
had a plastic sign & stones dropped on us from br 27. Today 32.5..13 =
19.5mi, 6.25h.
- Mon 2004-09-13 {18417}
- If it hadn't been blowing a gale it'd have been a glorious day, sunny
& bright, but cold. Start 08h and continue at constant pace to Edinburgh
at 12h (13mi, 4h). Have to moor in the basin W of the Leamington lift bridge,
as beyond this there is much building work & Edinburgh Quay is
unavailable for boats. Walk into Edinburgh centre, lunch at the Rose &
Crown pub in Rose St, then walk around castle & Princes St gardens.
Back to the boat for a rest, then out again eve. By then, 5 boats in the
basin, all hire craft. Approach to Edinburgh is excellent by canal, tho' we
were warned not to stop in Wester Hailles area; Canal here was culverted
under new estate roads & completely re-built, very well done with
nice bridges & lots of greenery among the high-rise flats, but CCTV
everywhere. Much of the rest of the way by canal is still rural in
appearance.
- Tue 2004-09-14 {18418}
- Still sunny & no wind at all. Eventually managed to buy a loaf,
after Scotmid (co-op) had none & the Night & Day shop was closed.
Start 09h15, turn in basin, then stop to take all the weed off the prop.
Lunch at Ratho at the Bridge Inn. Food was OK, but service was rather odd,
chose the bar but still seemed like a restaurant, shown to a table &
so on. Table next then occupied by a 3-generation party with very marked
accents & pedantically fussing over ordering very little.
Stop 12h..13h15. Aft stopped by the Almond aqueduct 13h45..14h30 for a
look around. Nice spot, intended to spend the night here, but another boat
there had been warned that there'd been trouble there recently with a car
dumped in the canal & the fences vandalised, so we went on, mooring in
the open at around br 22..23 at 15h. Eat on boat, read. Can't get in close
to edge, so sitting quietly about 1m out, needing plank to get ashore.
Today 12mi in 4h.
- Wed 2004-09-15 {18419}
- Sunny all day, & only a light breeze most of the time. Start
08h45, water at Broxburn for 10m, then stop at offside visitor mooring
before br 31 at 10h15. Walk from here, then up to pub (Tally-Ho Hotel) at
br 32 for lunch. Basic sausage, chips, hash browns, egg, beans, tomato but
lots of it, quick, & only 4L45. Much better deal than yesterday's
pretentious place. Then on at 13h15, pottering to Linlithgow at 15h45. Bit
of a walk here, then laze again. Eve for a drink back to the Four Marys.
Today 9.5mi 4h.
- Thu 2004-09-16 {18420}
- Overcast but dry in the morn, for a walk around the loch, then Tesco.
Lunch at the Star & Garter Hotel, then off at 13h15, sharing the
steering as it got windier & then damp & then very wet. Stopped
on the pontoon above the wheel locks at 16h45, by which time it was back
to blowing a gale & continuous heavy rain. Booked the wheel for tomorrow
10h, but they came out anyway in a van tonight to check we weren't expecting
to go down tonight. Falkirk tunnel is mostly bare rock inside & quite
high, very interesting. It also has electric uplighters showing the rock
formations and lighting the way; there is a towpath thro'. It has LED
traffic lights working with sensors, show red/green alternate on approach,
changing to solid green at entry end and red at the other. Eat on boat,
covering the sound of the weather with cheap rock CD set bought at Tesco
this AM. Today 11mi (21.5..32.5) in 3.5h. Fast, wanting to get out of the
rain.
- Fri 2004-09-17 {18421}
- Rain & wind dropped overnight, sunshine for early walk. Went down
the wheel early, starting 09h & going down at 09h30, the only boat on
the wheel. Moored for the visitor centre 10h..10h45 (entrance free), but
not much to see there, except to watch it going round from the comfort of
a seat & thro' huge sloping glass roof. Then on again to lock 16 of the
Forth & Clyde, 1mi down, turn here & moor on pontoon at 11h15.
Lunch at the Union Inn, followed by a walk down the locks. Lock 11 appears
to have been re-sited to get the canal under a road, with a new bridge;
the original chamber still there with gates removed. Then potter back
14h45..15h to moor on the hire-boat pontoon at the wheel (it's actually on
the offside of the Forth & Clyde, E of the swing footbridge) &
watch the other boats coming in one by one. About 8 hire boats here.
Sunny most of the day, but better out of the wind. Today 2.5mi 4l &
1sb in 1.75h. Total for trip 68mi 8 locks 2 sb in 25.25h. Eve on boat. We
suspect that Capercaillie Cruisers is Hamish's own company with 2 or 3
boats; the other boats from Alvechurch and Black Prince are recent arrivals,
and are booked by their own cos, but operated by Hamish, presumably on an
agency basis. All the on-board stuff was properly branded Alvechurch, even
the free playing cards and kitchen stuff pack. He has exclusive use of
part of the pontoon from 10h Fri to 18h Sat, outside of which it's public.
All service, fuel, pump-out, water is at one end, so he has to do a lot
of reversing boats about to bring them up for service. Missing largely
from this canal are "no mooring" signs, but is that Scotland or the paucity
of boats using the canal so far, mostly hire boats, a few private boats
mostly here and at Linlithgow and Ratho, no long strings of scruffy
live-aboards. Most of the visitor moorings had electricity and water
in multiple, and it wasn't clear which were moorings for water only and
which overnight; in Ratho there was one berth labelled "24h" and one
"overnight".
- Sat 2004-09-18 {18422}
- Lots of rain thro' the night, but it spared us while we loaded up;
didn't wait for a trolley, carried it all up to the car. They appreciate
the awkwardness of the site as it is, and would like an office down nearer
the boats; BW would like them to move to a new marina somewhere else, but
they're not sure about that; they are beholden to BW, and suspect that
BW doesn't realise that it gets some benefit from the hire base. At least
one of their hirers has gone as far as possible in all directions. Away
about 08h30.
Steerer--
Day Date Hours mi Locks SB morn aft Water
-------------------------------------------------------------
Sat 040911 1.75 0.5 4 1 N -
Sun 040912 6.25 19.5 - - N C Broxburn
Mon 040913 4 13 - - N - -
Tue 040914 4 12 - - C N -
Wed 040915 4 9.5 - - C N Broxburn
Thu 040916 3.5 11 - - - CN -
Fri 040917 1.75 2.5 4 1 NC C -
Sat 040918 - - - - -
-------------------------------------------------------------
Totals 25.25 68 8 2
Day Lunch Evening
-------------------------------------------------------------
Sat - pontoon above wheel, on boat
Sun Linlithgow, Four Marys Broxburn, on boat
Mon Edinburgh, Rose + Crown Edinburgh, Mussel Inn &c
Tue Ratho, Bridge Inn br 22..23, on boat
Wed Winchburgh, Tally-Ho Hotel Linlithgow, Four Marys
Thu Linlithgow, Star + Garter pontoon above wheel, on boat
Fri lock 16, Union Inn pontoon below wheel, on boat
Sat -
© 2004-09-19..2006-01-08
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Canal game