Walk along the Union Canal

Today was our wedding anniversary so we wanted to do something a little bit different for our outing. After some thinking I suggested a walk along the Union Canal from Ratho. We parked at the Bridge Inn from where the tow path for the canal is in easy reach over the bridge. During the summer you can take boat trips along the canal or just sit on that lovely terrace overlooking the water while sipping a glass of wine. It was way too cold for that today but next summer I aim to find myself there.

You can see the tour boats (red) from the Seagull Trust  (who provide trips for people with special needs)moored along the building where the Trust is housed. The blue boat looks to be a house boat and they must have had the stove going as smoke was coming from the chimney. It looked very cosy although my ideas about living on a houseboat are probably way too romantic to have any relation to the reality of it. Anyway my fabric and book stash alone would sink any such vessel!

Once we started to walk it became very quiet and we only met a few joggers and bikers. As a result the reflections in the canal were pretty much perfect.

Only one little boat came past which left a big wave behind. I took a picture specially for my good friend Lenna who lives along a canal in Florida! We met up with the boat later during our walk when she was laying still in the middle of the canal and all of a sudden the dog jumped into the water only to be hauled out again forthwith, and it then shook itself all over the two people in the boat. I can just imagine how cold the water must have been as there was ice in several areas of the canal.

Along the canal there were various seats like seen above. A combination of sculpture and bench. This one had the no. 240 at the top, which signifies the contour the canal follows along it's length.  A contour canal is an artificially-dug navigable canal which closely follows the contour line of the land it traverses in order to avoid costly engineering works such as boring a tunnel through higher ground, building an embankment over lower ground, or constructing a canal lock (or series of locks) to change the level of the canal..

Another seat we found showed the various boats touring the canal in summer. The Union Canal is a canal in Scotland, running from Falkirk to Edinburgh, constructed to bring minerals, especially coal, to the capital. It was opened in 1822 and was initially successful, but the construction of railways, particularly the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, opened in 1842, diminished its value as a transport medium. It fell into slow commercial decline and became disused in the 1930s.

 The tow path seems in very good shape considering how long it has been there and looks specially lovely covered in autumn leaves.

There is even a modern day folly along it's path, which with the reflection made for an interesting point to turn around and go back on ourselves.

The reflections made for interesting confusions. In the above picture only the rosebay willowherb seed heads in the foreground are real. All the rest is reflection.