This is a copy of an article which I wrote for the Sea Otter magazine.

Gamebird goes pioneering again!

When we heard that the 35 miles long Forth and Clyde canal was to reopen after being closed for almost 40 years, we knew we just had to be there. We had, after all, along with many others, campaigned for several years before the Millennium Commission provided the necessary cash to reopen the Forth and Clyde and the Union. We (and Gamebird, of course), attended two events last year to celebrate the opening of parts of both canals - and we are having another one soon to celebrate the re opening of the Union canal into Edinburgh!

There are a couple of slipways about half way along the F & C and we planned to use one of these, cruise to the east end (at Grangemouth) and return with the flotilla of boats. BW said this was not possible as the locks and bridges we needed to go through to get to Grangemouth would probably not be ready till the actual opening – how true this was. At times the dredger was the lead boat, preparing a way for the flotilla!

We were determined to cruise the whole canal and turned down BW’s offer to crane us in at Falkirk, where the flotilla of boats would actually start. The fact that there are 15 locks between Grangemouth and Falkirk and the flotilla celebrating the opening would not actually cruise all of the canal seemed a bit odd to us but there you are.

We made some enquiries and discovered that we could launch on the tidal River Carron. Which is off the Firth of Forth and is just a few miles from the sea lock at the start of the canal BUT the Carron dries out at low tide and there is no headroom under one of the bridges at high tide. The timing of the launch would need to be carefully judged as the river goes down very quickly on the ebb. We spoke to our insurance company and they agreed that we could cruise on tidal waters at both ends of the canal – if we were starting on a tidal river we thought we should try to get onto the tidal Firth of Clyde at the other end.

It has to be said that the launch was not one of our best but we got Gamebird safely into the river and filled up with water before donning life jackets, getting the anchor ready and setting off up stream. We arrived at the sea lock to find that the electrics had failed and we had to wait on the pontoon till they fixed it. Fortunately, the ebb hadn’t started or we could have been stuck on mud overnight. After passing through the sea lock we moored in the new basin and found that we were in the company of about 15 real sea going craft, mainly yachts. There was an old fishing boat, White Wing, which is owned by the Fisheries Museum at Anstruther and a beautiful boat she is, especially when she is under sail. The folk on the other boats had never seen anything like Gamebird before and she aroused much interest. While Iain was away parking the Landrover and trailer I had a constant stream of visitors wanting to see over her. They were very impressed!

The Forth and Clyde was built for fishing boats and commercial craft to pass between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde and it is therefore a wider and deeper canal than most. Puffers, like the Vital Spark of Para Handy fame, were regular users of the canal and it was interesting to see a replica puffer, the Wee Spark, in the flotilla the next day.

Next morning, we went up the 16 locks to Falkirk and we just happened to be in the first lockful, in fact we were at the front of the lock alongside a yacht, Teal, and we took turns at leading the procession between locks. We were the very first boats to go up these locks for 40 years and it was a very happy, historic occasion. There were crowds lining the route although the “opening event” did not start till the next day. We were going to become very used to crowds over the weekend, as I don’t think there was ever a hundred yards of towpath without people. What really made the trip so special was not just the thousands of people at the major towns along the route but the hand made notices in cottage windows and stuck on trees along the route welcoming the boats back to the canal. We felt like royalty with all the waving! The locks on the Forth and Clyde are all 19 x 66 feet and have gate paddles with no baffles so Gamebird got her nose washed a few times.

That evening, we were given our instructions for the weekend, including our locking partners and times of departure each morning. With so many boats to get through all the locks and bridges and all the ceremonies which had to take place along the way, the whole thing had to be well organised by BW, Scotland. They did a magnificent job having drafted in BW staff from other parts of the UK to help with locks and bridges – everything was done for us. There are several different types of bridge on the Forth and Clyde – as well as lift and swing bridges, there are bascule bridges (two halfs open from the middle) and bridges which go up on rams.  At the moment, everything is BW operated but this will change although some items will always be in BW’s control. One of these is the drop lock at Dalmuir. This is a very long lock in three parts. You cruise in at one end and the water level is lowered to let you cruise below a fixed bridge into the other end where the water level is raised again to let you out.

However, back to Falkirk, where the official cruise started.

In the morning, we moved into position ready to take our place in the procession and this involved holding Gamebird in the middle of a basin while other boats manoeuvred. Iain did this so well, that we were asked to take a ribbon across the basin. Our moment of fame! All went well till the wind got up and we found that the ribbon (about eighteen inches wide) was not long enough! Despite these setbacks we got the end across to the other side and retired to our place, which just happened to be in the best position to see the fish. The Fish, what fish? I hear you ask. The organisers had had a fish constructed over a narrow boat and this was to be the lead boat all weekend and it was scheduled to perform at various places. It opened it’s mouth, cut ribbons, spouted water from it’s fins, flapped side fins and a band played on it’s back! It was a pity it kept breaking down and had to be towed for most of the way.  After it did it’s thing at Falkirk we were the third boat to set off and Iain thought he would let Gamebird show off by doing another twirl. Unfortunately, he got weed round the prop and ended up in the bushes! In front of 10,000 people too! Fortunately, none of our friends who were taking photos or videos caught it on film or we would never live it down.

That night we moored at Auchinstarry where evening entertainment was laid on for the boaters. It would have been churlish not to attend but it is embarrassing to see a photo of all the boats in darkness except a little green boat with all it’s cabin lights on and a crowd standing round her (at 2am). However, before then, we, and other boats needed to fill up with water and the tap was over 100 yards from the boats! BW got a plumber to erect a standpipe a bit nearer and we used as many hoses as we could lay our hands on to fill up all the boats. Fortunately it was a warm day, as several people got a bit wet. The facilities are a bit sparse at the moment but they will come.

The next evening saw us in Maryhill in Glasgow moored up several abreast, to temporary pontoons.  In fact we moored on pontoons every night and there were security guards on duty all night to ensure that only boaters had access to the pontoons. Such was the interest in the event that there was a steady procession of people passing up and down all evening and of course, they wanted to come on board the boats.

The next day we boated through the centre of Glasgow on as nice a bit of canal as I have ever seen. I was pleasantly surprised, as I had not realised that there was such a beautiful stretch of water so near the city centre.

Later that day we arrived in Clydebank to a large cheering crowd, despite the rain, which started just as we got there. There we were served fish and chips from a rather unusual establishment. It is a two-story building which actually sits in the canal, in fact, when the canal was being reopened they had to widen it to get round the Debra Rose. The owner has had a hatch made in the canal side of his building and you can now order your meal as you cruise past! A bit like a cruise through McDonalds.

From there it was on to the drop lock and then to the end of the canal at Bowling on the Firth of Clyde. When we got there it was very windy and the lock keeper recommended mooring above the last canal lock rather than go into the basin at the sea lock. We all got our certificates to say we had completed the cruise but I don’t think we need it to remind us that we had been part of a momentous occasion for Scotland’s canals.

The next morning we locked down into the basin but unfortunately it was still too windy to venture out into the Firth of Clyde.

However, even though we didn’t actually go from sea to sea, we were the first narrow boat EVER to cruise the length of the Forth and Clyde Canal.

Footnote – Next spring will see the opening of the Falkirk wheel which will link the Forth and Clyde Canal to the Union Canal again and this will mean that we will be able to boat from coast to coast (Bowling to Grangemouth) and from Glasgow to Edinburgh. Gamebird would really love to see some of her fellow Sea Otters up here for a visit!

May 2001

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