A Report of our trip from Ratho to Glasgow
in July 2002
Iain had four days off work (an unusual event)
and we decided to do some
Gamebird boating.
The only problem was that Iain was scheduled to drive the
Linlithgow Union Canal Society trip boat on the Saturday but we found a
volunteer to do this for him and we made plans!
We had not been on the Forth and Clyde for a while and felt it was due a
visit but having only four days didn't allow us to cruise the whole canal. A
project for next year when we will have more time on gamebird as we are
selling one of our shares in Copperkins.
Day 1 - were up bright and early on the Thursday and 8.45 saw us setting off
from our mooring at Ratho. Gamebird was looking well as I had taken her to
the Union canals only BW water point the pervious day to fill up with water
and give her a shampoo and set. BW in Scotland are very kind to the boaters
and they don't mind us doing this occasionally. It was a dull warm day which
looked as if it would rain at some point but we ensured this didn't happen
by keeping our waterproof jackets handy. The canal between Ratho and
Linlithgow is beautiful with several wooded stretches which are looking
their best just now. There is, however, a shortage of birds on this stretch as Mr Mink has taken up residence and in the space of a season he
virtually wiped out all the ducks, moorhens, coots and swans. BW employed a
mink trapper last year and there is evidence of a slight increase in birds
again but I fear that Mr Mink is still around.
Unusually for us, we cruised straight through Linlithgow and resisted the
urge to stop and chat to the volunteers manning the boats, museum and tea
room and we headed back into the country again. We crossed the Avon
aqueduct, which is the second biggest in the UK, and headed for Falkirk.
This is only the third time we have cruised to Falkirk and we are still
finding new things to look at. The outskirts of Falkirk used to be a heavy
industry area and there are several long wharfs - excellent moorings just
waiting for someone to make use of them.
We went through the old Falkirk tunnel which is a sight worth seeing. It is
high and wide with a good towpath all the way through and there are several
spectacular red and white marble like deposits on the walls. Most of the
roof is the original stone and you can only marvel at how the tunnel was
made two hundred years ago. We collected some of our neighbours at the west
end of the tunnel and immediately about turned (or twirled ) and took them
through the tunnel as none of them had seen it before. Twirled again and
headed for the new staircase locks on the new bit of canal. The lockie was
waiting for us and as we had plenty of rope holders on board I got off and
wielded a windlass and pushed the odd gate - the only time I did on the
whole trip. Although some of the paddle gear has been mechanised since we
were there last at the opening, the top paddles are still the horizontal
wheels which take 60 turns to open and close. Try dropping these in a hurry!
Round the corner and into the new tunnel and onto the aqueduct where we tied
Gamebird on her centre rope waiting for a BW trip boat to emerge from the
wheel. It was good to see that our comments after the official opening have
been listened to and all the mooring bollards on the aqueduct and in the
caissons have been turned the right way round. They now hold your rope when
you lasoo them . Into the caisson and down we went. The operator even
asked which way we would like to go (clockwise or anti clockwise). Being a
bit of a coward when it comes to heights, I was quite happy to let our
passengers have all the free space on the front and back decks and I stayed
inside. We went straight from the wheel to the lock into the Forth and Clyde
and turned east heading for Falkirk, our destination for the night.
Day 2 - we had arranged for BW to be at the Bonnybridge lift bridge at 9.15
and we set of at 8.30 to meet them. They raised the bridge for us (it goes
up on four rams) and the same boys then worked us through the four locks up
to the summit pound. We paused briefly at Auchenstarry to have a look at the
new weed cutter which had just arrived a couple of weeks before then
proceeded to the swing bridge at Tweckar and the lift bridge at Hillhead
which were worked for us by another BW crew. We remarked that there was a
lot of floating weed and water lilies on one stretch and we were told that
was OK as the weed cutter was following us through. The weed was greatly
reduced when we came back the next day. On chatting to the BW boys they told
us that over 120 boats have locked into the canal at Grangemouth since
April.
We were then on our own and we proceeded to Glasgow where we moored outside
the BW office on the Glasgow branch. We had been a little bit apprehensive
about coming through what is supposedly bandit country on a Friday afternoon
but we had absolutely no trouble. They must like little green boats. We
were moored by 3pm. That night we met Geoff and Lynne who live in a flat in
one of the converted warehouses along side the canal there and had an
excellent meal in Sauchiehall Street which was just 10 minutes walk from our
moorings.
Day 3 - we set off at 8am and arrived at Hillhead
bridge at the same time as the BW boys at 10.30. We made such good progress that
we were back at the Wheel by 2pm and decided to go up then rather than wait till
the Sunday morning as we had arranged. We stopped in the lock for about an hour
while we took on water and waited for our turn on the wheel at 3pm. I waved at
the web cam several times but no one waved back :-(. The number of visitors to
the wheel has exceeded all expectations and Sunday was no exception. We felt
like fish in a goldfish bowl while we were sitting in the lock and I wasn't
brave enough to walk through the crowds to empty the cassette! We went up the
wheel with the trip boat and I actually stayed on the front deck for the whole
ascent. Getting braver.
When we got to the staircase the crowds had
followed us up and again we were photographed and filmed all the way up. Must
practice the wave a bit more though.
We had an uneventful trip to Linlithgow where we
moored at 6.30. A long day but it meant that we could have a lazy day on Sunday.
Day 4 - Returned to Ratho, packed up the
boat and tucked her up on her moorings. She will be coming out of the
water soon to get titivated for her trip (by trailer) to Huddersfield next month
but before then she will put in an appearance at the Bridge 19 -40 Canal
Society boat trip day in Winchburgh when we hope to encourage more people to
become interested in the canal and take trips on our little boat, Roseann.
