Route of The Path
Following the path west to east, it begins at Bowling Basin where the Forth & Clyde Canal enters the Firth of Clyde. The canal runs east through Clydebank, Boghouse Locks, Clobberhill Locks, Temple Locks and Maryhill Locks. It passes close to the former Singer Sewing Machine Works which once employed 19,000 people and exported sewing machines all over the world, including many to pre-Revolutionary Russia. At Stockingfield Junction near Maryhill is the 'Glasgow Branch' a spur which originally connected to the Monkland Canal (which connected with Port Dundas, close to the city centre of Glasgow. This branch however is not part of the path network.
From Stockingfield Junction the canal path runs north east, through Bishopbriggs, Kirkintilloch and Kilsyth, to Falkirk where the Forth & Clyde Canal joins with the Union Canal. A branch of the Forth & Clyde Canal runs from Falkirk to the River Carron, near Grangemouth. This branch is not part of the path.
The Falkirk Wheel allows water craft to move between the Forth & Clyde and Union canals. It replaces the eleven locks that used to allow boats to traverse the 110 feet (34 m) height difference between the two canals.
The path continues along the towpath of the Union Canal, through Linlithgow, past the red shale bings which are all that remains of Scotland's oilshale industry, and through the outskirts of Edinburgh. Unlike the Forth and Clyde Canal with its many lock systems, the Union Canal is a contour canal and there is only one lock .
The path ends at the canal port at Lochrin Basin, Edinburgh Quay, near Tollcross, in the centre of Edinburgh. If desired the pathway can be extended a further one to two miles (3 km) through the centre of Edinburgh and down to Leith and Leith Docks.
Railway lines run close to the path for most of its length. Bowling Station, on the line from Glasgow, is close to the start of the path. Both Glasgow main line railway stations are in the centre of the city, only a few hundred yards apart. The line which has run close to the path from Bowling to Glasgow passes through Glasgow Central Station low-level. The railway line which runs close to the rest of the path runs from Glasgow Queen Street Station to Edinburgh Haymarket Station. Trains are frequent on both lines. In Croy, Falkirk and Linlithgow the canal is only a few hundred yards from the railway station. Edinburgh's Waverley Station and Haymarket Station are only a short distance from Lochrin Basin.
The path can be completed in three, roughly equal, sections.
- Bowling Basin (Bowling Station) to Auchinstarry Basin, Kilsyth (Croy Station)
- Auchinstarry Basin to Linlithgow Canal Centre (Linlithgow Station)
- Linlithgow Canal Centre to Lochrin Basin (Haymarket and Waverley Stations)
Read more about this topic: Forth To Firth Canal Pathway
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