Tuesday 20 May.
I was a bit later getting up this morning, 6:30am, and made the breakfast right away. After we eaten it in bed I showered while Moira packed the lunch. The weather was a bit cloudy, but the forecast on TV said it would burn away and be a nice day. I put on my trekking pants with the detachable bottom part of the legs to make them into shorts if it got hot. We parked as usual at the library and the bus was on time this morning. The five minutes difference meant that we somehow avoided the heavy traffic in the Glasgow city centre. There was a bus leaving as soon as we arrived at Buchanan St for Stirling and that went via Kilsyth.
The journey like yesterday took just over half an hour. We recognised the junction where we caught the bus yesterday and jumped off there. The road at that roundabout was the B802 which went up to the canal. It was a more direct route than the one we took down and we were soon at the towpath. Just before reaching the canal there was an area signposted 'climbing cliffs'. It was a small dam surrounded by an amphitheatre of sheer cliffs, a surprising feature in a predominately flat countryside.
As soon as we began walking along the towpath we discovered it was a waste of time planning to reduce our pants to shorts. There was a strong wind blowing from the east right into our faces and it was bitterly cold. The clouds were still thick but luckily not carrying any rain. There wasn't any improvement until we were heading back later in the afternoon. It was about 2km along the towpath to Craigmarloch Bridge where we met up with the loop that started at Twechar for the Antonine Wall. Before re-joining the cycle route it climbed Croy Hill on the 'Antonine Walkway' for magnificent views; we will definitely have to do that loop sometime in the future.
At Craigmarloch Bridge the signpost said 11km on the towpath to Bonnybridge where the 'Way' again deviated from the canal. Canal walking can become tedious after a while with long straight sections with just the odd bend in between to break the monotony. Before we got too bored there were the distractions of rowers out training. There were a lady’s eight, a coxless pair and a guy sculling. The trainers cycled along the towpath, as they rowed, shouting out instructions through a loud hailer. It must have been cold on the water especially into the wind but I suppose the effort they were putting in kept them warm. Also of interest in this section were a series of locks; the main one being Wyndford Lock. We hoped for a bench there for a break and a cup of coffee but had to be satisfied with sitting on the lock gate boom instead.
After Wyndford Lock we passed under the M80 motorway then over the Cumbernauld Rd to three more locks on the final 3 km to Bonnybridge. When we left the towpath the route turned under the canal by an old historic tunnel, the 'Radical Pend’. A plaque on the entrance to this passage commemorated the 'The Battle of Bonnymuir 1820'. I hadn't heard of any battle at that time in Scotland so checked it out later via Google.
5th April 1820 Government forces defeated Radical weavers at the Battle of Bonnymuir
The Radicals had marched from Glasgow and were heading towards the Carron Iron Works in Falkirk. However, their ranks had been infiltrated by government agents and they were in fact being guided to an ambush outside the village of Bonnybridge. During the battle a Lieutenant of the 10th Hussars received a wound to the hand and a sergeant was severely wounded, four Radicals were wounded and a haul of five muskets, two pistols, eighteen pikes and about 100 rounds of ball cartridges were taken. Hardie and Baird, the leaders of the Radicals were hanged at Stirling, with Hardie declaring "I die a martyr to the cause of truth and liberty”
Once under the canal the road climbed up through the posh suburb of Bonnybridge judging by the houses. They were enormous with huge gardens most of them with a luxury caravan in the drive way. At the top of the hill the route crossed the railway line then a short distance later came to the entrance to the Rough Castle Roman Fort. The waymarks directed us straight ahead but there wasn’t a well-defined path. It was over a grassy bank which was the remains of the Antonine Wall with a very distinct deep ditch between the mounds. There were information boards describing the lay out of the Fort, one of the many along the length of the Wall but we didn’t see anything resembling a fort as we followed a now more noticeable path. After crossing a burn by a wooden bridge the Way left the area and a gravel track took us down again to the canal system. As we dropped we could see the top of the Falkirk Wheel with the aqueduct at the top of the wheel joining the Union canal. The path dropped down under the aqueduct to the basin for boats waiting to use the wheel. There was a lock between the basin and the Forth and Clyde Canal. The wheel is a rotary boat lift and replaced 11 locks that were required to take boats between the two canals. It was a project for the restoration of the two canals and was opened in 2002.
The Millennium Link was an ambitious £84.5m project with the objective of restoring navigability across Scotland on the historic Forth & Clyde and Union Canals, providing a corridor of regenerative activity through central Scotland.
A major challenge faced, was to link the Forth and Clyde Canal, which lay 35m (115ft) below the level of the Union Canal. Historically, the two canals had been joined at Falkirk by a flight of 11 locks that stepped down across a distance of 1.5km, but these were dismantled in 1933, breaking the link.
What was required was a method of connecting these two canals by way of a boat lift. British Waterways (now Scottish Canals) were keen to present a visionary solution taking full advantage of the opportunity to create a truly spectacular and fitting structure that would suitably commemorate the Millennium and act as an iconic symbol for years to come.
The resultant, a perfectly balanced structure that is The Falkirk Wheel - the world's first and only rotating boat lift - was the eventual outcome of our collaboration with a design team that combined international experience of joint venture contractor Morrison-Bachy-Soletanche with leading specialists from Ove Arup Consultants, Butterley Engineering and Scotland-based RMJM architects
Completion of The Millennium Link project was officially marked by Her Majesty The Queen on 24 May 2002 at The Falkirk Wheel.
We sat at a picnic table near the basin and in front of us was another attraction, the Kelpies. These were the two heads of mythical sea horses and were to commemorate the horses that were used to tow the barges along the canals. The ones here at the Falkirk Wheel were about 3 m high and were the models for the 30m tall ones at Helix Park near where the Forth and Clyde Canal meets the River Forth at Grangemouth. When we finished our picnic, and were heading out, a boat was being lifted up on the wheel to the Union Canal. We stopped and watched the fascinating operation.
The route took us up the hill again and under the aqueduct but before reaching the Union Canal we turned into the woodlands. We then took a bridge over the railway to cross the Union Canal and enter Tamfourhill Wood. It was a delightful path through the trees with some beautiful views eventually coming out a monument commemorating the Battle of Falkirk 1746.
BATTLE OF FALKIRK 17 JANUARY 1746
| During the Second Jacobite Rising, the Battle of Falkirk was the last noteworthy Jacobite success. After turning back from the London campaign for winter, the Jacobite Army returned to Scotland and besieged Major General Blakeney in Stirling Castle. Lieutenant General Henry Hawley led his troops from Edinburgh to relieve Blakeney. On 17 January 1746 he engaged the Jacobites on Falkirk Moor, but his cannons were not able to be effectively drawn to the battle field. He relied on cavalry to rout the Jacobite troops, but his dragoons' charge failed under a severe volley from the Highlanders and they retreated, in turn causing the royal troops to flee the field. Around 350 royal troops were killed, wounded or missing, and some 300 captured. The Jacobite losses were around 50 dead and 70 wounded. However, the Jacobite army was destroyed several weeks later at Culloden Moor, near Inverness. |
“Prince Charles at the Battle of Falkirk”
From the monument the path was signposted ‘Union Canal and Bantaskine Estate’.. The estate was beautiful woodland with more gorgeous colourful rhododendron bushes. The path wound down the hill to again join the canal at Falkirk High Railway station. We decided to check out trains to Glasgow and one was pulling out as we arrived on the platform. The next one was in only 10 minutes so Moira got tickets. It cost £15 but in a way it was worth it as it just took half an hour on the high speed Edinburgh to Glasgow train to get to Queen St. in Glasgow. We caught the bus at George Sq. and were home in 90 minutes from leaving the walk.
After dinner tonight I put on a programme about the project to build the Kelpies at Helix park. I had recorded it a while ago and had forgotten about it. Seeing the mini version today at the Falkirk Wheel reminded me. It was very good and made us keener to go and see the real thing.
See: www.thehelix.co.uk.
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