Kenny and me cycled through to Edinburgh today from Glasgow via the towpath at the side of the canal that links the two big cities of Scotland. We had previosly attempted it but got stopped by intensely heavy showers that were so bad the oil on my chain set was completly washed off. It was amazingly six years since we had done this. The weather was much kinder with sunshine helping us along.
The canal is quite an interesting place if you were to analyse some of the persons on it. It is to a fair extent a very friendly place. However without too much thought there did seem to be three or four sorts of persons using it. I think we must have passed at least 50 guys out with their floats or spinners in the water trying to catch the Perch and whatever other fish lurk in the still depths of the canal waters. These men do not communicate with cyclists. Its as if the two are a mirage to the other living out lives that are in parallel universes but somehow merge together on the canal and the other appear as ghosts to be treated as wisps of a different sort of existance but not fully comprehended. There is also the sort of person that is generally walking but didn't have much to do with either the fisherlads or cyclists and was somewhat intimidated by both.
The waters seemed to be alive with lots of small fish and plenty of insect life, much of it trying to get into my mouth. One young woman was seen to be uncoothly spitting as she approached me on her bike, but she made it clear for everyone to know that she was extruding an unfortunate bug. There was a long stretch where some blue damselflies were in abundant numbers, I had thought that these were uncommon.
About £84.5 million had been spent rejuvinating the canal route. It has been done well and today it was being used a lot. The Falkirk Wheel is unique in the world and a world class tourist attraction. I saw it carrying barges today up about 115 feet from one canal to another, hugely impressive and all done with the power of a washing machine motor thanks to the physics of Archimedes Principal of displacement. Its funny how there are so few facilities on the canal route. Possibly 3 cafes/pubs for its entire length. I did manage to get a free dram by a man very well versed on his whiskys from Belguim as he gave out promotinal samples at the centre for the Wheel, I wished I could have talked to him longer and sampled all his wares.
It has 3 or 5 viaducts where the canal is on a bridge. A particularly surprising experience was the tunnel that went on for about 300 yards. It was dimly lit with a poor surface at the side with water dripping down, very much like a cave with some limestone deposits of the odd slatactite. I was really glad to get back out into the sunlight. Genuinely quite spooky and unsettling.
I mention this next instant because I don't want to always gloss over things. We approached a bridge with a female of mid twenties perhaps who appeared to be not wearing much. As we passed we realised that she was actually sitting naked covering herself up with a very upset look on her face with an intimidating guy opposite her. I'm really disappointed in myself that we didn't stop to see if she was OK. The shock and bizarreness of it all and the nakedness too was a bit much to take in. In a small way for myself I did get a chance to redeem myself a little when coming out of the subway near home a girl was seeing to another girl sitting who looked like she had passed out but she had been sick and just needed something to mop up the vomit which someone else nearby was getting. However I'm still annoyed I didn't do something for that woman.
So onto Edinburgh. For all the praises Glasgow gets for its growth into a city of culture, the capital of Scotland is a very cosmopolitan and European city. We weren't very impressed with the 'beaty' music from the tents at one of the greens but the architecture around the canal and the pedestrian and cycle routes were wonderful. Kenny was a bit more tired than myself so we just caught the next train back (free to take your bike) in time to see the football.
All in all a good wee adventure.
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