We have one last day on the boats and spending time with our friends. We’ve really enjoyed our vacation with Ann and Bob, and it’s been great getting to know them better. We have travelled well together, and I hope we can do something like this again.

We have the morning free before we head off for our final leg of the journey. I was able to find a trail of reasonable distance to get to another section of the Antonine Wall with Roman fort remnants. We may not have been prepared for the vertical gain on our walk, but we pushed on and were not disappointed in the find at the top. The wall was more of an earthen structure with a ditch, and that was very evident as we went along.

At the top of Bar Hill we found the remains of some of the fort structures, including the thermal baths. It was a nice reward for our walk!

After our walk, we set off for our first lock appointment. Having to make timed bookings for these bridges and locks meant more planning was necessary than on our previous trips. You need to make the bookings 24-48 hours in advance, and you need to consider where you will be mooring and where you will be able to turn your boat for the return trip (the boats are often wider than the canal, so there are designated winding holes, or cutouts, where turning is possible). The canal staff was great to work with, and all of our timings worked out well.

Arriving at our first lock, we had to wait for about half an hour while the canal staff let water flow downstream, We didn’t really understand why, but we were told the water levels were low and they were limiting lock passages. Someone had been turned away the day before, but we just needed to allow some more time for filling. While we waited, our lock keeper from a few days earlier was there to help, and asked me how my dip in the canal was. He was disappointed to have missed the spectacle, but assured me that everyone knew about it!

When we reached the second lock, the change in water levels was very apparent. We had been through here three days earlier, and the water level between 2 locks had dropped drastically. The small docks in these photos were floating and the sides of the canal had been completely submerged. There are canal works going on at both ends of the canal, with the 16 easternmost locks completely drained for renovations. This impacts the water flow throughout the entire canal.

We continued back to our original starting point of 10 days ago and moored about 10 minutes from home base. We’ve done our best to eat up food we had on board, and tonight was a simple spaghetti and sauce dinner on board Lyra.

The next morning we dropped the boats off at the hire base and bade farewell to our friends. Ann and Bob were heading back home and we were off to spend a few more days in Scotland. Another successful narrowboat trip in the books, and we so happy to share the adventure with friends!

We didn’t make it all of the way to Glasgow in the boats, but we’re only a few miles from the city center from our Kirkintilloch mooring. After breakfast we bundled up and took the bus into Glasgow. The busses are very easy to use, and the fare was only $1.35 to go into the city. We only had a few things we were interested in seeing, but didn’t want to leave without at least a quick visit to Glasgow. Our first stop was the Glasgow Necropolis.This is a huge cemetery on the ground rising next to the cathedral. It is quite an impressive cemetery! Instead of many gravestones and a few monuments, it’s almost all monuments. The first one we looked at happened to be that of William Miller who wrote Wee Willy Winkie. There are many other notable burials, but probably more meaningful to the Scottish.

After the Necropolis, we visited the Glasgow Cathedral. It is huge, and beautiful! This was originally built in the 1100’s as a Catholic Church, but became Church of Scotland in the 1500’s. This is an impressive building with so much to see as we walked through it. 

Next we visited the St. Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art, which houses an large collection of objects representing many religions.

Then crossing the street we entered Provand’s Lordship, the oldest house in Glasgow, built in 1471. I thought our 1725 house was old. It was built as part of the nearby St. Nicholas Hospital and also served as housing for the canons of the cathedral and later an sweet shop. It was acquired by the Provand’s Lordship Society in the 1920’s and furnished with authentic 1600’s furnishings.

We walked around the city, found a cafe for a hot cocoa break, and then followed part of the mural trail back to our bus stop.

We had a 3:30 booking for the first bridge on the start of our journey back to Falkirk. We’ll have 2 more nights on the boats and short cruising days to get back to the boat base. The weather has been in our favor for most of the trip, and today was no exception. Just as we returned from Glasgow the rain began, and came down quite heavily as we had our pre-cruise siesta. A little mist as we set out and then it cleared up.

Tonight we stayed in Auchinstarry marina again, and treated ourselves to decadent chocolate desserts in the restaurant – moist chocolate cake soaked with hot fudge and drizzled with chocolate ganache. Not a crumb was left!

The next few days are short travel days, so we have time in the mornings for exploring. We are in the area of the Antonine Wall and were interested in finding some of the Roman fort sites. We asked the bartender last night how to get there and she suggested we check out the Roman Head. We had not heard of this, but when she showed us a picture we knew we had to check it out. We planned a loop walk that would take a little over an hour and set off after breakfast. It was another beautiful day – a bit chilly but soon warmed up.

We easily found the Roman Head – Silvanus – and it was pretty cool!

We continued on and headed higher and higher above the canal to sites where Roman forts were located 1,800 years ago. There weren’t any fort remains, but we could see some of the terrain features where the wall had been. We had 360 degree views of the area, with patches of yellow gorse, village house clusters and mountains beyond. We descended the far side of the hill and returned around to the marina for tea and muffins at the Port Gallery.

We had to book passage for the 2 bridges between Auchinstarry and Kirkintilloch and set off just after 1:00. We saw several herons as we traveled, but they were all too fast for the camera. The cows, however, posed nicely.

Once we arrived in Kirkintilloch, we turned the boats around and moored at the public docks in town. There were no other boats, but space for many – which makes us think this could be a busy spot in the summer (that’s why we like coming this time of the year).

We took advantage of free Wi-Fi at the local Costa Coffee to catch up on our interneting before dinner. 

We’ve been eating good meals on board, and tonight was no exception. We utilized both ovens to cook chicken and roasted broccoli and potatoes. For dessert we had a fudge vs. tablet taste test. Tablet is a bit like fudge, but drier and more granular – basically eating sugar. A walk to the local Sainsbury’s to stock up for the next 2 dinners and in for the evening. 

Tomorrow will venture into Glasgow for the morning before we begin our trek back to boat base. We will have a couple of short travels days and time for some more exploring

Backing our boats out of our mooring basin was a little tricky. The boats aren’t nearly as easy to stear in reverse as they are in forward gear. We left plenty of time and successfully maneuvered out without mishap.

We arrived at the first lock with time to spare. It was a little frustrating waiting for our turn in the locks. Even though they were set up for a boat going in our direction (down), the lock keepers emptied the lock to allowed a boat to go up – even though the boat wasn’t there. Then we had to wait for the big wheel tour boats to come up on the wheel, and we each took the wheel trip with one of those boats. It was a lot of waiting, but we both made it back to the boat hire dock for a refueling, toilet pump out, water top off and clean sheets and towels. The boating staff are super friendly and helpful. George gave us lots of pointers for where to moor on the upcoming nights, where to eat, and things to do.

We said goodbye to Natalie before setting off on the Forth and Clyde Canal. She’s going to continue her Scotland journey on her own, with a trip to the Highlands and Loch Ness.

Because we needed to book passage through various bridges and locks, we were on tight time schedule today. We did make it to our first bridge right on time, but there seemed to be a problem getting the lift bridge to operate. More waiting, but the lock keepers ahead of us were there and knew of our delay. Pat and Dan were our lock keepers for 4 locks, bicycling between the locks to be ready for us. Dan was quite the character!

Another hour on the canal and we arrived at Auchistarry Marina. We have never stayed in a marina before, so this was a new experience for us. There were just a few open spots on the docks and we gave the longest one to Ann and Bob – there boat is 10 feet longer than ours. We tied up to a short dock and left a good part of our boat sticking out the back. Fortunately, you can access the boats for both ends.

Not long after tying up, Rachel took a misstep and landed in the canal -whoops! The water wasn’t too cold, and John and Bob each grabbed an arm and pulled me out. We found out that the walkie-talkies float, and are waterproof. My phone and watch survived and my glasses stayed on. A nice hot shower and all was well. The marina has laundry facilities and shoes are drying on the boat radiators. Well, that was enough excitement for today! Dinner in the marina restaurant and we’ll be off to bed soon.

Friday morning we set off from Broxburn at 8am. Canal rules are that you can only drive your boats from 8am to 8pm, and no engines running from 8pm to 8am. Running the boat during the day heats our hot water, and we charge all of our devices. Once the engine is off, interior lights work, but the lone electrical outlet, microwave and hair dryer do not. You learn to adjust your schedule, and we’re ready for bed not long after 8:00 anyway.

We continued through beautiful countrysides, dark mossy passages until passing over the main thoroughfare on the outskirts of Edinburgh. For the last hour we were cruising through the center of Edinburgh until reaching the end of the canal. Here we turned the boats around and moored up for a couple of days.

After a quick lunch, we sett off to explore the city. We had a couple of destinations in mind, and did some general wandering and popping into shops and churches. Highlights of the day were St. Giles Cathedral (where a small operatic concert was happening), Calton Hill, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse (no, the King was not in residence). Our feet were extremely tired, and we opted for the bus back to the boat – another fun thing to do is the local public transportation.

Our Indian dinner from the previous night provided plenty of leftovers for dinner on the boat. We have the microwave, so dinner was at our place. We discussed finding ice cream, but turning in for the night was more appealing.

Saturday morning brought us Ann and Bob’s daughter, Natalie. She’ll be joining us on the boats for a few days. More sightseeing was on the agenda for the day. In the morning we did more of our walking tour of the city. We stumbled upon St. Mary’s Cathedral and took a walk through that – another singer was practicing, which added a nice touch. Then off to Dean Village, a quaint neighborhood of old mill houses and cobblestone streets along the River Leith. We followed the river along a lovely path – green and mossy with the sound of the trickling river. It was such a peaceful spot, but so close to the bustling city.

Circus Lane is a small photogenic street.

Our last stop of the morning was Greyfriars Kirkyard, a supposedly haunted graveyard dating back to the 1500’s. One of the notable markers is that for Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye Terrier who guarded his masters grave for 14 years.

Just as we were finishing lunch on the boats and getting ready to head to Edinburgh Castle, the rain began. A few sprinkles turned into a serious downpour. Luckily, Bolt (similar to Uber) came to our rescue. We have learned that Uber is not reliable – you can request a ride, but one never comes. We’ve used Bolt twice, and a private cab, which makes venturing off the canal pretty easy.

It was a rainy start at the castle, but we made the most of it and wandered through the various buildings. I think we enjoyed the prison the most. 😁 The castle limits how many tickets are sold for each time slot, and today all tickets were sold out. They say in summer months that is 15,000 visitors per day! I don’t know if that was true for today, but it was crowded! As we headed back to our boat homes, the rain had stopped and the skies had brightened.

Instead of having a long cruising day tomorrow, we opted for a 2 hour trip this evening to get out of the city and on our way back for another day in Linlithgow. Dinner of fish and roasted veggies on the boats and time for some well-deserved sleep.

Our first boating day got off to a pretty intense start. Black Prince Holidays does a very thorough handoff before releasing you into the wild. Most of it was a repeat for us from our previous trips, but it was good for Ann and Bob to get such a full introduction. Our 2 boats are Lyra (for John and Rachel) and Patsy (for Ann and Bob). Before leaving for this trip we had put in a grocery order with the local Tesco, and that was waiting for us at the marina when we arrived. This made our initial stock up so easy!

Immediately after leaving the dock, we had to negotiate a lock and then the Falkirk Wheel, so we each had a crew member on board for this. Locks and bridges on the Scottish canals are manned by canal volunteers, as opposed to our trips in England where we operated the locks and opened bridges ourselves. They have their own system for this, and having the crew helped us figure that out.

The Falkirk Wheel is a popular attraction, with tour boats running on a regular schedule. Once the wheel was free, we drove both boats in and took the 4 minute ride to the top. It was quite spectacular! Originally there were 10 locks on this stretch of canal to connect the Forth & Clyde canal with the Union Canal. Now this giant Ferris wheel carries boats up and down in water-filled carriages. It’s an engineering marvel!

Ann and Bob were hoping to follow our lead, but their boat was sent out of the wheel first and immediately faced a tunnel and set of 2 locks. They heard “it will be fine” a lot during their handover – and it was true (although Ann did get wet in the big lock).

From the top of the locks, it’s clear puttering through to Edinburgh. After about an hour, we pulled over alongside the tow path for lunch, then continued on to Linlithgow. Unfortunately, the visitor moorings in town were occupied, so we found a fairly accessible section of bank to drive our stakes in and moor for the night. This canal is quite weedy, and a lot of the bank approach is clogged with weeds. Our planks worked well to get us off and on the boats.

Many of these small towns along the canal have grocery stores within walking distance. This makes shopping easy and we can stock up for the next day or two. Dinner our first night was burgers cooked and served on Lyra. We’ll take turns cooking and also eat out some nights.

From Linlithgow to Edinburgh will take about 6 hours in the boats. We’ll split that into 2 days, with a short cruise Friday morning to get us into the city with plenty of time for exploring in the afternoon. Thursday morning we took a taxi from Linlithgow to Blackness Castle. The castle is situated on a spit of land that juts into the Firth of Forth, and it was windy! We climbed lots of winding stairs and walked along the top walls of this 15th century fortress.

After lunch we set off again towards Edinburgh, making it to Broxburn where we found very nice mooring accommodations. No planks needed tonight! An afternoon ice cream treat and dinner at a very nice Indian restaurant completed our day. Tomorrow we’ll be in Edinburgh for lunch!

We are back in Scotland for another boat adventure. Last year we were on the Caledonian Canal, being pampered by a wonderful crew on the Fingal with eight other guests. This year we are back to the narrowboat, cruising between Edinburgh and Glasgow. We will have our own narrowboat for 10 days, and we’ve talked our friends, Ann and Bob, into joining us on another boat.

Today we flew into Edinburgh airport and made our way to the Grange Manor Hotel in Grangemouth. We were dreading having to stay awake and occupied until 3pm check-in, but our rooms were ready when we arrived at 9am. After a bit of breakfast, we tucked in for a much-needed nap.

Once rested, we took a walk to Helix Park for a tour of the Kelpies. These are amazing 30 meter tall steel sculptures depicting the mythical shape-shifting water horses associated with fresh water bodies in Scotland. These were not nice creatures, and the stories were told to keep young children from venturing too close to the water. Our guide took us into one of the horses where she told us about the history of the area, the kelpie myth, and the development of the sculptures.

Click on any image for full view.

Luckily, our hotel is a short walk from the Kelpies, so we ventured back out in the evening for a different viewing. From dusk to dawn the Kelpies are lit with color changing lights. We were hoping that tonight they would also be lit from within, but our late night patience didn’t pay off this time. Oh well, it was still cool to see them at night.

Tomorrow morning we’ll pick up our boats and begin our floating adventure!