Peter's Waterways Blog Scottish Waterways and Scottish Canals This was first published in IWA West Riding's Milepost in January 2018, to highlight the problems then blighting Scotland's Lowland Canals, and the developments since then.

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Scottish Canals, the successors to British Waterways in Scotland in 2012, and still effectively part of the Scottish government, were suggesting that they should convert one of the rotating caissons (called ‘gondolas’ in Scotland) of the Falkirk Wheel into a walk-on-walk-off passenger ride, leaving all (floating) navigators to share the other caisson.

Combined with this, the hire boats – from different UK companies but all based at the foot of the Wheel and all operated under separate contracts by a single company – were unable to reach financial agreement with Scottish Canals for continued operations into 2018, and there was a real prospect of all Lowland Canals hire operations ceasing. IWA wrote expressing our concern, and as a personal contribution, we thought we would have a week on a hire boat in October, both to celebrate Elaine’s Big Birthday, and to cover the parts of the Lowland Canals which hadn’t been available during our visit in 2005.

Hire boats on their moorings below the Falkirk Wheel

Canalling is Different In Scotland. All locks and moveable bridges, and of course the iconic Falkirk Wheel, are operated from the bank at booked times by Scottish Canals’ employees or a group of volunteers: boat crews do not need to leave their boats.

Approaching the Falkirk Wheel from above

Of the four new locks built and opened on the Lowland Canals since our 2005 trip, two in Glasgow are effectively closed and wholly unused: two more at Falkirk are only available for boats leaving the tidal River Carron. The hireboat operators give a sympathetic shrug: “It’s Scottish Canals. That’s what they are like”. West of Glasgow, down the locks to Bowling Basin, including the unique Drop Lock at Dalmuir, navigation is only currently possible for four days each week, Friday to Monday. “To carry out increased dredging along the Lowland Canals.” says the website. This is of course the least convenient days for hireboats changing over at the weekends, all at least a day’s cruising away. It’s just £60 each way for the other days. Dear Scottish Canals; it’s obviously easier to administer a closed canal than an open one.

Craighall Road Lock with Port Dundas beyond

Access to the bank is never straightforward outside a few urban visitor moorings. There is a set of signs “Access Ashore Moorings”, available overnight 1630 to 0930, but for emergencies only during the day: elsewhere the vegetation or the depth-at-edge are distinctly inhospitable. Overall it was an enjoyable experience north-of-the-border: the Falkirk Wheel proposals have now been dropped and there are new arrangements to continue to operate the hire-boats in 2018.

Two aspects of Scottish Canals gives some useful pointers for Canal and River Trust in England and Wales. Firstly (and this is an additional point from the original article) C&RT have relaunched themselves as a wellbeing charity. In terms of real investment in infrastructure for exercising by the canal, Scottish Canals are there first, with a comprehensive range of exercise equipment positioned and free-to-use alongside Spiers Wharf in Glasgow.

A volunteer travelling lockkeeper on Scotland's Lowland canals

Secondly, volunteers are offered employability programmes for the community as well as running tripboats in Edinburgh and Falkirk and making a positive contribution to the canalling environment. Our lockworking team-leader co-ordinated two boats to go down together, arranged the mobile team of four of five to accompanied us and work us down the fourteen locks to moor alongside the Kelpies, and up again the following morning.

These volunteers are organised through a social enterprise called “Re-Union”. It is much more structured, it seems better organised, it has wider social objectives compared to lockkeeping run by C&RT, and it is much closer to my ideas for volunteer development in England and Wales.

The Kelpies. Using the lock in their shadow is only possible with the trip boat

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Update in Milepost in June 2018: Scotland. Navigation of the Lowland canals in Scotland still seems a low priority for Scottish Canals (the Scottish public body which runs them), and hireboat bookings are reported to be well down. My direct enquiry of the expectations of the hire operators brought an exasperated reply, with no surprise that a potential customer wasn't interested in a 2018 booking, when at least half of the possible routes were not available because of the bridge closures.

Ascending the Falkirk Wheel

Since the articles there have been a number of positive developments. On 27June2018 we summarised the threat to the Lowland canals, and a couple of days later, the funding for repair of bridges was announced. Later in the year IWA was invited to contibute to the Scottish Parliament's review, also mentioned here and there was a useful visit to Scotland reported here. It shows that campaigning with a justified cause and with good argument and resources is well worth the effort and can bring good results. Peter Scott @peterjohnscott