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The Forth and Clyde Canal is 35 miles/56km long and runs across Scotland, from Carronshore on the Forth to Bowling on the Clyde and was constructed between 1768 and 1790. This might seem like a very long time but no work was carried out between 1778 and 1785 due to lack of finance and Britain's preoccupation with the American Revolution. When that was out of the way work recommenced, financed in part with money raised by selling off Jacobite estates forfeited after the 1745 rebellion
Another reason construction took so long was that the canal and its locks were to be wide and deep enough to accommodate the seagoing vessels of that era, avoiding the need for a long trip round the coast. It was also used by barges to transport the coal, fireclay, and timber produced in Central Scotland, as well as a regular passenger service. A branch canal joined it at Stringfield near Maryhill to take traffic into Glasgow, terminating at Port Dundas, and the Union Canal joined it at Falkirk to carry traffic to and from Edinburgh,
Like all the other British canals, it went into decline with the introduction of railways, and was sold to the Caledonian Railway Company in 1853. It was nationalised with the railways in 1948, and finally closed in 1963. It was restored to mark the Millenium and reopened in 2001and the restoration included two structures unique to this canal. This walk may be overshadowed by the more popular Caledonian Canal and the Great Glen Way but it is an interesting trip as I found when I walked it west to east in three stages in 2009,
Stage 1. Bowling to Glasgow The canal starts at Bowling Harbour on the river Clyde, below the Kilpatrick Hills, and soon passes under the Erskine Bridge with views of the Erskine hospital across the river.
Shortly after reaching Clydebank the first of the unique structures mentioned above is met at Dalmuir where the canal passes under a major road only a metre or so above water level. The problem of getting boats under this bridge was resolved by building the worlds first drop lock, where the lock and the boats in it drop below the road, pass under, and are raised again at the other side.
A mile or so further along the canal passes through a trading estate containing another self proclaimed unique structure, but I cannot recommend the cuisine!!
Leaving Clydebank the canal enters Glasgow, with some fine views as it passes through Drumchapel, Garscadden, and Temple
, before crossing the Kelvin aqueduct to the locks and basins at Maryhill.
Just past this point is Stockingfield Junction, and the branch into the city centre which I followed. The canal goes through Firhill, passing behind the football stadium, and offers good views of Glasgow University to the south west before reaching Woodside and turning down to Speirs Wharf at Port Dundas. The former bonded warehouse with its sandstone facing overlooking the city has been converted to residential and commercial use and beside it sits an equally fine building, the Canal Superintendent's House and the end of this stage.
Stage 2 Glasgow to Kilsyth This stage of the walk starts at Stockingfield junction in Maryhill, and passes through Cadder and Lambhill before reaching
the Possil Loch Nature Reserve and the city boundary, then skirts Bishopbriggs. The open country offers good views of Torrance and the Campsie Hills to the north.
Kirkintilloch is the next town on the walk.
Since it is so far inland I was surprised to learn that shipbuilding was once carried out here, mainly canal boats but also some of the puffers which used to ply the Clyde and the Western Isles. The town now has a well designed marina, again built as part of the restoration project.
After Kirkintilloch the canal pretty much follows the line of the Antonine Wall, indeed parts of the Wall were first uncovered when the canal was excavated. The next point of interest on the walk is Auchenstarry basin at Kilsyth, also the end of this stage.
[b]Stage 3 Kilsyth to Carronshore[/b]
Leaving Auchinstarry the route passes Croy Hill to the south and soon passes under the A80 at Castlecary then through Dennyloanhead into Bonnybridge, famous for UFO sightings.
Just before the route reaches Camelon it passes the Falkirk Wheel, the second feature unique to the canal, The Wheel is a rotary boat lift,raising vessels some 24 metres to meet the Union Canal,
The site has visitor and exhibition centres and offers a barge trip on the Wheel to both canals. The two canals had originally met at Lock 14 in Falkirk but a stretch of the Union Canal in the town was filled in and built over after its closure in 1963, necessitating the new junction.
The canal continues through the town terminating at the River Carron near Grangemouth, where a lock allows access to the tidal waters of the river and to the Forth.
. I managed to pick up a bottle at the Falkirk Wheel visitor centre but don't know if they still have any stock.
thanks once again. 
