My first walk report and I’m staying local for it! This is really a walk I have created myself, modifying the "two canals" Falkirk walk listing. Hopefully I haven’t broken some walk report rules here! Anyway, we moved to Falkirk in July this year and I have been so impressed by the variety of walks here. Today’s circular walk took in some of the sights surrounding Falkirk, and could be extended in lots of different ways to explore more in this awesome and underrated area.



This morning the rains had been torrential but the forecast looked promising from late morning. So, packing our lunch (even though we weren’t going far!), we headed out to enjoy the wonders of the Union Canal and beyond, suspecting that the autumn colours would be potentially at their peak. And we weren’t wrong!



Of all the canals, the Union Canal is definitely my favourite! It feels so wild (for a canal) and there is great bird life here. The best so far was once seeing a kingfisher darting about (and I’ve only seen kingfishers once before!). Starting from Falkirk High station, in one direction is the Falkirk Tunnel. The Falkirk tunnel is 630 meters long and definitely worth a look for the funky lights, cave features and dark history - the infamous Burke and Hare helped to build it in the 1800s! On this walk though, we headed right, towards the Falkirk Wheel.


On a clear day, the views across to the Ochils are beautiful. If you’re lucky you can also see Ben Ledi, Ben Vorlich, Stuc a’ Chroin and Ben Lawers in the far distance. Following the main path by the canal, in the fields opposite Highland cattle can be spotted. Sometimes they come right down to the canal to munch on the vegetation. They were far in the distance today but the autumn colours (“shades of heilan coo”) more than made up for that, even though it was still a bit dull weather-wise.


After plodding along the canal path for a while, eventually the Rough Castle tunnel appeared. This is quite a dark spooky tunnel, but I think this makes it more dramatic when you stumble out the other end, blinking and blinded by the light...


And then there was the Falkirk Wheel I like to walk right up to it and enjoy the views towards Dumyat in the distance. Not so visible today though!


Instead of heading back through the tunnel, we did a little loop over the top, intrigued by a woodland path. There were great views back over to the Wheel here.


Then there was a lovely wee wood - in full autumn colours right now - and we passed back over the Union Canal to head onto the Callendar Estate.


What I love about this area is the trees and the facts (I’ll explain, don’t worry...)! The woods here are a delightful mix of birch, beech, oak and pines, many looking fantastic in the autumn. Did I mention it was autumn?!


Then, there are all these little information boards which provide fascinating little nuggets of history and information. This is the area where the Battle of Falkirk was fought back in 1746, and Bonnie Prince Charlie was here. I love walking through the woods and stumbling across the facts!


There are loads of different path options too - today, we followed some of the purple path. Parts of the John Muir Way go through this area too, I’m sure by now I’ve done a substantial portion of the Way! Well, all of the Falkirk bits


Our walk passed by Canada Wood Kitchen and Greenrig Cycles. You could stop for a bite (it looked nice, but busy, so we carried on) or even rent a bike to cycle on the awesome looking cycle trails in the woods. Definitely think this is a brilliant area to have a bike (which I don’t, but really need to...). It would be a lot of fun to cycle through these woods at speed!


There is so much history in this area - and not just about Jacobites! At one point we came across an information board which told us about a WW2 Bomb attack nearby (I don’t think anyone died thankfully, the information just mentions people getting splattered with mud! There was some mud splattering today too... ). There were more Jacobite facts abound and the Battle of Falkirk Muir monument soon came into view. This battle was considered a Jacobite victory - the ravine and bog scuppered the government soldiers. We headed down the path behind the monument, where there is a large info board with more facts about the Battle. Honestly, there is so much to learn here! Education and exercise, what more could you want?!


I liked the fact someone had tied a bit of tartan to a tree here, so Scottish.



Following the path down the ravine, the woods can be relatively dark here and you can just imagine the Jacobite army sneaking around here!



Before we knew it, the Union canal was back in view. This path is now on the opposite side of the canal to earlier (and I actually prefer this side as it’s quieter and more woody!). We then walked across the bridge over the canal. There are lovely views from this spot!


We then rejoined the main canal path and were back near the start of the walk, and the sun was out a bit more. A perfect autumn walk! Done