The last stretch of canal down through Falkirk is dominated by the 13 locks in the town. As at Clydebank, the canal here was nicely landscaped after it closed to provide a pleasant feature, but it was not until 2001 that it became possible to use it for boating again. The first lock (16) was until recently cut by the Union Road bridge. A new bridge at the tail of the lock has now replaced this, the old bridge has been demolished and the lock's stonework rebuilt. Locks 15 to 12 come in quick succession, leading down to Camelon Road. Below lock 12 is a new concrete lock which was built to lower the canal so it could pass under the very busy Camelon Road with the required amount of headroom. This major work has, like most of the Millennium Link projects, blended in extremely well with the existing canal, and were it not for the empty, gateless walls of the old lock 11 still standing on the east side of the bridge, it would be difficult to even tell that the canal's level had been altered.

Before: 1995 walking party crossing Camelon Road, Falkirk, while it was still a blockage

After: the same place in May 2001 after the reopening

Below Camelon Road come locks 11, 10 and 9. Lock 9 is crossed by the railway line, still on an original swing bridge. This bridge is now the lowest on the canal, setting the air draught at about 10ft.

Railway swing bridge over lock 9. An original signal box can be seen to the right, but has been demolished since the picture was taken in 1995

Lock 8, like lock 11, was also relocated to provide headroom under a road, but this time the new lock, the road bridge and the old lock all run together into one amorphous blob of old and new canal features. The bottom gates of the lock have unusual zig-zag balance beams as the bridge would get in the way of conventional straight ones. The more normal locks 7 and 6 follow as the canal passes down through an old industrial area to Bainsford. Bainsford swing bridge was removed and culverted in the 1960s - now, like Camelon, the culvert has itself been replaced by a bridge, and a new lock has been built to provide the required headroom.

Beyond Bainsford is a long, straight section of canal parallel with a nearby road. At the other end, lock 4 was cut away across its tail to allow Abbot's Road to cross the canal at a low level. Now this road has been superseded by the new one which crosses the canal on an attractive arched bridge with plenty of headroom further east, and the old blockage is gone.

From here onwards, the original line of the canal is obliterated and built on by a road and a warehouse, and the new route to the River Forth is along a recently restored old branch canal called the Carron Cut. It swings sharply north from the main canal, through a new lock, past a new marina, and then joins the River Carron at a new sea lock just by the M9 motorway. The Forth itself is reached by sailing down the Carron a few hundred yards. The canal's old sealock joined the Carron too; further down stream at what is now a boat club.