Go East >The Union Canal - A801 to Philpstoun
Click here to view the photographs of this section of canal
A few miles west from Philpstoun, the canal approaches one of its major towns, Linlithgow. The canal society here is one of the most active in Scotland, and on weekends during the summer they run boat trips along the restored section of canal to the west, and open a little canal museum and tea room in an old canal stables building next to Manse Basin - well worth a visit if you're in the area.
Linlithgow Union Canal Society trip boat, Victoria, at Manse Basin
The most impressive pre-Millennium Link piece of restoration on the Union Canal was the West Lothian Canal Project, which returned the section west from Linlithgow to the Avon Aqueduct to navigation in the early 90s. A road blockage at Preston Road was replaced with an attractive new bridge, a serious problem with the canal bed and bank at Kettlestoun was repaired, new access points were created and a lot of general cleaning up was done to turn this piece of waterway from a derelict industrial relic into a valuable leisure facility. The project, which cost 1.7 million pounds, received half its funding from the European Regional Development Fund.
New bridge over the canal at Preston Road, Linlithgow
If the section of canal preceding it is impressive, the Avon Aqueduct itself is magnificent. At over 800ft long and 86ft high, it is the longest and tallest structure of its kind in Scotland: in Britain it is beaten only by the famous Pontcyssyllte Aqueduct on the Llangollen canal in Wales. Like the other major aqueducts on the canal, it has recently been restored by British Waterways. South of the aqueduct is Muiravonside Country Park.
The huge Avon Aqueduct, west of Linlithgow
Across the aqueduct, the canal retires into more sheltered surroundings again, and soon reaches Causewayend Basin, an unusual square basin on the south side of the canal. This stretch of canal from the Avon to just beyond the A801 road has been restored over the last year or so. The first improvement that will be noticed is a much improved towpath (this was previously one of the worst lengths of towpath on the canal, especially in wet weather). But there is more. At Vellore Road, a minor road which crosses the canal a mile or so west of the aqueduct, the Armco culvert which obstructed navigation has been replaced by a new bridge 51, and a picnic site has been built on the offside.
Similar developments have been afoot at the A801 crossing a few hundred yards beyond. Here, the road was busier and also at a lower level, so putting a navigable canal through under it has taken longer and been more difficult. But now it's done. Approaching the road, the canal bends sharply left (leaving a farm building now teetering on the very brink!) The old line of the canal remains as a little pond, a drowned culvert under the new towpath connecting it to the current canal. Bridge 52A takes the A801 and the Grangemouth water supply overhead, and on the other side is a large basin where the diverted canal rejoins the original line. This basin is currently the head of navigation - major cleanup work is underway on the stretch of canal into Falkirk.
Access Points
to the main Union Canal page