The flotilla begins to arrive at lock 31
Forth and Clyde Canal Reopening (27/5/2001)
A momentous event in the history of the Scottish canals occurred on the 27th May 2001 when a large flotilla of boats, led by a giant ornamental goldfish (yes, you read that correctly!), sailed along the Forth and Clyde Canal to celebrate the reopening of the long-derelict waterway. It was the first time a sea to sea passage of the waterway had been made since Boxing Day 1962. The boats had in fact started at the Grangemouth end of the canal on the 26th, but I caught up with them at Clobberhill Locks just west of Glasgow on the morning of the 28th to capture the moment for posterity.
I arrived in Glasgow early and got on the bus for Blairdardie, near where Great Western Road crosses the canal. My original plan had been to get off the bus here, have a look at the restored blockages in the area, then wander down to the Clyde Shopping Centre, have lunch and wait for the boats. But as the bus wound its way towards its terminus, it passed lock 31 just in time for me to catch a glimpse of a huge fish gliding along the canal and a large crowd of people waiting by the lock, so I jumped off to see what was going on.
The people, it turned out, were mostly locals who were used to the canal as a derelict, silted up ditch and had come to witness the novelty of boats sailing on it for the first time. Just by the lock was a platform with a microphone set up in front of it and cordoned off with those red velvet ropes, and I wondered who was going to be using it. Having turned up in Falkirk too late to see the flotilla on Saturday, I was glad to have made it here in time. The fish itself had stopped and was waiting a few hundred yards upstream of the lock, so I spent a contented half hour or so admiring the restoration work on the locks and soaking up the festive atmosphere.
Soon the flotilla of boats began to arrive from the east. The first few boats sailed into lock 31, an odd sight indeed as it had been half buried and with no gates the last time I had seen it. Hoping to film the boats emerging from the bottom of the lock, I hurried down the towpath along with some other people who had obviously had the same idea. As we were filming, an official came along and informed us that the fish was about to start moving again, so we thanked him and went back up to get some shots of it.
The fish was indeed moving. It sailed slowly towards the lock (which I noticed had refilled surprisingly quickly after the previous boats had used it), its fins flapping, occasionally spurting water out in spectacular plumes.
As it entered the lock, it bit through the red ribbon to declare the lock officially (or should that be o-FISH-ally?) open, to cheers from the crowd.
Then I saw who the platform was for. Introduced by Jim Stirling of British Waterways, Sam Galbraith MSP stepped onto it and gave a speech on behalf of the late First Minister Donald Dewar, who had been an enthusiastic supporter of the canal restoration project, and had secured the missing funding back in 1998 when the project's future was in doubt. After that, a band climbed onto the roof of the fish and started to play. I decided to walk down to the Clyde Shopping Centre now, having a look at the restored canal and the boats on the way.
The atmosphere was great. The banks were lined with people almost all the way, and the locks and opening bridges were in constant use by the boats of all shapes and sizes which were passing through - narrowboats belonging to both societies and individuals, work boats, and even a replica puffer, the "Wee Spark". At Clydebank, the shopping centre was packed. I noticed the Debra Rose fish and chip boat now had a serving window on the water side and was advertising itself as "the world's first sail-through fish and chip shop!". Unfortunately my lack of boat meant that I had to go in the conventional landlubbers' door to purchase my lunch.
I had been planning to wait and see the fish arrive at Clydebank, but it wasn't due for another hour and the rain was coming on, so I decided to content myself with having seen it at lock 31, so I made my way to the station to get the train back to Glasgow city centre. All in all, a spectacular event. I just can't wait for the Union Canal and the Falkirk wheel to open now, to complete this magnificent project.
Click here to read more about the Forth and Clyde Canal
Click here to read more about the Millennium Link restoration project
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