"Hi Joe it's Bruce listen I'm a bit bored fancy a quick stroll along the River Kelvin then cut back along the Forth & Clyde Canal"?.....
"Sounds great I'll meet you on the Bridge at the Kelvin Hall".
OK see you there.
After what seemed like an eternity Bruce checks his phone
"the white cliffs of dover" you'll never get here I'm heading off on my own once I've checked the weather with Sean
"Glorious that is the only word to use to describe today's weather
clear skies & temperatures above average for the time of year".
Route
The Kelvin is bridged at several points throughout Glasgow.
Most notable is the Great Western Bridge on Great Western Road in the city's
West End. Below this bridge is an underground station that bears the name
Kelvinbridge, a name commonly attached to the area. Other bridges include
Partick Bridge on Dumbarton Road, the bridge at Queen Margaret Drive and a
number in the grounds of Kelvingrove Park. Also notable is the Kelvin Aqueduct which carries the Forth
and Clyde Canal over the river. It was Britain's largest when it was opened.
The river is used as an overflow for the canal.
The Forth and Clyde Canal opened in 1790,
crossing central Scotland; it provided a route for the seagoing vessels of the
day between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde at the narrowest part of
the Scottish Lowlands. It is 35 miles (56 km) long and it runs from the River
Forth near Grangemouth to the River Clyde at Bowling, and had an important
basin at Port Dundas in Glasgow.
Successful in its
day, it suffered as the seagoing vessels were built larger and could no longer
pass through. The railway age further impaired the success of the canal, and in
the 1930s decline had ended in dormancy.
In 1963 the canal was closed rather than construct a
motorway crossing, and so it became disused and semi-derelict. Canal locks in
the Falkirk area on the Union Canal near the connection to the Forth and Clyde
canal had been filled in and built over in the 1930s.
As part of the
millennium celebrations in 2000, National Lottery funds were used to regenerate
both canals. A boatlifting device, the Falkirk Wheel, was built to connect the
two canals and once more allow boats to travel from the Clyde or Glasgow to
Edinburgh, with a new canal connection to the River Carron and hence the River
Forth. The Falkirk Wheel opened on 27 May 2002 and is now a tourist attraction.
The Port Dundas branch has been re-connected to Pinkston
Basin, which once formed the terminus of the Monkland Canal, by the
construction of 330 yards (300 m) of new canal and two locks. The project cost
£5.6 million, and the first lock and intermediate basin were opened on 29
September 2006. Opening of the second lock was delayed by a dispute over land
ownership.
