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The canal was one of the earliest to be built, and work commenced in 1768. It linked the two main commercial rivers of Scotland (the Forth and the Clyde) and commercial seagoing cargos were thus spared the long and dangerous route around the far north of Scotland"/> <meta name="keywords" content=" canal, scottish canals, canal boat, canal boating, forth, clyde, canal, Glasgow, Falkirk, Bowling Basin, grangemouth, forth and clyde canal, forth and clyde canal cycle route, forth and clyde canal distances, forth and clyde canal walks, union canal, forth and clyde canal route, forth and clyde canal history, forth and clyde canal fishing, BonnyBridge, Clydebank, Falkirk Wheel, Edinburgh, Canal Boat Hire, Canal Boat Holiday, Canal Boat Cruise, Canal Boat,The Forth and Clyde Canal ,Bowling ,Grangemouth ,Glasgow Falkirk Jeannette Briggs,The Forth and Clyde Canal , River Clyde,Glasgow,central Lowlands ,Scotland,Grangemouth,River Forth,Falkirk, sea-going boats , Charlotte Dundas,major restoration project,boat lift , Anderton Boat Lift,Union Canal,River Clyde,Edinburgh,Dalmuir,Stephen McKay, Nick Leverson,Erskine Road Bridge,Clydebank, Boghouse locks, Bearsden , Anniesland, Netherton, Temple Locks , Maryhill Locks, Stockingfield Junction,Port Dundas,William Craig,Stockingfield Junction Lambhill locks, Hungryside Bridge Torrance,The Forth and Clyde canal,Clydebank ,Stephen Sweeney, Torrance - 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The canal was one of the earliest to be built,  and work commenced in 1768.  It linked the two main commercial rivers of Scotland (the Forth and the Clyde) and commercial seagoing cargos were thus spared the long and dangerous route around the far north of Scotland. </font></strong></p> <table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="200"> <tbody> <tr> <th scope="row"><strong><font color="#337AB7"><img border="1" height="227" src="https://www.canalguide.co.uk/images/clyde 1.jpg" width="319" /></font></strong></th> <td><strong><font color="#337AB7"><img border="1" height="230" src="https://www.canalguide.co.uk/images/clyde 2.jpg" width="323" /></font></strong></td> </tr> <tr> <th scope="row"><strong><font color="#337AB7"><span class="style10">Signpost on the Forth and Clyde Canal - photo by Thomas Nugent and reproduced by kind permission</span></font></strong></th> <td><strong><font color="#337AB7"><span class="style10"><strong>The Bowling Basin at the entrance to the Forth and Clyde Canal - photo by Thomas Nugent and reproduced by kind permission</strong></span></font></strong></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p align="center"><strong><font color="#337AB7">The <strong>Forth and Clyde Canal </strong>was constructed to accommodate sea-going boats from the beginning and the locks are thus 60 feet long and 20 feet wide. A "canal boat" it isn't! The first steamboat ever built, the <strong>Charlotte Dundas</strong>, carried out trials in 1802 and later the canal carried vehicles on boats through the locks such as railway wagons.  The canal operated until 1963, but then fell into disuse and disrepair, and it was not until the 1990's that it became the subject of a major restoration project.  This included the design and construction of the now famous <strong>Falkirk Wheel</strong>, a spectacular boat lift at Falkirk which was designed as a civil engineering project rival the Anderton Boat Lift.  This was necessary to ensure the transfer of the canal boats from the Forth and Clyde Canal upwards to join the <strong>Union Canal at Falkirk</strong>. This was necessary because the original 11 locks that used to do this job had become derelict and needed to be replaced.  This boat lift enables canal boaters to complete the canal boat holiday journey all the way from the <strong>River Clyde near Glasgow </strong>up and in to the very centre of the city of <strong>Edinburgh.</strong></font></strong></p> <table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="200"> <tbody> <tr> <th scope="row"><strong><font color="#337AB7"><img border="1" height="214" src="https://www.canalguide.co.uk/images/clyde 3.jpg" width="320" /></font></strong></th> <td><strong><font color="#337AB7"><img border="1" height="214" src="https://www.canalguide.co.uk/images/clyde 4.jpg" width="320" /></font></strong></td> </tr> <tr> <th scope="row"><strong><font color="#337AB7"><span class="style10">The Falkirk Wheel - photo by Nick Leverson and reproduced by kind permission</span></font></strong></th> <td><strong><font color="#337AB7"><span class="style10"><strong>The drop lock at Dalmuir - photo by Stephen McKay and reproduced by kind permission</strong></span></font></strong></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p align="center"><strong><font color="#337AB7">The Forth and Clyde Canal leaves the River Clyde at <strong>Bowling</strong>, where it enters through the sea lock and into a large basin. Your canal boat holiday journey turns south east and hugs the banks of the River Clyde below for several miles, passing through the <strong>Ferrydyke bascule bridge</strong>, underneath the great <strong>Erskine Road Bridge </strong>over the Clyde, and through the drop lock at <strong>Dalmuir.</strong><br /> <br /> It then skirts around the town of <strong>Clydebank </strong>(in effect a huge suburb of Glasgow) and through Boghouse locks, past <strong>Bearsden and </strong>Anniesland. Once past these suburbs the canal passes through <strong>Netherton, Temple Locks and Maryhill Locks </strong>before reaching <strong>Stockingfield Junction, </strong>where a branch of the canal goes off due south to<strong> Port Dundas in the centre of Glasgow</strong> itself. </font></strong></p> <table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="200"> <tbody> <tr> <th scope="row"><strong><font color="#337AB7"><img border="1" height="240" src="https://www.canalguide.co.uk/images/clyde 6.jpg" width="320" /></font></strong></th> <td><strong><font color="#337AB7"><img border="1" height="240" src="https://www.canalguide.co.uk/images/clyde 7.jpg" width="320" /></font></strong></td> </tr> <tr> <th scope="row"><strong><font color="#337AB7"><span class="style10">The Forth and Clyde at Temple Locks showing the huge size of them - photo by William Craig and reproduced by kind permission</span></font></strong></th> <td><strong><font color="#337AB7"><span class="style10"><strong>The Maryhill Locks on the Forth and Clyde - photo by William Craig and reproduced by kind permission</strong></span></font></strong></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p align="center"><strong><font color="#337AB7">Leaving Stockingfield Junction the canal at last reaches some open countryside past Lambhill locks before you see the quaintly named <strong>Hungryside Bridge </strong>near the little village of <strong>Torrance. </strong></font></strong></p> <table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="200"> <tbody> <tr> <th scope="row"><strong><font color="#337AB7"><img border="1" height="240" src="https://www.canalguide.co.uk/images/clyde 8.jpg" width="320" /></font></strong></th> <td><strong><font color="#337AB7"><img border="1" height="240" src="https://www.canalguide.co.uk/images/clyde 9.jpg" width="320" /></font></strong></td> </tr> <tr> <th scope="row"><strong><font color="#337AB7"><span class="style25"><em>The Forth and Clyde canal at Clydebank - photo by Stephen Sweeney and reproduced by kind permission</em><strong>.</strong> </span></font></strong></th> <td><strong><font color="#337AB7"><span class="style10"><strong>Hungryside Bridge near Torrance - photo by Brian Osbourne and reproduced by kind permission</strong></span></font></strong></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p align="center"><strong><font color="#337AB7">The next feature on the canal is <strong>Southbank Marina </strong>at <strong>Kirkintilloch.  </strong>Townsend Bridge and the Seagull Trust base are here.  Beyond Kirkintilloch the canal reaches more open countryside and you see <strong>Hillhead bridge and Twechar</strong>.  Beyond here is the new <strong>Auchinstarry Marina </strong>, where you can take out a kayak or a canoe on an hourly bases but regrettably no canal boat hire. </font></strong></p> <table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="200"> <tbody> <tr> <th scope="row"><strong><font color="#337AB7"><img border="1" height="240" src="https://www.canalguide.co.uk/images/clyde 10.jpg" width="320" /></font></strong></th> <td><strong><font color="#337AB7"><img border="1" height="240" src="https://www.canalguide.co.uk/images/clyde 11.jpg" width="320" /></font></strong></td> </tr> <tr> <th scope="row"><strong><font color="#337AB7"><span class="style10">The canal at Twechar - photo by Raymond Okonski and reporduced by kind permission</span></font></strong></th> <td><strong><font color="#337AB7"><span class="style10"><strong>The canal at Auchinstarry - photo by Chris Upson and reproduced by kind permission </strong></span></font></strong></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p align="center"><strong><font color="#337AB7">You are now in the middle of a large open marshland called <strong>Dullatur</strong> an SSSI but you reach <strong>Banknock and Castlecary Locks </strong>and the town of <strong>Bonnybridge</strong>, which straddles the River Bonny.</font></strong></p> <table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="200"> <tbody> <tr> <th scope="row"><strong><font color="#337AB7"><img border="1" height="229" src="https://www.canalguide.co.uk/images/clyde 12.jpg" width="316" /></font></strong></th> <td><strong><font color="#337AB7"><img border="1" height="229" src="https://www.canalguide.co.uk/images/clyde 13.jpg" width="327" /></font></strong></td> </tr> <tr> <th scope="row"><strong><font color="#337AB7"><span class="style10">The Forth and Clude Canal at Dullatur Marsh - photo by Gordon Brown and reproduced by kind permission</span></font></strong></th> <td><strong><font color="#337AB7"><span class="style10"><strong>The canal at Bonnybridge - photo by Lairich Rig and reproduced by kind permission</strong></span></font></strong></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p align="center"><strong><font color="#337AB7">From here it is a short journey to the spectacular <strong>Falkirk Wheel</strong>.  This amazing feat of modern civil engineering gives a ligt to any canal boat holiday journey - literally 60 feet above the Forth and Clyde up to the Union Canal.  The <strong>Visitor Centre </strong>here is first rate with all kinds of refreshments.  Most people on the Forth and Clyde canal now continue their journey along the <strong>Union Canal to Edinburgh </strong>from this point, but you can always continue your journey to the sea lock and the <strong>Carron Cut </strong>at the River Forth, near to <strong>Grangemouth.</strong>  Your journey along the Forth and Clyde terminates here, if journeying to Edinburgh on the Union Canal. It is possible to arrange to take a canal boat hire from the Falkirk Wheel base.<br /> <br /> <img border="1" height="219" src="https://www.canalguide.co.uk/images/clyde 14.jpg" width="320" /><br /> <br /> <strong><em>The great Falkirk Wheel which lowers boats down to the Forth and Clyde Canal at Falkirk - photo by Colin Smith and reproduced by kind permission</em></strong><br /> <br /> To sum up the <strong>Forth and Clyde Canal </strong>has been restored once again to a full working waterway, and one that offers canal boaters a completely new vision of the canals, as its locks are so wide and long.  Coupled with a trip up and down the Falkirk Wheel and along the Union Canal as well, this is a terrific new opportunity that has opened up for enthusiastic boaters who want to explore an unexpected part of the British Isles by canal.  I do hope that you have enjoyed reading about this canal and that you will be tempted to try it for yourself some day!</font></strong></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <footer> <nav class="back">  <p align="right"><strong><font color="#337AB7"><a class="red" href="https://www.canalguide.co.uk/canals" title="Canal Guide">Back to Canals Page</a></font></strong></p> </nav> <div class="break"></div> </footer> <p align="center"><strong><font color="#337AB7"><font color="#337ab7"><strong>© 1999 - 2021 Canal Guide</strong></font></font></strong></p> <strong><font color="#337AB7"><font color="#337ab7"><font><script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? 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