50th birthday narrowboating in Scotland - the Union Canal

 To celebrate the completion of his 50th orbit around the sun, Pete wanted to go back to Scotland - his favorite country - and admire the countryside from the stern of a narrowboat. After looking at a couple different options, he decided the canals between Glasgow and Edinburgh ticked the most boxes for time, boat style, and possible side adventures. We had very little time in the lowlands during our last trip to Scotland in 2014, so this route also gave us an opportunity to more fully explore the area. This post covers part 1 of our trip - Edinburgh and the Union Canal. Parts 2 (Forth & Clyde Canal) and 3 (Orkney Island) soon to follow.

We had a day and a half in Edinburgh before we picked up the narrowboat to try to get ourselves acclimated to the local time. We visited Edinburgh Castle via the Royal Mile, walked the Water of Leith Walkway to the botanic garden (a Melissa must-see everywhere we go), wandered amongst the monuments on Calton Hill, and sought out a local fabric store to get tartan for one of Pete's projects. Spring in Edinburgh is beautiful, even with the inevitable rain that came nearly every day.

Scottish National War Memorial at Edinburgh Castle

Water of Leith - Dean Village

Water of Leith - Dean Village

Grey heron

a very majestic wood pigeon

a partial replica of the Parthenon on Calton Hill in Edinburgh

view towards Edinburgh Castle from Calton Hill

We rented our narrowboat (Holly) in Falkirk, a 30ish minute train ride west of Edinburgh. This was our second narrowboat rental (first in Wales), so we had a pretty good idea what to expect in terms of typical canal infrastructure. The one very big difference here, however, was the Falkirk Wheel. Most of the canals throughout Britain were built in the 1700s to move goods around the island. With the rise of the railroad in the late 1700s, however, many of the canals fell into disuse and eventual disrepair by the early 1900s. When interest emerged in rehabilitating the canals for recreation in the 1990s, some of them needed a lot of work to be navigable again. The Union Canal in Scotland, which runs from Edinburgh to Falkirk, was one of those canals. It was originally connected to the Forth and Clyde Canal, which runs west from Falkirk to the River Clyde, by a flight of eleven locks. Rather than spending money to rehabilitate the locks, Scottish Canals opted for a quite different approach to move boats the roughly 100 vertical feet in elevation to connect one canal to the other. 

The Falkirk Wheel is sort of like a ferris wheel for boats. There is one trough (or gondola) at the top and another at the bottom that get sealed off from their respective canals and then rotate to the other position in about five minutes. There are two amazing things (I think) about the Wheel: 1) it takes the same amount of energy to run the 1800 tonne wheel as it does to boil eight kettles of water - not very much!; and 2) the gondolas can be run with any combination of boats or no boats on either side because the weight is always perfectly matched - each boat displaces an amount of water equal to its weight. Application of Archimedes's principle in real life! The Falkirk Wheel was one of the main draws to doing this route.

the wheel in its starting position

halfway around with boats in both gondolas

Getting to ride the Wheel was exciting, particularly because we had only been on our narrowboat for about 15 minutes, and we were solo in our gondola! After our induction at the hire base, a staff person joined us as Pete capably piloted us off the dock, through a swing bridge, and into a lock that required a very sharp turn. From the top of the lock, we had an audience of about 200 people watching Pete maneuver us into the gondola. After we slowly rotated on the Wheel up to the height of the Union Canal, we exited the Wheel and went through a short tunnel, two locks, and a longer tunnel before we were on the 72 meter contour all the way to Edinburgh (no more locks needed).  

Getting a lift from the Forth & Clyde to
the Union Canal on the Falkirk Wheel

short, disco-light tunnel

first of two locks after the wheel

Pete trying to stay dry in the leaky tunnel

It took us two and a half days to travel to our turning spot on the Union Canal, just a couple miles from the canal's end in Edinburgh. That same distance took us less than 30 minutes by train days earlier. The pace of life is much slower on the narrowboat. The maximum speed is 4 mph, and we typically run a little slower, particularly if the canal is narrow and shallow, both of which were true on the Union. The feel of the Union was much more similar to the Mons & Brec in Wales than I anticipated. I was expecting a busier canal and a more industrial landscape, but was delighted to spend our days on a very quiet, lush, tree-lined canal. 

newly leafed out trees on the Union Canal

canola field with bings in the background, spoils heaps from shale mining

Avon aqueduct (bridge of water over water)

lots of old bridges over the canal and a tow path alongside

aqueduct over the motorway

one of our best overnight spots

Linlithgow was the largest town along the Union canal, home of Linlithgow Palace, the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots. She featured quite prominently in our trip as we visited historical sites along the well-traveled royal road between Edinburgh and Stirling. 

Mary, Queen of Scots

the remains of Linlithgow Palace

original fountain from the 1500s

There were not a lot of towns directly adjacent to the canal, so we tended to cook meals on the boat and explore along the canal tow path after we found a good place to tie up for the evening. Holly is a floating house - kitchen, bathroom, and sleeping are all aboard, so we had all we needed wherever we stopped. There were some lovely county parks a bit off the canal that were within easy walking/running distance that added a bit of variety to our scenery. The wildlife on the canal was ordinary but endearing, mostly thanks to the adorable fluffy ducklings and cygnets, and the gamboling lambs. 

a couple mute swan cygnets hitching a ride

fluffy mallard ducklings

highland coo!

ubiquitous lamb

Because the boat hire base was in the middle of the two canals, we did an out and back on the Union Canal after turning around near Edinburgh. This meant we got another ride on the Falkirk Wheel before heading west towards Glasgow on the Forth & Clyde Canal. We ended up having a bit more time than expected before we could get through the locks and bridges on the Forth & Clyde, so we were able to take a trip to the Kelpies at the top of the Forth & Clyde, just before it meets the River Carron and the Firth of Forth. The Kelpies are a pair of 100 foot tall steel horse head sculptures designed by Andy Scott that give a nod to the instrumental role of the work horses that originally towed the barges along the canals, as well as the mythical shape-shifting water horses of Scottish folklore.

the towering kelpies

(find Pete)

In the next installment, we'll head west on the Forth & Clyde, a very different canal in many ways. 

Sailing in the Eastern Caribbean

 The Eastern Caribbean - sometimes referred to as the Lesser Antilles or Windward Islands - is a chain of islands running north to south at the eastern edge of the Caribbean Sea. It is comprised of seven independent nations, including Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In May we ventured to the island of St. Vincent with four friends to embark on a 10-day sailing trip from Kingstown to St. George's, Grenada. The Eastern Caribbean is apparently not a hot destination for people in the western U.S. based on flight routes and connecting schedules. We arrived only a little worse for wear after our 18 hour journey. 

We gave ourselves a free day in Kingstown to explore the city before picking up the boat and sailing away. Our ride from the airport into town was a great introduction to traffic rules (or lack thereof), narrow island roads, and island scenery. We arrived in the late afternoon just as schools were getting out so there was no shortage of vehicle, person, and animal dodging to get into town. We stayed at the Grenadine House, originally built in 1763 to house the British officials serving the Crown. The building has had many lives since then, including as the hub for the Pirate's of the Caribbean cast. The property is nestled amongst the surrounding vegetation, overlooking the city and the harbor. It was a lovely setting with amazing staff that took care of us and gave us lots of local insights on culture and everyday life. 

Original stone wall from 1763

The big attraction (for me) in Kingstown was the botanic garden. It was established in 1765, making it the oldest botanic garden in the western hemisphere. The garden was initially established to grow native plants used by locals for medicinal purposes to support the British military and improve the economy of the colony. At the far end of the garden, there is a breadfruit tree grown from one of the original saplings brought to the Caribbean from Tahiti by Captain William Bligh (of Mutiny on the Bounty fame). The garden is also home to a captive breeding program for the Saint Vincent amazon, an endemic parrot that is listed as a vulnerable species by the IUCN. The garden included a wide range of local and exotic species from around the world. Pete's favorite find was a bin full of chunks of wood that had been trimmed from various trees. My favorite was the cannonball tree, a stately tree covered in ornate flowers. It was also a lively home for multiple species of lizards. We were adjusting to the very hot and humid conditions, so the botanic garden was a perfect outing that was cooler than the surrounding streets and provided shade when we needed a break. 

breadfruit tree

cannonball tree flower

green bin explorations

We walked down into the heart of the city, navigating the narrow roads that provide the stage for Vincy Van Culture. The minibuses are a main stay for local transport around the island. They stand apart from the other transport vans with their colorful designs, and are hard to miss as they careen down streets, honking and music blaring, and often one or two people hanging out of various windows to make space for more. Sidewalks were few and far between and were more often flanked by one to two foot deep stormwater gutters. St. Mary's Cathedral sits at the edge of the town center on a busy corner, but is quiet as soon as your pass through the gate. For a cathedral, it is a small structure that manages to pack a punch with a mix of architectural styles that feel ad hoc, at best. The courtyards outside the church were beautiful and a green sanctuary for residents, students, and parishioners. From the church, we strolled through open air markets, around the port, and eventually back up through the steep streets to our neighborhood on a hill. 

narrow streets with deep gutters

food garden nestled amongst the colorful houses

colonial architecture in Kingstown

St. Mary's Cathedral

cathedral courtyard

Rested and ready for the next part of our adventure, we met up with our friends for all things sailing. After we dropped our gear at the boat charter office, we divided the team into the provisioning crew and the orientation crew for expediency. Kingstown was likely to have the supermarkets with the widest selection of goods for the entire trip, so we aimed to get as many of our supplies as possible. We would likely be able to find small markets with fresh produce along the way to restock, but specialty items - like gluten free foods for me - were not going to be common elsewhere. After three supermarket and two produce market stops, we had crossed nearly everything off our list. The orientation crew was still deep into their briefing when we returned and would be for nearly three hours total. The charter company owner was a font of knowledge about routes, anchorages, weather constraints, and sights not to miss. 

Hoping for a midday departure so we could do a few hours of sailing, we enthusiastically carried all our gear down to the dock. And then waited. And waited. And waited some more. There was another boat leaving that day, but it was having loads of mechanical issues. Unfortunately, that meant they could not bring our boat to the dock to load. Eventually, they ended up ferrying us and our gear to the boat while it was on the mooring so we could get on our way. Just before 3 pm, we were off on our adventure on our 42 foot lagoon catamaran, Ulysses. We did a short sail to the next island, Bequia, with our remaining daylight. We quickly settled into a rhythm and our days took on a similar pattern: slowish mornings, sailing to our next destination, snorkeling and/or a walk where possible, beverages on the beach, and delicious dinners on the boat.  

catching our dinner

fixing broken stuff

As we sailed south, the effects of the July 2024 Hurricane Beryl - the largest hurricane to directly hit the islands in over 100 years - became much more visible, both on land and underwater. Union Island was the most heavily impacted island. From a distance, the island stuck out because it looked brown from afar compared to all the other lush green islands. As we got closer, the island was brown because nearly all the leaves had been stripped from the trees, leaving a skeleton forest behind. Underwater, the reef was in rough shape. In many places, it looked like it had been sandblasted, if it was not reduced to rubble. There were still a lot of fish, surprisingly, and some healthy populations of sponges on the leeward sides of the islands. 

remnants of a restaurant on Union Island

barren hillside of Union Island

remains of a church on Mayreau 

reefs turned to rubble

baby gorgonian sea fan on the barren reef

 

There was also a lot of infrastructure damage from the hurricane, particularly on Union, which contributed to an issue we had not anticipated...water availability. Our boat was equipped with a water maker, but it was not in working order, so we had hoped to refill our freshwater tank every 2-3 days so we did not have to worry about rationing. The sailing book listed water availability at a number of harbors. The briefing did not include any warnings about water availability, so we were not concerned. We filled the tank at a crazy fancy yacht harbor on Canouan. It seemed so out of place compared to everything we had seen to that point. A few of our group were excited that one of the yachts in the harbor was from the show "Below Decks." Our top up on day 3 turned out to be our last water fill until the end of our trip! Fortunately everyone was up for the challenge of conserving our freshwater for drinking and rinsing dishes and using salt water for everything else. We were likely more conservative than we needed to be, but none of us trusted the accuracy of the water gauge. We had a few other mechanical issues with the boat, but thanks to our crack team that included mechanical and electrical engineers, we managed to deal with most of the problems until nearly the end. 

In spite of the damage to the reef, we did have some interesting snorkels. Tobago Cays is a turtle sanctuary and marine park made up of five small islands. We did a lot of snorkeling in the area and were rewarded with great encounters with turtles, rays, cuttlefish, and schools of fish. We also took turns taking the dinghy to the outer reef, which was quite lovely. The reef is a bit deeper there so it had less hurricane damage, and there was a greater variety of sea life out there. It also sounded like a coral reef, with lots of clicks and pops from the fish grazing the reef and critters communicating with each other.  

cuttlefish!

from Andrew's drone - look closely and you can see
our dinghy and possibly two people swimming along the reef

We spent the better part of our last two days of the trip in marinas on Grenada because the generator would not start, so we had little power unless the engine was running. Along with our low water resources, we decided to make our lives easier and hook up to shore power and water. We spent our last night at Le Phare Bleu, a lovely marina on the south coast of Grenada that had a nice restaurant and pool, as well as an old lighthouse ship from Sweden. Perhaps most importantly for our fellow passengers, we got to have proper showers before our flight home. 

Swedish lighthouse ship