Waterway2go

The best defence against midges is a good Malt Whisky. Scotland produces the finest spirits, and if these are too strong for your taste just dilute with a little of this

Craneage facilities also available at the River Clyde boatyard, Rothesay Dock, Clydebank, which is just 5 miles upriver from the entrance to the canal at Bowling.

Thanks for the advice. Will have a look.

Does anyone have recent experience of hire companies in France?

Probably not, but paddling pools are the transport of choice in Clydebank. News 10th June 2018 Clydebank men sail up canal in a blow up PADDLING POOL singing Oasis hit

We used to find that a bottle usually kept them quiet

Your disappointment is shared. The flotilla was originally going to finish in Glasgow, but now we hear that the Glasgow Branch will be closed for 3 months for bridge construction. A small group of boats from the Forth will be continuing through to the Clyde as part of this event, but thereafter the through route will only be open one day a week. It is really celebrating the full opening of half a canal.

I wonder if the gantry and heavy weight might have been a braking device? The account refers to the boat stopping suddenly to create the soliton wave. Thoughts anyone?

The Heriot Watt Mathematics department page about Scott Russell quotes the location: "This event took place on the Union Canal at Hermiston, very close to the Riccarton campus of Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh" There is also a feint sketch on that page showing a boat being towed in one direction, and a contraption that appears to be pulling in the opposite direction!

Scott Russell, who first identified the concept of a soliton wave is remembered by an aqueduct named after him on the Union Canal approaching Edinburgh. This link describes an attempt to re-create Scott Russell's first sighting of the wave in 1834. The soliton wave is significant now in digital communication. http://www.ma.hw.ac.uk/solitons/press.html

When steering a butty with just a tilly lamp on the fore end and a candle at the back end I was taught to close one eye a minute or so before entering a tunnel, then that eye has night vision once you enter. Also useful in later life when going to the bathroom at night.

Picture of the bottom gate at lock 6 from Richard Millar

I was told how to solve this by a Willow Wren boatman many years ago. Every time you pass a tree whose branches are starting to get in the way, reach out and snap off the last foot of the branch and shove it down the chimney a few times. It will keep the chimney clear of tar - and also help to keep the trees trimmed back.

If all else fails, try this extreme solution - a cooling "pod" suspended below the counter. This was fitted to the Yarrow Seagull when she returned to the shipyard that built her for a 25 year refit, with a more powerful engine. Yarrow Seagull operates on the Forth & Clyde Canal and is one of 10 boats owned by Seagull Trust Cruises, a charity that carries disabled people on the Forth & Clyde, Union and Caledonian Canals. Despite my initial misgivings, the cooling pod has not yet hit the bottom, or collected any significant amounts of weed or refuse.

Don't forget also the various Hotel boats and for a real experience try VIC32 the coal fired steam puffer that carries just 12 passengers and does 2 weeks on the Caledonian Canale each year. They still have some berths available in 2019.