Union Canal

The sun was still out, low over the horizon when I left work; I could only see its aura from behind the warehouses, staining the whole sky golden , making the industrial landscape around my office remind me of California. Much colder, of course, but there was something about the open space and blue, spotless sky… I had a few hours before I was due to meet a friend and his family in Brumsfield, so I decided to do some good old wondering, and headed West.

Soon I crossed the railway line in Slateford and I spotted a friendly blue ‘public path’ sign pointing in the direction of Leith, and decided to follow it, through a residential estate, a thin path between two lines of hedges… And then, I stumbled upon a canal. The water was calm and reflected the sunset like a perfect mirror – how could I resist? I grinned, and decided to follow the comfortable asphalt path running along it towards town centre.

The Canal.

'Should I smile?' 'Yes please!'

The canal was dominated by cyclists and ducks, with a few focused joggers as well, but I was pretty much the only person taking a more leisurely pace. The area around where I joined the canal is not particularly inspiring, but the presence of water was clearly attracting some developments. There was a decent-looking modernist flat complex, and a few miniature single-family houses, all made to look more attractive by the light of the setting sun I’m sure. Still, I can see the appeal of looking out of your dining room window to see some happy ducks going about their duck business.

A bland set of modern flats, but with a nice view.

A miniature family house, which looks like it belongs in German countryside, not in the middle of Edinburgh.

The canal, for which I had no great expectations, was getting more interesting by the minute.

A long corrugated iron shed turned out to belong to a rowing club, and soon afterwards I came across a poster advertising this as the training place of an Olympic rowing medallist, David Florence. Well, well.

A rowing club shed.

Soon I came to a very cute, and very quiet, canal marina, and got into a conversation with a man who came down purposefully to feed the ducks and swans. It turned out that the waterway I took to be my personal lucky discovery, and which I was expecting to finish at an uninspiring industrial site at any moment one, was actually the Union Canal, which connected Glasgow and Edinburgh. Exciting!

Feeding the swans.

Some background info is needed here. I heard of the Union Canal a few days earlier when a girl from my office was describing her failed attempt to cycle alongside it all the way to Glasgow – something I strongly intend to de when the weather improves and the path gets a bit less muddy. The canal was build in 1822, and was used to transport coal; it has been shut for commercial traffic since 1930. Wiki tells me it’s a contour canal, ie a canal that, rather than going in a straight line, follows the countour of the land to avoid costly tunnels and high banks. Still, it has quite a lot of cool infrastructure, including numerous acqueducts, the most spectacular of which I had just missed by a few metres on my trip – it carries the canal above the Water of Leith, which really tickles me. There is also a tunnel to bring the canal under the Antonine Wall (the northern equivalent of the Hadian’s Wall), and a rotating boat lift. Very exciting stuff which I will have to see – but I may wait until mid march, when the renovation works on the canal and the path are complete.

Along the canal.

Now that I knew where I was, I really wanted to see where the canal ends up. I briskly marched past Harrison Park, full of dogs and kids practising cricket. It was getting dark when I reached Leamington. There was some serious development going on there as well, with a big sign advertising the sale of ten three-bedroom modern houses. Even the evening light could not mask the already weathered wood, and tired design. I wasn't inspired.

The new 'City Living' in Leamington - yes, you're not buying a house, you're buying a 'lifestyle soultion'. We'll throw empty pastic bottles floating in the water and a dramatic view of a derelict warehouse for free.

The canal ended with a lift, and a small basin – a later found out that the original quay was filled when the canal stopped being used for commercial purposes, real shame.

Leamington lift.

I stood by the lock, contemplating which way to go, and staring absent-mindedly at a derelict factory building to my left when I realised what I was looking at. This was the Fountainbridge Brewery which I have been reading about in relation to some work I’ve been doing.

The Fountainbridge brewery of Scottish and Newcastle.

This massive site employed 390 people, and belonged to Scottish and Newcastle, famous for their Newcastle Brown Ale. Following their takeover by Heineken, the Fountainbridge brewery was closed in 2004, and nothing seems to have been done to it for the past six years. Apparently you can still get in though, if you’re into ‘urban exploration’ – I found some quite amazing photographs of the derelict interior on this site: http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=41228 . As my academic supervisor would say, there is an article in this!

I finished my canal-side adventure in a lovely chocolate bar (ha!) in Bruntsfield, which is just West of the great Edinburgh park called the Meadows – which I still have to explore. The bar is called The Chocolate Tree, and is wonderful.

The Chocolate Tree.

The smell of dark chocolate lures you in from the street into a cosy interior decorated heavy wooden furniture. An antique samovar and silver-cloured trays give it an old-fashioned feel, nicely contrasted with vividly coloured wall hangings.

Some of the lovely chocolates the Chocolate Tree make - all organic.

I could not resist a chilli-flavoured hot chocolate while I waited for a selection of chocolates I chose for my evening hosts to be arranged in a hand-made origami box.

Hot chocolate with chili - perfect for a frosty Edinburgh evening.

I had a chat with the owner, a lovely German girl with an impressive plait of dark hair. The company has been running for a few years now as a mobile café’, and they have also been supplying their lovely chocolates to supermarkets and restaurants. They settled in Brumsfield in December, and apart from the chocolates you can also buy amazing looking cakes which she makes herself – mmm…. The area has a young and cosmopolitan feel, so I hope that it sustains this new addition! Highly recommended for a moment of well-deserved hedonism.

A word of wisdom from the Chocolate Tree.