Edinburgh Bridges #20 : Harrison Park Bridge

Was at Tynie this afternoon to watch some of the football I’ve watched there for a couple of seasons. If we can keep the core of this side over the close season then I would think next season will be fun to watch.

However it was the Wee Pal’s dad’s birthday and I was joining him for a family meal so after the game we wandered up to the car via Harrison Park over the bridge shown in the blip. It is not what one might say an ‘exciting’ bridge but it does span the Union canal (I think this is my first bridge over the canal in my series of Edinburgh Bridges, probably not the last, though). I’m fairly sure that a bridge was built when the canal was opened in 1842 as the canal narrows at this point and you have to remember that the surrounding area would have been agricultural in nature back then.

The interesting aspect of the blip is the dirty white building seen through the arch of the bridge. This is the Forth Canoe Club one of the oldest, if not the oldest canoe clubs in Scotland founded in 1934 although it only moved to this location in 2004. One of the club’s members has done quite well, winning a silver medal in the Beijing Olympics in men’s C1 category, David Florence was the chap. If you look closely you can see the cabling and the poles they have arrange over the water to simulate a slalom course.