Road closed...

This is the Union Canal - and as you can see, no one is going anywhere yet! This may have been one reason why it went out of commercial use around 1930.

It was originally known as the Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal, to celebrate the uniting of the two cities by the new canal network. It was built between 1818 and 1822. Two of its construction workers were the famous murderers Burke and Hare.

If I knew anything at all about maths or physics I could describe to you what a soliton is! But I don't except to say it seems to be a type of wave (in water that is)! But a chap called John Scott Russell was on the canal in a horse-drawn boat when he saw this wave - described and investigated, and a whole new scientific concept was identified. And it all started here!

For those of you who know the canal, this is looking in the direction of Shandon Boat Station.