Canal Festival (no no this post isn’t about Venice)
Canals are one of those things that I link very much with the British Isles. In fact here is where I saw the first canal and realised its purpose. These waterways were used in the past (end of 18th century up until mid 19th) as a modern motorway to transport goods between cities and towns. So across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland several were built and now that all the freight transport is done on wheels they are more or less disused. Not totally tough.
After years of neglect, several projects re-opened a number of canals
across the country making them perfect place for leisure sailing (with flat barges) or a good training ground for rowers. At the same time swans and ducks seem to be liking these flat waters too.
Scotland’s central belt has its own canal, the Union Canal. An impressive strip of water that links Edinburgh to Glasgow (via Falkirk). Every year the local group organises a festival to show people this incredible part of town sometime forgotten.
