Bridge 13 - Neptune's Staircase, Fortwilliam

'Neptune's Staircase' is a couple of miles west of Fortwilliam and is a series of eight locks on the Caledonian Canal. They were built in the early 1800s in order to get the canal up a height of 19.5 metres, though they were yards, feet and inches then.  Thomas Telford had a hand in the planning which you can tell by the elegance of them - a feature that I failed to capture with my camera.

I promised Craig a tune here.

The rain in Fortwilliam is a particularly wet variety and I got soaked just cycling from my sub-standard B&B to my morning meeting.  I couldn't  contemplate spending an hour or so in that rain and then sitting on a cold train for 5 hours, so I sat and looked at the rain for a long time.  It cleared a bit in the afternoon so, spurred on by Linda Campbell's £50.00 dare, I set off.  The weather cleared nicely for my jaunt, returning to grizzly normal once I was safely back under shelter.

I cycled across each of the eight locks up the canal and then back down again.  It was a lovely interlude, even if I had to scramble a support team from passing holiday-makers.  The best support came from a woman who is currently artist-in-residence in Glen Nevis - I think her name is Tracey Warr but I will find out and correct this if not.  She has made a tree-house in the forest and is currently making nests.  Based on an email exchange with Craig, who told me about this lovely place in the first instance, I was practising my tune (Farquhar and Hettie's Waltz), marvelling that there was no-one to hear me, when I realised that she was filming me!  Aaargh! 

After making a complete eejit of myself, I sat and had a lovely cup of tea outside a shop called 'Caledonian Bears', which I initially thought must be a football team, but it makes and sells bears made from lovely tweed and such-like.  As I sipped my earl grey tea by the 'staircase'  the Jacobite Steam Train chugged its way past - that was all very magical, especially as the sun was shining by then.

Bridge 12 - Dean Bridge, Edinburgh

All the team, including flag

The Bridge with club logo inset

May 10th 2013

The Dean Bowling Club, whose logo is based on the 1831 Dean Bridge, have kindly sponsored this biking project.  Therefore, I cycled across this lovely bridge this evening with a group of supporter cyclists.  We were also supported by Normal Dall and Dick Webb from the Bowling Club, who brought the Club flag to add gravity to the occasion.


Particular thanks to Kevin McCann who braved the traffic to take photos from all angles - not caring a jot for the number 37 bus bearing down on him.  Duty first, it seemed.  We all survived to celebrate at the Club later.