There’s no point posting photos of Edinburgh & Glasgow without also posting photos of the thing that joins them, namely the Forth and Clyde Canal. The Canal, completed in 1790 and restored 200 years later, cuts across the Scottish lowlands, joining the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde. You can rent a boat or walk or cycle along the towpath, but if you go any distance, you’ll have to contend with the Falkirk Wheel, a giant liftlock which combines style and functionality.
Near Bishopbriggs, you’ll find the cemetery at Cadder Parish Church whose history is intimately tied to the canal. The cemetery has a mortsafe, a place to allow bodies to decompose before interment. Why, you may ask, would people do this to their loved ones? Well, back when Glasgow was cementing its reputation as a centre of modern medicine, its medical schools needed cadavers for teaching. They paid good money to grave robbers who favoured churchyards like the one at Cadder Parish Church because it was conveniently located by the canal.
Along the towpath, you’ll also pass the town of Kirkintilloch which has designated itself the canal capital of Scotland (the world? the universe? I’m not sure which). They’ve built a footbridge in the shape of a ship’s prow.
Not far from the foot bridge is St. Mary’s Parish Church whose front doors open onto the canal (they don’t literally open onto the canal; there’s a parking lot in between the doors and the canal, but you get the idea).
