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Port Dundas, Glasgow

Accessible for local, portable and trailable craft

Silver Propeller Challenge

Location

Glasgow

Visit Port Dundas, Glasgow on the Forth & Clyde Canal by boat or canoe.

The far end of the Glasgow Arm has been included as a Silver Propeller Location to encourage more boats to visit the end of this branch canal. Until the two new locks at Port Dundas are useable, a photo of your boat or canoe in the vicinity of Spiers Wharf, the current limit of navigation, will be a good proof of your visit.

Complete our challenge by visiting 20 locations from our list, you will receive our exclusive plaque and goody bag.

 

About the Forth & Clyde Canal

The Forth & Clyde Canal opened in 1780 to provide an inland route for seagoing ships between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde.  The canal is 35 miles (56.3 km) long with 39 locks; roughly following the course of the Roman Antonine Wall across the narrowest part of the Scottish Lowlands.  Running from Bowling Basin on the River Clyde to the River Carron at Grangemouth; all the bridges opened giving unrestricted headroom for the ship’s masts.  As ships got too big to use the canal, traffic declined but fishing boats used the route across Scotland until it closed in the early 1960s.  The Glasgow Arm is a branch off the main line, above Maryhill locks, that connected to the Monkland Canal at Port Dundas; named after a major backer of the Forth and Clyde Canal Company.

[Photo: Spiers Wharf, at the end of the Glasgow Arm – by Jonathan Mosse]

 

Restoration

The Forth & Clyde and Union canals were restored to navigation in 2001 following National Lottery funding as a Millennium project.

More recently the historic link in Glasgow between Spiers Wharf and Pinkston Basin was restored. The proximity of the M8 motorway, which had severed the canal, meant that the channel could not be reinstated at the original level.

Two new locks were constructed linking the sections with a lower link pound, but despite an official opening these locks are not available for public use and there is no connection to Pinkston Basin, although paddle sports are available there.

[Photo: Piling blocking the end of the Glasgow Arm, March 2019 – by Alison Smedley]

Notes for Visitors

Boat Dimensions

The maximum size of boat that can navigate the Forth & Clyde Canal is:-

Length: 68′ 6″ (20.9m)
Beam: 19′ 8″ (6.0m)
Height: 9′ 10″ (3.0m)
Draught: 6′ 0″ (1.8m)

Canoeing, Boat Hire and Boat Trips

Canoeing is encouraged on Scottish Canals, and as locks are not used a licence is not required.  There is a well mapped Glasgow to Edinburgh Canoe Trail.

Scottish Canals recommends that all paddlers register with them in advance.

Several boat hire companies have boats based at Falkirk – but you will need to hire for the week to get to Glasgow.

Navvies Barge offers café boat trips on the Glasgow Arm.

 

Also see…

The Mackintosh Queen’s Cross Church is the only church designed by famous architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh.  It’s at 870 Garscube Road, Glasgow, G20 7EL.

Challenge Location

Port Dundas, Glasgow

Glasgow Arm

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