Union Canal

One of my favourite spots in Edinburgh to walk along and the occasional picnic in the evening sunshine.
Union canal is lovely all year round and changing constantly. In the winter sometimes the canal freezes over creating beautiful textures in broken ice and frost. In the springtime you will see beautiful wee ducklings and plants starting to return. Summer is lush and green and overgrown reeds and there are a few floating pontoons perfect for picnicing or you can hire kayaks and canoes and get out on the water. There are also lovely wee narrowboat cafes you can stop in for tea and cake. Autumn is my favourite when all the trees are changing colours.
You can walk or cycle all the way to the Falkirk Wheel if you are feeling energetic or turn off at the aquaduct to either the Water of Leith Walkway (another beautiful walk) or to the Dells in Collington (just stunning).
When you are on the canal you forget you are still very much in the city centre, some points are so peaceful and leafy with various parks on route and if you get tired you are never far from a bus stop back into town. I’ve walked all the way out to East Calder where you find yourself surrounded by fields and countryside and fabulous scenery, just gorgeous!

Who doesn’t love the canal?
Crazy people, that’s who.
Now, I’m sane so I adore strolling, jogging and biking along it’s banks, taking in the rowers, the ducks, the swans and the air. Tucked away you’d hardly know it was there — in fact I lived within a minutes walk of it for 3 months before I found it — I just never happened to walk in such a way as to see it!
Since my discovery, however, I’ve whiled away not nearly enough Saturday afternoons here. Since moving back to the area it’s become my favourite place to jog — see Robyn’s review! It is definitely the flattest place around!
Some of it’s charm comes from the handsome barges which are littered throughout. Quite amusingly one or two have been converted to cafes and I swear there is nothing so quaint as a café in a barge! It’s fantastic and a new tourist spot for when I have visitors!
I’ve never been down here in the dark though. The concept is quite frightening, despite the adorable coloured lights that mark the way! I’m quite happy viewing them from the bridge!
Give it a go! You can’t beat a canal walk for clearing the head and getting some air in your lungs!
Exclamation Mark!

Perhaps when I’ve experienced the Canal in all four seasons I will find that fifth star, perhaps hidden amongst some blossoms or padding along wee ducklings. So far, I’ve only seen it in winter, with the water half frozen, and with the biting cold hurting my fingers. But as far as a canal goes, it’s very well kept, it’s long (stretches to Glasgow) and is good for walks, runs and bike rides. Highly recommended canal.

training for a half marathon means i’ve spent a fair bit of time running round the many cycle paths and parks that edinburgh has to offer. this weekend i took advantage of my boyfriend’s flats location and went for my weekend runs along the union canal. i have to say this the canal path has to be one of the best places to run! it’s sooooo flat!!! seriously, almost no inclines at all which makes such a different when i’ve spent the majority of my training going up and down hills and feeling absolutely knackered after 7 or 8 miles.
not only is the canal path flat, but in terms of a nice place to walk or cycle there is some lovely scenery and parks along the way. it does tend to get a bit crowded when the sun is out, but i’ve found that people are mostly considerate and will step to the side when they see a runner or a cyclist coming along the path. it’s also great that there are so many points to get both on and off the pathway so that you can pretty much travel through a large part of the west of edinburgh without having to go near a roadway.
definitely looking forward to so more runs along this path!

Claire C… I wasn’t going to give the canal a five star review, but you’ve upped the ante and given me the confidence to follow through with a full bore appreciation of this delightful waterway.
I used to have a bus card you know, it helped me get to work come rain or shine. Now that I live in a post-​card world I get to enjoy twenty minutes of canal on the way to and fro work. It’s a privilege, I have taken to this industrial artery like a duck to… anyway.
As the seasons pass the trees grow new leaves afresh, hang low over the water, then bring a shock of yellows and browns as those leaves turn and drop to the water below. It’s a lovely thing to see.
The ducks and the swans produce their offspring, who gain in confidence and size and before long the place can seem full of them, going about their business.
Various boat clubs line my bit of the canal (from Harrison Park to the aqueducts) and the single, double and quad crews ply that stretch with vigour and verve. I feel sorry for them though, for the canal winds and it twists, the can’t pass each other easily and evasive action is a regular occurrence.
What else happens along the canal? What else? People cycle, ringing their bells like they own the place (hey, who’s the Duke around here?); trains rumble through underneath at one point; keep going to the aquaducts and there are roads underneath, the Water of Leith and little people too. Keep going and there’s an outdoor gym, where old folk work out between sitting on the equipment to eat their lunch. Canal boats do their boaty thing — you can stop in for coffee and cake if you pick the right one to board. And there’s the ice, which doesn’t come every year but when it does it tends to stick around, peppered with the footprints of the bold and the fearless.
It’s a great part of Edinburgh at any time of the year. Really lovely.

I got a wonderful surprise when I traversed the Union Canal for the first time a few weeks ago. It’s incredibly beautiful, peaceful, interesting and varied.
The canal cuts through the city in a variety of different neighbourhoods, from Wester Hailes on the outskirts, all the way into Fountainbridge in the centre of the town. The scenery and landscapes change according to the areas it passes through so there’s a real mix of views, back gardens and local communities as you wander on by.
I’ve only taken the canal path out to Wester Hailes, but I saw plenty wildlife on the water, and even spotted a swan’s nest (I’d never seen one before).
It’s a really lovely place to visit if you’re looking for a bit of nature in the middle of an urban environment, it’s flat and easy to walk along, well appreciated by locals and one of Edinburgh’s secret gems.

One thing Edinburgh seems to lack is a river. Unlike most major cities, no impressive body of water gushes through the centre of town — at least, not since the Nor Loch was drained to form Princes Street Gardens.
If, like me, you miss walking beside the banks of a river, then the Union Canal on the West side of the city makes an acceptable substitute. Here you can stroll along past the backs of warehouses, and local parks, feed the ducks or look out for weekend rowers and canoeists. If you’re up for a longer walk (or cycle) you can actually follow the canal for 32 miles, all the way to Falkirk, through country fields and little villages.
And, because everything in Edinburgh has to have a festival, there is even an annual canal festival, an event that resembles a sort of village fête beside the water, with free boat rides, raft races, and other similarly innocent activities.