Sunset at the Union Canal

The sun sets over the Union Canal, near Linlithgow.

This was taken just beyond Bridge 41, at the Park Bistro, looking west towards Linlithgow. The Union Canal was opened nearly 200 years ago, in 1822. It was safer and faster than the primitive road system of the time, reducing the time it took to travel from Edinburgh to Glasgow from a 12 hour uncomfortable and dangerous trip by stagecoach down to 8 hours by smooth and safe barge. For three decades, the canal was Scotland's first superhighway, even offering an overnight sleeper service between the two cities. Then the railways arrived, reducing the time it took to travel between Edinburgh and Glasgow to less than two hours, and the canals began a slow, steady decline.

This picture was taken on 1 April 2018.