Union Canal Polwarth & West

February 2014 sees Gibson Terrace getting access to the canal for the first time in an uknown number of years. The new buildings nearby are named after Edinburgh hills.

Polwarth Crescent crosses the Union Canal and changes into Yeaman Place at this recently repainted bridge.

The same bridge as seen from the canal towpath. To get to the canalside from this bridge it's necessary to go Viewforth 360m to the east, or heading out of town, about double the distance to Harrison Road.

Looking back towards Yeaman Place with the rear of Watson Crescent visible on the left bank. Temple Park Crescent is out of sight on the right (south) bank behind the tree.

Facing the opposite direction (west) from the Yeaman Place / Polwarth Crescent bridge.

Another two views from the same bridge but in infrared. Watson Crescent is on the right.

Camera panned left showing how the vegetation at the back of Temple Park Crescent seems white under infrared.

Winter of 2009/2010 and there are youngsters walking on the frozen canal. Under the bridge at Yeaman Place there is still a tiny unfrozen patch with a few ducks. Ice is supposed to be 20cm thick to support people safely.

Horne Terrace provides pedestrian or bicycle access to the eastern end of Dorset Place. It's a cul-de-sac off St Peter's Place, part of Viewforth.

Accessible from Merchiston Mews off Granville Terrace or from Horne Terrace off St Peter's Place. This is a housing development featured in one of Ian Rankin's Rebus books.

This is the view west from the canal bank shown in the picture above. The blue bridge in the distance connects Polwarth Crescent to Yeaman Place.

How it looked before these houses were built. (Photo from the opposite bank)

'Access For Residents Only'. Dalton's scrapyard is on the right of the picture.

It's dark already (¼ past 4, 13th December 2012). The solar powered LED lights help prevent cyclists and walkers from falling into the canal. It has a thin layer of ice except near the bridge.

Half way along towards Harrison Park is this stone embedded in the wall. Someone has chiselled 'I'm Stuck' into its surface.

Long established beside the Union Canal is Dalton's scrapyard where I once sold some copper back in the '60s. Some wag has come specially prepared with blue paint to make his facetious alterations to the lettering.

A more recent picture of Dalton's still didn't look very pretty despite a paint job, so I stylized it with an artistic filter.

Dalton's scrapyard building may have to be scrapped as it's looking increasingly unstable, propped up by the green girders. (September 2012)

They compromised and kept the gable end. It supports some cables if little else.

Looking out of the less posh bottom end of Merchiston Avenue across Polwarth Crescent and along Temple Park Crescent. This is a more densely populated area with lots of small tenement flats.

The bottom section of Merchiston Avenue connects with Polwarth Crescent here. To the right the road curves round past Merchiston Mews and slopes up to Granville Terrace.

Yeaman Place isn't a particularly attractive street with its fast turnover of high density tenement flats. The bridge to Polwarth Crescent does afford some good views though.

A motion shot of a runner taken with the Sony RX100M4 compact camera.

Moored beside Harrison Park is this barge named Zazou.

The section of the canal between Harrison Park and Polwarth. There are several of these ornamental gates to remind cyclists to curb their speed.

Cycling under some of the canal bridges has an element of risk, most cyclists ping their bells to warn other cyclists and pedestrians of their approach.

Taken from the bridge at Slateford's Ashley Terrace, an infrared view to the south west.

A wider, large HD desktop sized infrared view from the same bridge connecting Ashley Terrace and Gray's Loan.

Infrared picture of the bridge which carries Gray's Loan over the canal.

Two photos of an approaching pleasure barge taken in August '09.

A family of ducks move out of the way to the left bank.

Infrared view towards the city and Arthur's Seat taken from between the Water of Leith aqueduct and the Slateford Road / Lanark Road aqueduct.

Infrared view towards Craiglockhart from the Slateford Road / Lanark Road aqueduct.

The same view but wide angle, rather than zoomed in.

If you follow the canal route towards the city centre you'll encounter this second aqueduct over Slateford Road.

Up on the aqueduct beside the canal. Cyclists are requested to dismount here, partly for their own safety so as not to fall in the canal. When I skated over the frozen canal in the '60s the ice creaked alarmingly under my skates - but I made it over to Redhall.

Aqueduct on the left and railway viaduct on the right.

In this picture the voyagers are approaching the Slateford Aqueduct.

The wide angle lens is pointing west over the aqueduct where the Union Canal crosses the Water of Leith and Inglis Green Road. (November 2000)

A similar shot from August 2009.

The view from the aqueduct to the north looks over the railway viaduct towards Corstorphine Hill. The Water of Leith flows between the trees and the building being demolished.

Zoomed in on the rusty tubes...

...and zoomed in on the section of roof fallen behind the remains of a brick wall.

A splendid slug on the canal towpath at Slateford. Wet weather brought out mostly black slugs. This brown beauty has fascinating textures on its slimy skin.

The canalside path is tarmac now to better cope with walkers and cyclists, whose numbers have grown as commuters switch from cars and buses. A December Sunday means it isn't busy.

Standing near Redhall Park. The footbridge overhead crosses Lanark Road and links to the Water of Leith Walkway.

An ornamental sign marks the National Cycle Network.

This is Hailesland Road as seen from the footbridge. As far as I can tell, this road is built on top of the Union Canal, shortly to be reinstated hereabouts. May 2000.

This new bridge carries Wester Hailes road across the forthcoming Union Canal reinstatement between the Murray Burn and Dumbryden Road.

This is how it looks facing north towards Corstorphine. Soon, the residents of Murrayburn and Wester Hailes will have a canal running through their midst.

The new section between Wester Hailes Road and Calder Road. To the left is Westburn district; beyond that is the A720 Edinburgh bypass.

Work in progress on the Union Canal as seen from Wester Hailes Road looking east. Murrayburn Road is to the right, behind a fence. Further along is the yellow roof of the Shell filling station next to the roundabout at the junction of Murrayburn Gate.

The canal-to-be as seen looking east from the footbridge over Hailesland Road.

Facing the opposite direction, looking west along Hailesland Road from near the junction with Dumbryden Drive.

The deep excavations behind the fence will soon be filled with canal water and pleasure-seekers on boats.

This section to the west of Wester Hailes Road has already been linked up with the old canal running past Calder Grove and Calder Crescent.

Buses turn the corner of Murrayburn Road. Soon this area will be under water and the traffic will cross the new canal bridge visible in front of the Shell Service Station.

The water stops here. The canal runs eastwards from Hermiston and Ratho, past Calder Crescent and above Wester Hailes Education Centre and comes to an abrupt halt at the dual-carriageway.

Looking east along the Union Canal from the Dumbryden Road bridge, just north of Tesco. The original construction didn't have the advantage of plastic sheets to keep the water in.

Hailesland Park where the multi-storey flats overlook the canal running along Hailesland Road. This photograph was taken from the same bridge at Dumbryden Road.

Wester Hailes Police Station 'C' Division at 49 Dumbryden Drive as seen from the south bank of the canal. There's more work to be done before water is allowed into this section.

The old and new bridges can be seen side by side here at Dumbryden Road.

An LRT bus travels east along Hailesland Road on the north bank of the canal. This is the same section as above and was still dry in June 2001.

The canal is going to be right next to Hailesland Road under the footbridge at Murrayburn.

The old Shell Service Station at 50 Murrayburn Road still remains. This section of canal (now filled with water) runs behind it towards Wester Hailes Road, visible in the background.

This road nestles just below this newly flooded part of the canal and leads under Wester Hailes Road to Wester Hailes Education Centre at 5 Murrayburn Drive.

Nine years have made a difference to the canal which is now mature with plant life and is populated by swans, ducks, coots etc.

A cyclist heads east towards the city. It can be a bit risky cycling under some of the bridges as the surface is often still cobbled there.

The view a few yards further west. Wester Hailes is looking much nicer these days since the canal was reinstated.

Sunlight reflects on the underside of this bridge. In the distance there are swans, cygnets and ducks.

The canal is wider here and there's an assortment of waterfowl. Not far away is Hailesland Road and a single decker LRT bus.

From the Scott Russell Aqueduct over the A720.

Keep On Truckin' is an apt expression here, attributed to Robert Crumb.

I cycled back out here in 2012 and snapped the same thing again. This time I've showed some of the chequerboard Novotel hotel next to it.

A slightly different view showing, in the distance, behind the bus, part of the Bonaly and Howden Glen area of the Pentland Hills.

...and a wide angle view from the Scott Russell Aqueduct. Both were taken with Fuji 770.

A long canal boat cruises westwards through Hermiston towards Ratho. This is a pleasure cruise running parallel to the M8 motorway, but sufficiently distant from it so as not to be troubled by it.