Canal Cafe - Leamington Lift Bridge, Union Canal

It was a bit of a dreich morning for the running group.  I jogged back from the North Merchiston Club along the Union Canal towpath rather than walk, to get out of the drizzle quicker.  

There's a great wee coffee place in a canal boat by the Leamington Lift Bridge which always has a few customers.  This bridge was originally built across Fountainbridge near Port Hamilton (near Loudons Cafe) in 1906 replacing an 1869 bridge.  In 1922 it was moved to its current position, replacing an old wooden draw bridge, when the canal was truncated back to Lochrin Basin.  It's the only surviving example of an electrical lifting bridge on the Union Canal.  It was designed by Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth of Newcastle for the canal owners, the North British Railway.