Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition

They might as well just have posted the answers up, which near as I can figure it this week, seem to me to be

Q1. The Union canal

Q2. Linlithgow


The initial clues place us in the town of Ratho, which lies on the western edge of Scotland's second city, Edinburgh. A canal which starts twenty miles away at Grangemouth and which was constructed c1790, is most likely the Forth and Clyde canal. The second canal, which from the sources I checked follows a contour of around 240 feet, is most likely the Union canal, which was constructed circa 1818 - 1822. The town of Ratho, which the canal passes through, claims to have the worlds largest indoor climbing centre and was according to some references, the birthplace of a sculptor called David Watson Stevenson, whose works included a statue called 'Highland Mary'. I found several references which claim that the Union canal had an eleven flight lock, which was demolished, possibly some time during the 1930s.....

The three aqueducts on the Union canal are Slateford aqueduct, Almond aqueduct (aka Lin's Mill aqueduct) and Avon aqueduct. The one which best fits the description is the Almond aqueduct which from the satellite picture has five arches and according to the references checked is said to be 420 feet long. A little way northeast of the aqueduct lies a railway viaduct called the 'Birds Mill Viaduct' which looks to be a good fit for the description given by the puzzle author, there is a much larger viaduct further north which crosses the Almond valley (Almond Aqueduct) but this is said to be around two kilometers long.

The second town is most likely to be Linlithgow and it was here that the battle of Linlithgow bridge was fought on sept 4th 1526. The battle is said to be the result of an attempt to bust the young king james V out of jail in Edinburgh, where he was being held captive by Archibald Douglass. The rescuer army was headed by a guy called the Earl of Lennox and consisted of around 10,000 men. He made the classic mistake of getting bottle necked trying to cross the river and Douglass's reinforcements from Edinburgh defeated them, with the loss of around 3000 men.

Linlithgow palace was said to have been renovated by James I of Scotland (mother Annabella Drummond) and the king was murdered by assassins at Blackfriars in Perth c1437. People from Linlithgow are known locally as 'Black Bitches' as this is the name of the oldest pub there and because of the legend of the black dog which swam out to an island on Linlithgow loch, to bring food to a man who was condemned to die by starvation by being chained up there. Unfortunately, the local goon squad caught the poor auld dog and chained it up on an island to starve as well.

Link to the competition:

Where Was I?