On that theme Rob,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberdeenshire_Canal
http://www.northseatrail.org/show_single_article.php?article_id=2935&lang=uk
A fascinating read, the Don must have been deeper than it is today, as there was no need for locks from Stoneywood to Inverurie a straight running river, So yes the path may have changed over time. Shallow bottom boats would have been used, but the Idea that passengers where taken down the river is fantastic, love it,
I have looked into the canal (literally at Port Elphinstone
) as we nearly bought a house in Kintore that had once been a "hostelry" for the crews of canal boats. They would stop off their on their journey for refreshment and food. It later became a hotel. I was amazed that a canal had existed so did some research. I was also puzzled by the name Port Elphinstone being so far from the sea.
Many parts of the canal can still be seen, but you would never have guessed it had been a canal. The canal ran from the harbor, out to Inverurie. If you walk down Castle Terrace and look over the bridge you will see a single train track. That's the start of the canal. It went North East, under the Beach Boulavard, and turned North West, going under Park Street and heading alongside Roslin Terrace. It then went under King Street, Nelson Street, Mounthooley (hence there being a Canal Street and Place there) before turning North and heading out alongside the A96 and under the A978 by St Machar Academy. It then curves round the back of Woodside, under the road at the Haudagain and out through Dyce and East of the Airport. It followed what is now the railway all the way to almost Inverurie. It deviated just before the big paper mill on the roundabout at Thainstone, cutting close to the river where it can now be seen as part of the "mill race" into the factory. From there it goes up the back of Port Elphinstone where it can be seen to this day. It ends about 20 yards down stream of the road bridge over the Don. The "port" is marked by the canal splitting just by Canal Road in Port Elphinstone. The barges went on the left to unload, moved up into the river where the flow was used to turn them, and then back down the right hand side to load. Large warehouses sat where scrubland is now, on the "island".
You can clearly see off shoots from the "railway" shown as dark marks in the fields, where barges were tied up off the main canal. It was very narrow with many "passing places" built.
The house I mentioned that was the hotel is the big white one on the right as you enter Kintore from the North...rather run down now. If you look at it using google earth, you can see a "ditch" that connects it to the railway. That's the old "hotel cut" that took barges to the house.
And back on subject...there are trout in it!!..lol.
