Edinburgh Canal Festival

• Harrison Park West
• Saturday 21st June 2025
• 0.25km (a short portage from the car)

It was great to have the opportunity to get involved in the Edinburgh Canal Festival last weekend. Many thanks to Fiona, Rachel, and the rest of the team at Fountainbridge Canalside Community Trust for the invite. I spent a couple of days before hand sorting through my many photos, printing a few out, and setting up a board to display them on.

Thankfully the wind dropped for the day and, with Adrian and Wendy’s help, I was able to get things set up so everything was secure.

The festival took place on the canal (canoe polo and a boat procession) and at three sites next to the canal – Lochrin Basin, Fountainbridge Green, and Harrison Park West (where I was). There was live music and food at all three locations. We were very lucky to be within a dough ball’s throw of the excellent Outta Space Pizza, so there was no danger of us going hungry.

I had a steady stream of interesting and interested people come over for a chat, and quite a few children (and adults) who sat in the kayak to test out their paddling skills on dry land. Despite a few thundery showers towards the end, it was a great afternoon of friendly family fun.

It’s just over two weeks since I closed the circle on my 900km round trip. It was a great experience, and it has taken a while to adjust back to the different demands of life at home. The days on the trip were long, full, and demanding, but in many ways, simpler than they are now. The decisions to be made were fewer, immediate, and obvious. Real life is busier and more complex.

I wondered if I would still have the appetite for the early morning paddles at Portobello, but have been out again three times now. One of my regular morning companions, Richard, has just competed in the Coquet Island sea kayak race – finishing a very respectable 2nd in the sea kayak category. There are a few other sea kayak races scheduled over the summer which I may use to keep my motivation going.

Physically, I’m mostly back to normal. The 3kg in weight I lost was recovered in under a week and the small aches I accumulated have all gone. The main complaint I have is that my fingerprints still fail to unlock my phone.

Modern phones and touchscreens weren’t designed with watersports in mind. The fingerprint reader stops functioning after a day of having your hands submerged in salt water. And even with a waterproof case, the slightest amount of water makes the touchscreen next to useless. Typing becomes a random letter generator game.

After a kayak trip of a week or more, the skin on your fingers takes on different properties. Just a short time in water will result in it turning white, and once dry, it feels almost waxy to touch. When a trip is over, I generally find that the skin all peels off after a week or so. However, after this trip, so far, it has remained in place, but a slight waxy feel has remained. I have no idea how much longer it will be before my fingerprints work as keys again.

This will probably be my last post for a while, but I’m looking into various options for getting the rest of my photos online. Hopefully, I’ll be able to include links soon.