Part 3, Banknock to Auchinstarry
The Forth & Clyde Canal is not a cycle route as such, cycling is tolerated on the canal towpath when the cyclist is in possession of a permit from British Waterways. That’s the official line, though I would very much doubt if British Waterways has ever asked anyone for a permit.
This review of the canal journey from Grangemouth to Bowling is broken down into seven parts for easy reference.
The canal runs more or less straight through some pretty uninteresting country, the only relief from the tedium is a minor road crossing on the edge of the Dullatur Bog.
The building of the canal, through the bog presented great challenges to the engineers and the navies (from the word navigator or Canal navigator. After canal building came to an end they switched to building railways, where the name is more synonymous,) basically the canal kept on sinking into the bog! When the problem was resolved it had another unforeseen benefit, it drained the bog, so much so that it caused ecological damage and the area was inundated with a plague of displaced frogs.
A short distance from the minor road crossing and you will find yourself in Auchinstarry. The large basin to the left was the anchorage of a number of canal pleasure boats that used to ply their trade on the canal at the turn of the century.