Aberdeenshire Canal
Closed for 150 years, this canal can still be traced on the ground.
The Aberdeenshire Canal was one of Britain's most northerly waterways. Almost 20 miles long, the canal ran from the sea at Aberdeen to Inverurie, and was once busy with freight and passenger boats - in the summer, at least. The canal was typically iced up from December to March, and would only reopen on 1st April.
Faced with the threat of railway competition, the canny owners decided to make the most of their investment and sold the canal bed to the Great North of Scotland Railway. The canal was therefore closed in 1854 and a railway laid on much of its course.
Little survives today, save for some of the loops which the railway line cut off. The best place to look for remnants of the old canal is at Port Elphinstone - the canal basin in Inverurie. The terminus can clearly be seen beside the River Don, which separates the settlements of Port Elphinstone and Inverurie itself.
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