Canal life really floats our boat

&149 The 'Boatel'

In between is a bathroom bigger than those found in most one-bed tenement flats and there is more than enough space elsewhere for the shelves of books and quirky nick-nacks she has acquired over the years, not to mention a settee, television and tiled fireplace.

"People are usually surprised when they come on board," she smiles. "It's obviously not what they expect."

Tomorrow, there will likely be hundreds of curious eyes attempting to peer through the windows of Fiona's elegant, dark green canal boat, moored at Fountainbridge, as the Edinburgh Canal Festival takes place at Lochrin Basin. Some eager onlookers may even be bold enough to ask for a look inside. It's a common question begged of the 53-year-old freelance writer, who made the waterway her home six years ago after deciding conventional living was not for her.

Steve Jones in the Zazou cafe

"I feature in a couple of tourist guides, so quite often I get Japanese and Italian visitors shouting to say hello. They wave and call out, 'Mrs Fiona! Mrs Fiona!'"

She is just one of the many people who have made the Union Canal a huge part of their lives in recent years as major investment - not to mention a much-needed clean-up - has slowly but surely put the waterway on the map as one of the Capital's hidden gems.

While Fiona has made it her permanent home, mooring Jeanie's Pride opposite the former brewery site, others have custom designed canal boats as businesses.

Gillian Hanley

One serves as an architects' practice, another as a cafe and one as a "boatel", providing permanently moored self-catering accommodation for visitors to the city.

Among the brightly-coloured boats that line the banks of the canal at Fountainbridge are also those used simply for recreation, their owners sailing them up and down the waterway for fun, while also spending the odd night on board their vessels, the names of which fascinate passers-by who have also enjoyed the canal since it reopened fully after years of neglect in 2000.

Today, as bunting sways in the wind and final preparations for the canal festival are under way, Edinburgh Quay - the official name of the stretch at Fountainbridge - has also become a temporary home to many narrow boats hired out to summer tourists who will travel perhaps as far as Falkirk or Glasgow on them.

But for city architects Gillian Hanley and Gary Somerville, it is business as usual aboard Tectonica, their purpose-built canal boat, home to their practice Crew Architects.

The pair, who live in Haymarket, have operated from the canal for two years after becoming taken with the notion of owning an office that was different from the run-of-the-mill places they had worked previously.

"We had thought about buying a second-hand boat and doing it up," explains Gillian, 36. "But some of them really are very narrow, so we opted to buy this wide beam boat instead and designed the inside as we wanted it.

"We didn't do this as a novelty factor for the business, we were just drawn to this type of working environment. It's amazing how much you feel the seasons here. I love feeding the ducks, too. It's a wonder I get any work done."

Further down the canal at Harrison Park, city businessman Steve Jones is stocking up on board Zazou, a brightly-coloured narrow boat he bought two years ago to turn into a cafe, which opened in April.

Stocking teas and coffees, sweet treats and ice creams, the venture has proved popular with locals and tourists, and is another example of the enthusiasm that is bubbling away for the waterway.

"The boat itself has actually been here for 11 years and was a restaurant before I bought it," says Steve, 43, from Morningside. "The cafe seems to be an object of fascination for people, particularly children.

"For people who haven't been to the canal recently they should, to get an appreciation of all the space we have here. It's great."

Back at Fountainbridge, Fiona McIntyre's boat is being admired by passers-by, a small child in a red raincoat stopping dead in her tracks to take a look.

It was back in 2000 when Fiona decided to buy a canal boat, uninspired by what she could get for her money in the Edinburgh housing market and keen to make her own personal touch on a property. She bought the wide-beam boat second-hand and did it up herself, with the help of friends, just as anyone would an ordinary home.

The accommodation is basic, but with a fully functioning shower and toilet, kitchen and electricity supply, it more than ticks the boxes. It has a 100-gallon water tank with mains pressure and a holding tank for waste water, which she must carry to the British Waterways team further down the canal for them to "pump out" straight into the city's sewers.

"A lot of people ask about the toilet," Fiona laughs. "It's usually just once a fortnight that the pump out takes place.

"Living here is a bit like the life my mum or grandma would have had. I do my shopping every day as I don't have a big freezer and I have to be organised with cleaning my wood burner, just as you would have done with a coal fire."

As the rain lashes down outside, a green, blue and yellow war boat, formerly used to fire torpedoes, takes a thrashing from the elements.

The 71-year-old boat, Barney Boy, is the oldest on the canal and with its eye-catching stained-glass windows and pot plants, it is a favourite with locals.

"Hi, I am Celine," says its owner, emerging from the door. "Do you like it?" She reveals the boat, named after her childhood horse, was bought six years ago as a project for the artist and jewellery designer.

"I love being here on the canal, right in the middle of the city. OK, sometimes people unplug my electricity supply, or they climb on board every now and again, but on the whole it's great."

Water world in Union . .

The Edinburgh Canal Festival takes place tomorrow from 12pm at the Fountainbridge stretch of the waterway, near to the Cargo bar.

Including the ever-popular Raft Race, the family event will also have free boat rides, canoe taster sessions, face painting and music.

The annual festival is organised by the Re-Union Canal Boat Charity, a social enterprise that provides training to a wide range of volunteers, as well as boats for the public to hire.

For more information, visit www.re-union.org.uk