23rd April Man made wonders make us wonder


It might be a day later than planned But I did finally managed to get my running shoes on and hit the streets of Edinburgh for a little trot. It wasn't my intended run up onto the Craggs but a shortened little jolly from the AirBnB, along Leith walk, up and around Carlton Hill to admire the views of the city, half way down Princess Street and back to base again. Still it was nice to get the legs moving and feel the breeze as I ran.

Today we left Edinburgh and started to head north but with a couple of stop offs on route, the first being the Falkirk Wheel, the world's only rotating boat lift, designed and opened in 2002 to connect the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Union Canal, part of the Millennium Link project.115 feet high, this wonderful feat of engineering needs only the power of eight domestic kettles to move boats through the air and transfer them to the two canals. It really is an amazing site to see, especially on another glorious day, one that I won't waste any more words on but simply link to the video below.


 Our second stop, just a couple of miles futher along the canal, was the Kelpies, two giant modern sculptures of horses heads that rise up and dominate the surrounding countryside. I remember several years ago, TOM and I stopped off after a visit to the North East to see the famous Angel of the North, and as impressive as it was I couldn't help but feel that I had always imagined it to bigger that it actually turned out to be. The Kelpies were the opposite, turning out to be far grander that I had expected. 

Neither site was particularly busy and it was lovely to enjoy our packed lunch sat in the warm sunshine and just admire these fantastic pieces of modern art. Even if it did generate the poser of how many of me (at just over 13 stone) was equivalent to a single Kelpie that weighed in at 300 tons. Answers on a postcard please.

From here it was a further 70 miles drive north to our base for three nights and the Hydro Hotel in Pitlochry, a destination that prompted the onwer of a petrol station we stopped off at to equire in a rather gruff thich Scottish accent, "Pitlochry, why would ya wannie go there?". Maybe in a day or two's time I'll be able to tell you.



 



 

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