Falkirk Wheel, The Kelpies and Stirling, Scotland - 8 August 2020

The Kelpies, near EdinburghOur day began with a drive to Falkirk, home to the Falkirk Wheel.

The Falkirk Wheel is a magnificent, mechanical marvel which has been constructed to 21st century, state-of-the-art engineering. It's the world's only rotating boat lift - lifting boats 115 ft - which links the Forth and Clyde Canal, with the Union Canal.

Designed to replace a series of lock gates built in the 19th century - long since demolished and replaced by housing - The Falkirk Wheel has enabled coast-to-coast navigation of the canals to be re-established for the first time in over 40 years.

We booked a ride to go on a boat up, along the canal a short way, then back down again. Was pretty cool!

The orange boat you can see in this picture, is our ride along the canal today.

Boarded and ready to go!

On our way up!

On the way up!

At the top.

Our next stop of the day was The Kelpies, located at The Helix, a new parkland designed to link 16 local communities in the Falkirk area.

The 30m high horse-head sculptures were designed by sculptor Andy Scott, and form a gateway at the Eastern entrance to the Forth and Clyde Canal and the new canal extension.

The horse-heads are a monument to the horse powered heritage across Scotland. 

After The Kelpies we drove to Stirling and walked up to the William Wallace monument. Entry is still not possible due to Covid, but the walk up was nice and the views from the walking track were beautiful.