Old & New – Some Must Visits
Before you head to the Highlands, Islands or even the Edinburgh Festival & Tattoo, do try to make time to see and the modern wonders that are the Helix Project Kelpies and Falkirk Wheel. Then maybe head to Stirling Castle for some real history.
Completed in 2013, and 30 metres high, the Kelpies are simply stunning!
They and the Falkirk Wheel are easy to find as integral parts of the Falkirk Helix Project aimed at rejuvenating this part of Scotland. Easy access from the M9 Motorway and plenty of good parking when you arrive.
There are tours which will take you inside a Kelpie to learn about their creation, and construction, in itself quite a feat. The Cafe & Information centre on site is excellent, lots of background on how the Kelpies were built, and you can just wander around the site and marvel at them.
Close by the Kelpies site is the Millenium Project, the Falkirk Wheel, which first came to light for us in that series of wonderful Canal Cruising TV Programmes with Timothy West and Prunella Scales.
The day we visited was very wet, but in no way did it spoil viewing & enjoying this wonderful piece of machinery. It is a work of art and solves the simple challenge that all canals have, getting goods and people in their boats, down or up a hill. Traditionally the challenge is solved by a series of locks, but here the impressive engineering in the Falkirk Wheel lifts the barge and occupants, then gently deposits them to the upper or lower canal level as desired.
There are Barge Tourist trips on the wheel and then along the canal, to be taken, and the complex has both excellent parking and a very good Cafe / Information centre.
But for us, it’s all about the Falkirk Wheel, a marriage of stunning engineering and art.
Stirling Castle- get there early!
Driving up the cobbled streets to Stirling Castle, be early to get a close car park, one is struck by the majesty of the Castle and it’s key location to controlling the access to and from the Highlands.
It’s a big lump of stonework atop the hill and dominating all it surrounds. On entering the Castle we joined one of the excellent Free Tours. Ours was lead by a wonderful local guide with a loud broad Scottish brogue, perfect for hearing every gem that he so ably shared with his multilingual audience.
You can tour all parts of the Castle, inside and out, gaining a real understanding of its fascinating history. Whilst there are Cafe facilities inside the Castle, the pub / hotel that backs on to the car park, is excellent.
Castle Doune
There are so many historical sites in this area that one can visit. One that took our eye, having surveyed the glens and hills from Stirling Castle was Castle Doune .
On the way to Castle Doune, we checked out the Kings Knot, it’s in the former Royal Gardens, interesting theories on its origins, this view as seen from Stirling Castle.
Castle Doune has none of the renovation and style of Stirling Castle, in fact its in much need of renovation. But what caught our imagination was it’s origins and it’s sites strategic importance which this copy of a winters photo will show.
It’s very different to Stirling but worthy of a visit.
Doune has also been used for films such as Outlander and Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Travels with My Wife 