Stirling and Falkirk, the old and the new

A visit to Stirling proved highly educational and more than a little interesting.
We stayed at Blair Drummond affiliated site, choosing a pitch within the walled garden. The site is more open than Chatsworth and, for most of our visit, was quiet as there were several under occupied seasonal pitches.

The area was chosen as we wanted to be able to visit the Falkirk Wheel without travelling too far. This huge metal structure is the worlds first rotating boat lift which joins the Union canal with the Forth and Clyde 35 metres below it. Built as part of the Millenium link project, opened in 2002 by the queen, which reinvigorated the canals and opened up a whole new set of water based activities, as well as a cycle path, the hammer shaped object is fascinating to watch. You can stand quite close, or walk all round the wheel basin, watch from the cafe, or even book a boat trip up in the lift and down again. The guide on the boat was very informative, explaining Archimedes principle, i.e. It doesn't matter if there's a boat in one side of the lift and not the other as the boat displaces the water and the two are perfectly counterbalanced. As one side of the lift drops so the other rises to replace it. It's a remarkably smooth ride, uses very little electricity and no water is wasted. Gates lock boats and their water into the gondola which takes about fifteen minutes to complete its half revolution. All considerably cheaper and less time consuming than the eleven locks it replaced. Find out more at www.thefalkirkwheel.co.uk

Our second trip was to Stirling Castle. Cared for by 'historic scotland' since the 1990's, the castle is undergoing repairs, some work has been finished. Our visit began with a free guided tour, lasting about 45 minutes and taking us briefly through the history of the building. It changed hands from English to Scottish almost too many times to count but was a major home of Scottish kings. We were given several suggestions as to what to look at more closely. The great hall with its newly restored oak roof, looking like an upturned ship, and not a nail in sight. The palace, now beautifully painted to look as it would have done in the time of King James IV and with recently completed tapestries( part of a 13 year project with an exhibition of their own in the outer battery). Or maybe a visit to the museum of the Argyll and Sutherland highlanders. You can even walk around the walls and admire a view on all sides, and then have lunch in the unicorn cafe to recharge your batteries!

Both these visits cost around £12 per adult with various concessions.
Also worth a visit are the 'Kelpies'. Two shimmering outsized celtic water horse sculptures in the Falkirk Helix Park, just 6km down the canal from the Falkirk Wheel. They're each made of 500 separate squares of steel plate