BIG day.

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It's not a castle, fortress, battlement, cathedral, church, abbey, tomb, cemetery, crypt or even a golf course! In fact I'd be surprised if you've ever seen anything like this. It's one of only two (pretty sure) boat lifting wheels in the world. And it is amazing! And it is big. Spectacular yet very, very effective and efficient. It consumes the equivalent amount of electricity as 8 electric kettles when lifting 250 tons! It's an engineering marvel (and possibly a work of art?) that lifts vessels almost 30 m into the air and deposits them back in the canal ready to continue up or down stream. The photos tell the story but I was particularly impressed and certainly glad we took the time to visit.

Next big thing. The Antonine Wall. Well pretty big. It's the poor cousin to Hadrian's Wall but its sort of big. Actually there's no wall, just a ditch and the spoil banked on either side but it is still impressive. It was once the far flung northern outpost of the Roman Empire, it just didn't have as good a PR man as Hadrian had. The shots here don't really show it at its best and in sections it is more impressive.

Big horse time. They are the big Kelpies (and you thought kelpies were dogs!). They are tow ponies used to pull the barges along the tow paths. Well they were used, now the canal boats are diesel powered. These giant structures rise from the ground at Falkirk, near the Flakirk Wheel. They draw in the same tourists who pay a small fortune to park their cars and enter the free attractions! We would have a book of 'pay and display' tickets that would be a biblical proportions! But again I was impressed and they are well worth the visit.

And to Edinburg. I'd forgotten how attractive this city is but it soon comes flooding back. The streets and iconic destinations all come back and already I'm navigating pretty well. It's full of tourists (just like me. Well I'm not full of tourists but Edinburgh is full of tourists similar to me!) and the pubs vying for business are everywhere. The biggest, smallest oldest, most Irish (!) ...all within metres of each other. We're off to find one really soon, although our Airbnb host has suggested a couple of her favourite spots so that may give us some advantage over the complete novice tourist.

Caio for now, it's beer o'clock.

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