Blogs from Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

A wonderful day. We ‘achieved’ all that we set out to do … negotiated the early morning traffic to hit the motorway to Falkirk to experience ‘the wheel’ first-hand. The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift the only one of its kind in the world and raises boats by 24 metres to connect the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. We were told by the very informative crew member as we were raised into the air that the caissons or gondolas always carry a combined weight of 500 tonnes of water and boats, with the gondolas themselves each weighing 50 tonnes. Care is taken to maintain the water levels on each side, thus balancing the weight on each arm. As you all know, Archimedes’ principle says that floating objects displace their own weight ... read more

Mythical shape shifting horses - what is that all about ? A kelpie is a common water spirit in Scottish folklore. Sometimes the kelpie is a Celtic lakeside dwelling water horse . It can be described as a spirit living besides rivers . The kelpies also represent the heavy horses that once pulled the barges along the Scottish canals . We found ourselves on the car park at the Helix , Falkirk in Stirlingshire . We had not intended to be here this quickly but a combination of Hawick disappointing and then no parking at Melrose meant that we ended up at the Heliz rather early . Melrose had an abbey which was very similar to Jedburgh . Admission would have been free as it came under our membership of Cadw . Sadly the abbey looked ... read more

We realized it was Wednesday. For us Americans, what promptly comes to mind is the commercial with the camel named Mike. So of course our greeting to was 'Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, do you know what day it is? HUMP DAY, WHOOP!' Poor Mike was confused. I found the commercial on YouTube and he got a laugh out of it. He already thinks we are the craziest bunch of people he has met and this helped confirm that. I will give props to Sprint because in the UK we have unlimited text and data. They also seem to have a decent network here so I have been very pleased. Yeah technology! Not t mention there is free Wifi everywhere. As we have come and gone from the hotel the staff has asked us question about ... read more

Hey Everyone! I'm Laura ?. This time last year I was planning a trip to India. This indian adventure would change everything for me. Returning from that trip I couldn't wait to see what else the world had to offer and planned another thailand Malaysia and Singapore trip. Well.....that was it for me....stick a fork in me....I was done. So I started planning my great escape! But what to do and where to go? Well years before I had wanted to go to Australia, so it's a good place to start. Then that evolved into a trip to Dubai and a tour of China and Hong kong before i arrive in Australia. I gave up my job as an ITU nurse in a busy city hospital and sold all my things. So that's where I am ... read more

We all work together in a primary school and one silly day we decided it would be a good idea to walk the West Highland Way. So we are now about to spend the first week of our summer holidays traipsing through mud, scrambling over rocks and boulders, climbing up giant hills while trying to avoid fields of cows, blisters and of course the dreaded 'Midges'. Who had the idea first nobody will admit now. So here we are with a week to go, tired from a busy school term and in need of a relaxing break....packing our walking boots, waterproofs, midge nets, insect repellent and pee ponchos. We usually create a blog for the kids while we are away on residential with them so we thought you could all share our ups and downs as ... read more