Day 33 Castles and Machine Wonder!

Saturday 20/04/2018 Stirling Court Hotel Room 112

Another day dawns and we had our first real sunset yesterday afternoon, an now officially 4 days in a row of sunshine.... wow it’s exciting.

Off to breakfast it’s included here also and yep a full buffet, but as always the food just doesn’t taste great... it’s food it fills the spot but the flavours very, very bland.... from the snags to the scrambled eggs and even the hash brown.... starting to wonder if maybe it’s my taste buds... although John never comments on food flavour food is food to him not like me it’s the whole experience.... but he has also been commenting on no flavour, so unless it’s both our tastebuds I think it’s the food.... anyway we aren’t fading away that’s for sure so we must be being sustained....

Off after breaky on our round day trip, round as in the circuit we have planned for the day.... First up the Falkirk Wheel.... ohh my goodness it’s huge and we arrived just in time to see it in action well timed.... There is heaps here to do with Abseiling of the very hugh Viaduct of the Canals above us... sounds funny above us but that’s what it was,.. so we watched the people doing this whole the boat going into the Wheel was preparing itself....

On the water below the abseilers were people in those big clear balls on the waiter... interesting watching all the activities... Then the Wheel started wow what an unreal process to watch.. it drove in to the Wheel then the Wheel slowly spun in itself so it lifted the whole boat in the mini canal the boat was in.. up, up, up into the main canal in the Viaduct.... what an unreal spectacle to watch....

Once done I went around taking pics of all the stone carvings around the car park... from one side was one shape from the other side another, well done also... then down to check out the main shops.

This is where I found the little book on the Johnson family, Mums family and we saw some Hairy soft toy Coooows but just too expensive to buy.... one no bigger then about 40 C.M. they wanted $200 Aust £100 UK, too dear a shame really...

All done here we set off for Blackness Castle... it is built like a massive ship and called the ship that never sailed....
Blackness Castle is a 15th-century fortress, near the village of Blackness, Scotland, on the south shore of the Firth of Forth. It was built, probably on the site of an earlier fort, by Sir George Crichton in the 1440s. At this time, Blackness was the main port serving the Royal Burgh of Linlithgow, one of the main residences of the Scottish monarch. The castle, together with the Crichton lands, passed to James II of Scotland in 1453, and the castle has been crown property ever since. It served as a state prison, holding such prisoners as Cardinal Beaton and the 6th Earl of Angus. Strengthened by Sir James Hamilton of Finnart in the mid-16th century, the castle became one of the most advanced artillery fortifications of its time in Scotland. A century later, these defences were not enough to prevent Blackness falling to Oliver Cromwell's army in 1650. Some years after the siege, the castle was repaired, and again served as a prison and a minor garrison. In 1693, the spur protecting the gate was heightened, and the Stern Tower shortened as a base for three heavy guns. Barracks and officers' quarters were added in the 1870s, when the castle was used as an ammunition depot, until 1912. The castle was briefly reused by the army during World War I. It is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument, in the care of Historic Scotland. Because of its site, jutting into the Forth, and its long, narrow shape, the castle has been characterised as "the ship that never sailed". The north and south towers are often named "stem" and "stern", with the central tower called the "main mast".

Again we didn’t go in but wandered around... it has amazed us no end to the amount of people out picnicking, soaking up the sun, dogs, kids and adults just everywhere.... it’s like someone opened the doors and they were set free.....

Once I had done taking pics we set off to find the Bo’ness and Kinnell Railway.... we arrived just in the Nic of time to see the steam train set off loaded with people having High Tea... you could see them sitting at tables through the windows... Nit everyone was having High Tea only the upper carriages, the back carriages it was just passengers... so that was great timing for 2 viewings today without knowing they would happen....

Next we set off to the Kelpies.... The Kelpies are a 30-metre-high horse-head sculptures, standing next to a new extension to the Forth and Clyde Canal, and near River Carron, in The Helix, a new parkland project built to connect 16 communities in the Falkirk Council Area, Scotland. The sculptures were designed by sculptor Andy Scott and were completed in October 2013. The sculptures form a gateway at the eastern entrance to the Forth and Clyde canal, and the new canal extension built as part of The Helix land transformation project. The Kelpies are a monument to horse powered heritage across Scotland. The sculptures were opened to the public in October 2013 . As part of the project, they have their own visitor centre, and sit beside a newly developed canal turning pool and extension. This canal extension reconnects the Forth and Clyde Canal with the River Forth, and improves navigation between the East and West of Scotland.

The Kelpies were just astounding to see up close, so huge, so well done and again so many people around it was like ants on a crawl.... we had a cuppa here and an ice cream watching the sights,,,. Then I had to go to the loo.... well this could have turned into a huge drama if it wasn’t for a kind Scottish gentleman... I went into the loo, locked the door, did what I needed, went to leave and the lock was jammed, bit matter what I did to try and jimmy it open it wasn’t having any of it.... So as I am about to start calling out, a man whose wife could see that the door was trying to open arrived on the other side of the door asking was I ok.... ohhh thank you so much I said as he managed to pop the lock fro outside thank goodness... I envisioned déjà vu.... after being licked in a toilet in Greece years ago and at home for a few hours.... so now I am a bit nervous about loos and being locked in them. John totally unaware was happy eating his hotdog and wondering why I was constantly thanking this stranger....

So not locked up we set off to find a tunnel we read about but nothing was firm... so using gut instinct and a bit if sight we somehow found this quietly keep secret tunnel.... Again great timing we were just in time to see a Canal boat go into it... seems it was built 2 centuries ago but now used as a canal connection.... plus locals on foot or bike use it... You wouldn’t have a clue it’s there as it is way down a cliff under a new car park for the train Stn no signage on it other than some history on a walking path sign... It was the longest canal tunnel to be built in Scotland and was completed in 1822. One of the reasons for its length was that the owner of Callander House would not allow the canal to be dug within sight of the house. The solid limestone and millstone was excavated by hand using picks and shovels and early gunpowder. The tunnel is 630 metres long and at least 3.6 metres high. The lights were put in as part of the Millennium Link project that also built the Falkirk Wheel. Continue to the far end, take care to look out for the calcified forms and stalactites built up over the years by the dripping water - the reflections of the roof can also look very dramatic due to the stillness of the water.
The dripping water in one spot was like a big tap turned on it was pouring out if it, also in the middle if the roof in a few spots were these massive man holes... it was eerie even with little lights on one side it was still pretty dark, I kept thinking someone could kill you here and no one would know.... after coming out we read it was used by two men named Burke and Hare relocated from Ireland to Scotland in a bid to be involved in the tunnels creation – if only someone knew what they were going to be capable of. Burke and Hare went on to kill 16 people during their time in Scotland, providing their bodies for medical experiments. Furthermore, the canal was also used by doctors to smuggle the corpses of patients to Edinburgh University, with the bodies being hidden in containers labelled as industrial chemicals. You might begin to understand now why people describe the Falkirk Tunnel as eerie and atmospheric. The Falkirk Tunnel, located just behind Falkirk High Station, was created nearly 200 years ago and was originally used for transporting coal, today it carries the Union Canal beneath Prospect Hill in Falkirk and connects Falkirk to the heart of Edinburgh. So there you go I had reason to feel creepy..l.

We left here and headed to just have a look at the city and somehow without any planning or reading signage ended up at Stirling Castle.... however it was closing time and people were being ushered out of it, I tried to take a peek through the main gate but there was a huge big stone wall I. From if me so no peeking was had... it seemed extremely fortified so you really could tell what it was like, and my iPhone was so full from the day I could take any pics to show anyone other than my bug camera and it’s too much trying to download them and out Uo in the net... so just taken for me..l it did remind me very much of the Edinburgh Castle in how it was designed and set up. On the highest hill top in the city overlooking the whole lot 360% great views from up here seeing the valley below. Knowing they were going to shut the main gate area to the car park we thought we had best leave as hardly any cars left up here... A drive around the old city centre it looked really interesting.... then iff to find a Pizza place for dinner.... they seem very light on takeout shops around Stirling either that or we are I the wrong spot....... finally found one on goggle so set off to find it ourselves, but once found we realised no parks, fortunately I had spotted a fish, chip and Pizza shop as we were looking fir the other one, but exactly where that was turned into a bit of finding... we did and finally got the pizza, again very tasteless.... stuffed if I know what it is about Scottish food but it has no flavours with fast food or hotel, and restaurants......

So back to our room to eat the pizza, John had left 2 beers on the window sill to keep cool, well it was officially Scotland’s hottest day today 17c max in the paper, but in our car 23c however the poor beers must have been snout 30c sitting next to the glass and with no fridges here, he resorted to one fro the car, which wasn’t a lot better..... not sure what we will do for our drinkies now it’s heating up and no fridges....

A bonus was another amazing sunset...

On a trivial note we are a amused at the parking system here you can park back of front in either side of the road, so when you are driving along in the streets it’s nothing g for a car to suddenly duck out from the opposite side of the street it road to be on the right side to drive, it’s very off putting when you not used to it... and a wonder there isn’t more accidents.... it’s called organised chaos.....

There was a lot to take in today, but worth all the tripping around....Read more