Mike and Wendy's holiday blog

Friday 21 August

Set off at 6am, got to Tebay and decided it was too early for breakfast and motored on.

Saw signs for the Falkirk Wheel so went there.

But of shopping at Tesco then found the accomodation. We were early and it was still being cleaned so we walked to the Kelpies along the river.

Got settled in the accommodation and had a meal

Walked back to the Kelpies on my own in the evening to see them lit up.

Walked back over the canal down to the riverside - lovely reflections in the water.

Saturday 22 August

Train into Edinburgh then met up with Ema and JP.

First things first, food and a cocktail.

Then a wander round the city.

The seating structure for the Tattoo is temporary!

We left Mike and JP in a pub and went for a wander to some of the viewpoints.

A lone Piper.

Greyfriars Bobby's nose is starting to degrade with all the touching and stroking.

More walking. Nice in the sunshine.

Coffee and cake stop.

Lots of good street performers for the Fringe.

Street food before queuing.

Great atmosphere for the Tattoo.

Tried to get out early to beat the rush but ended up having to wait - and inadvertently git the best views of all the performers.

Followed the pipers down the street out from the esplanade.

Got our train. Sat on the priority seats for elderly, disabled or pregnant passengers. Interesting seat materials.. 🤣

A fabulous day!.. 👍

Sunday 23 August

A day for recovery. Went into the village of Culross.

A perfectly preserved 17th century village with the historic Culross Palace - well a merchant's house - built for Sir George Bruce who made his fortune in salt and coal. The house overlooks the Firth of Forth so he could keep an eye on his ships going up and down!

In 1625 a violent storm flooded Sir Bruce's revolutionary underwater coal mine The Moat Pit which was built with high walls out in the river - so the village started to decline and because there was no money to demolish and rebuild, the houses remained mostly derelict but intact.

Beautiful painting on the wooden ceilings and walls.

All very picturesque and used in several film and TV series including The Outlander.

Had a bit of a ride round and then went back to our accommodation to chill - both very tired after our busy day yesterday.

Didn't get to visit House of the Binns. Next time.

Monday 24 August

First stop Stirling - breakfast in the sunshine.

A walk up to the castle.

Then to Bannockburn to the (surprisingly interesting!) battle reenactment.

Next.. Alloa Tower.. a fortified tower which was part of the defensive chain along the Firth of Forth trade route.

Four floors in height.. after the first floor the stairs were tight and circular - designed for right handed sword defence in the case of attack. I didn't make it up the last flight of stairs to the roof.

Our next stop should have been the Wallace Monument near Stirling (we'd caught glimpses of it in passing) but Mike put the wrong coordinates in the sat nav and we ended up nearly in Glasgow before realising. Luckily we'd seen it before.

So.. off to our next accommodation in St Fillans. View from our window.

The Mirror Man (or Still to give the statue its correct name) stands right by the loch over from the hotel.

The light changed every few minutes.

Had a message from Ian to say that Julie's operation was successful and she was in recovery. A good place to receive the news.

Tuesday 25 August

Total change in the weather. Misty, drizzly and grey.

We went for a walk anyway.

The sky cleared up a bit.

Another sculpture piece by roadside - with mirror mosaic horns like the Mirror Man.

Finlarig castle ruins.

The beheading pit. Enemies of the Campbells (owners) were sentenced on Judgement Hill by the big holly tree about 50 metres away.

All noble criminals were beheaded here into the pit and commoners were hanged from the nearby Hanging Tree. When the tree branch was cut off in about 1900 it had a deep groove from all the rope marks.