We made our way south for a few days of sight seeing. Stopped at the Falkirk Wheel (replaced locks on the cross country canal system and the Kelpies. The Kelpies honored the role of horses in the canal system.
This is an engineering marvel that replaced 11 locks on the cross country canal system, long after the canal system stopped being a viable commercial entity. The wheel actually helped revitalize the canal system as a recreational boating system. Now the only craft seen on this system are pleasure boaters.
The canal system is no longer used for “commercial” movement of goods, but when the wheel was built the value of the canal system moved to recreation. The center picture shows a canal boat that is used as a holiday hotel on the water. It’s intriguing to think you can spend a few days on the canal crossing Scotland. Summertime would be the best… probably.
Next we went to see the Kelpies. Steel sculptures made to honor the muscle that moved the canal boats. Because it’s summer in Scotland we weren’t able to see them lit up. We left at 10:00 PM and the sun was just setting. Still, very impressive. We also met a couple in the park looking at the new signets born this year. We had a long conversation about Scotland and the area in general. It’s nice when you can meet a local who is willing to spend some time telling you about the area.
