STIRLINGSHIRE

A rainy morning at the site kept everyone in the cafe or under awnings. The Kelpies still looked magnificent even in this dull weather. The first PiP shows the dramatic scenery behind The Kelpies. The second PiP shows The Kelpies in sunshine, but the hills behind have disappeared under clouds. The presence of people adds scale to the horses.

The Kelpies are 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. Built of structural steel with a stainless steel cladding, The Kelpies weigh 300 tonnes each. Construction began in June 2013, and was complete by October 2013. However the process of fabricating the steel was several years in the making. SH Structures, of Yorkshire, carried out this fabrication and also managed the erection of the sculptures on site.

This canal boat was entering a lock leading from the Forth and Clyde Canal into the Falkirk Wheel basin. We watched as it was taken up to the next level, together with a tour boat, to the Wheel.

The world’s only rotating boat lift, The Falkirk Wheel links the Forth & Clyde Canal to the Union Canal 35 metres above, allowing vessels to sail through the sky thanks to a unique fusion of art and engineering – and the same power it would take to boil eight kettles. It really is a wonderful piece of engineering. The first PiP shows the wheel just starting to lift a tour boat on the left and lower another tour boat, which is almost at the top level, on the right. The second pip shows the tour boat on the right being lowered down and the the other tour boat being taken to the top.

The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift in Tamfourhill, Falkirk, in central Scotland, connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. It reconnects the two canals for the first time since the 1930s. It opened in 2002 as part of the Millennium Link project. The two canals served by the wheel were previously connected by a series of 11 locks.[With a 35-metre (115 ft) difference in height, it required 3,500 tonnes (3,400 long tons; 3,900 short tons) of water per run and took most of a day to pass through the flight. Courtesy of Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkirk_Wheel

Both strange and beautiful, the Pineapple has always amazed and inspired visitors. It was built in 1761 by the Earl of Dunmore as a summerhouse where he could appreciate the views from his estate. At this time, pineapples were among Scotland’s most exotic foods. The intricately carved stone pineapple, which is situated between the two bothies, forms an elaborate cupola atop an octagonal pavilion, with sash windows topped with Gothic ogee arches on seven sides and a door, topped with an ogee transom, on the eighth. The pineapple is around 14 metres (46 ft) high and constitutes a stunning example of the stonemason's craft, being a remarkably accurate depiction of a pineapple. Each of the curving stone leaves is separately drained to prevent frost damage, and the "stiff serrated edges of the lowest and topmost leaves and the plum berry-like fruits are all cunningly graded so that water cannot accumulate anywhere, ensuring that frozen trapped water cannot damage the delicate stonework." Courtesy of Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunmore_Pineapple It is possible to rent part of this building for a vacation.