Pictures from the way up to Glencoe.
The extraordinary Rosslyn chapel, just south of Edinburgh. The original church was planned to be much larger; the unfinished wall would have formed part of the transepts of the church, but work was abandoned after the death of its founder, William Sinclair. The chapel is lavishly decorated with medieval masonry, although the details have been submerged beneath a coat of liquid cement ill-advisedly used to preserve the stonework.
The splendid Stirling Bridge over the River Forth. The battle of Stirling Bridge (not actually at this location) was a famous victory of the Scots, led by William Wallace, over the English.
Which neatly leads to the National Wallace Monument (L), built as a memorial to William Wallace amidst a great stir of nationalistic pride in the 19th C. Thanks to the wildly historically inaccurate Braveheart, the monument is always busy with overseas visitors, making for some congestion on the single spiral staircase (R).
View from the monument towards Stirling and the Forth.
(L) The national flower of Scotland – the thistle, and (R) the rather nice Terraces Hotel, Stirling.
Falkirk Wheel
Views of the marvellous and unique Falkirk Wheel, which lifts boats 24 m (79 feet) from the Union Canal to the Forth and Clyde Canal. The Wheel was opened in 2002, replacing a flight of 11 locks which had fallen into disrepair. The ingenious use of Archimedes principle to ensure that the two “caissons” have the same weight, whether a boat is present or not, means that remarkably little energy is required to turn the wheel through 180 degrees.
(L) View from above the boat lift and (R) along the Rough Castle tunnel.
As well as having a practical purpose, the Wheel provides leisure and and tourism facilities for Falkirk, which is not otherwise an obvious tourist destination (we stayed in Stirling!).