A Ride on the FALKIRK WHEEL

If we would have known how fun it was to ride the boat to the top, we would have done it months ago.

This is a step by step sequence of getting in to the ONLY rotating wheel in the WORLD.

It brings the boats from the Forth Clyde Canal up to the Union Canal which is a distance of 70 feet.

It is as tall as 8 double decker buses.

It took 1,000 construction workers to build it.

It can carry loads as heavy as 100 elephants.

It has 14,868 bolts.

It is 35 meters wide.

It was not built as a tourist attraction.

The trip takes 50 minutes to complete, going up and back.

If you wanted to travel on the canal from Falkirk to Edinburgh it would take 12 hours to complete.

As the top one goes down the Union Canal, the bottom boat arrives on the Forth Clyde.

This is the visitors center.

Views at the top.

Floating on the Union at the top.

View at the top.

Coming in to the wheel on top of the Union Canal.

The black gate about 1/4th down on the picture is five tons. It can hold back a 50 ton boat. Ours is only 30 tons. It made me feel better knowing that because it is the edge and down we went very gently. A Great sunny DAY.

CALLENDAR FOREST

This is the tree we park by. Don't you love the roots?

Calendar woods comprise 170 acres of property just a few minutes from our flat.

The\woods  have been in existence over 500 years. The wood was part of the Livingston family's Callendar Estate bought by William Forbes in 1783. Most of the wood was largely oak coppice woodland with extensive mine workings. In the 19th century the woods were transformed to more ornamental woodland with addition of a kennel, mausoleum, lodge houses, avenues and carriage way lined with specimen tree. Pine, larch and spruce were added. 

Visitors have over 6 miles of carriageways, tracks and paths most of them dating from the 1870's. In 1999 The Forestry Commission became the owners and began laying new paths, clearing the impenetrable Rhododendron scrub which had invaded 1/3 of the wood. 

This is the 3 par golf course. I am not real excited about walking near by when they have their golfers out as they only have this wee hedge to protect us and a small fence here and there about another 5 feet above the top of the hedge.

This looks like a fun place.

This is the par 3 Par golf house-not quite ready for the season.

Looks like the tree has warts.

We watched a man throw a stick into this brush. The poor dog ran from here to there looking for the stick from his master. He NEVER found The stick.

A few oak trees are about 250 years old, but most are younger because the woods were and still are managed for timber. You'll find other native trees such as Scots pine, aspen, rowan and birch and many yew trees. The Forbes family planted soaring North American conifers-the Dougls, noble and grand firs, sitka spruce, western hemlock and cypress. 

If you stay quiet, you might catch sight of a wood mouse or a shrew in the undergrowth and early or late in the day, a tod (fox) roe deer or bawkie-bird (bat). You could even hear the haunting cry of a hootlet (owl). We have heard the owl. 

This is the marker that is used on the trails. Red, Blue and Yellow. Red for longest and hardest, and then down from there. The Grades of Walking are listed as: Easy, Easy-going (muscle loosener), Moderate (waterproof footwear), Moderate-going (muscle stretcher), Strenuous (hill walking boots), Demanding (muscle builder). We were on this last one today.

Wanted to show you our real swans.

This is our miniature golf place. I don't know if they add any wooden structures like we have in the states or if this is just the way it is.

SPRING March 1-May 31

For the Northern Hemisphere people, spring arrives in 2015 on Sunday, March 1st.  The equinox means that we have equal hours of daylight and moonlight. The daffodils that I planted last fall began to pop their heads through the hard, cold ground in January. Luckily they did not grow very quickly. If I had any warmer weather I am sure the other daffodils would start to bloom. This week the temperature ranges from 39-47F. Daffodils, Jonquils, Narcissis, or Amarylidaecae all make me happy.

The grass is filled with crocus coming through. It is quite beautiful. They have yellow, purple and white blooms. There are over 90 different genus of crocus and they come from the iris family. Here in Scotland they have been planted in rectangular sections of grass by the roadside. Doug thinks we should dig up some grass when we get home and plant some in the grass.

These are my daffodils, pansies and a few hyacinths at my flat outside. They are not very exciting yet, but they are my first sign that spring has come.

Don't you wish you lived where the grass was ALWAYS green even in the winter when it was cold? Doug wants to see what kind of grass they have here and import it in.

HEARTS

"Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature...for the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh at the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."

This link takes you to a beautiful talk about THE HEART. It will bless your life if you will read it.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1988/10/the-measure-of-our-hearts?lang=eng&query=heart+will