Falkirk

 Apparently Falkirk is not a big tourist destination - especially in winter. For us, it was easier than staying in Edinburgh, but most importantly, it is home to the Falkirk Wheel, a big deal for engineers all around the world. More on that later. 

We stayed in a cute little 1st floor (that means up a flight of stairs) flat that overlooked the Forth and Clyde canal. We had four windows that overlooked the canal, and that first night when I couldn't sleep (thank you jet lag!), I dreamed of getting outside and walking/biking along that canal. 

View at night

View in the morning

And finally we unpacked everything and I got out my new baby bike, which survived checked luggage just fine. 

Riding on the canal paths was just as good as I hoped! 

One direction about 2 miles along the canal took me to the Kelpies. 

The other direction took me to the famed Falkirk Wheel. It was closed for renovations, but you can start to see the scale of this engineering feat. Canal boats transiting from the Union Canal (high up in the air here) to the Forth and Clyde can float into the top part of the wheel, then rotate down to the lower level. 

Falkirk Wheel Video from Dream Big, an IMAX movie. (Youtube, 2 minutes 30 sec)

Back on the Forth and Clyde, there were almost 10 small locks between us and the Falkirk Wheel. If we'd been on a canal boat, we would have opened and closed these ourselves - not like the lock and dams in Minnesota!

Pretty canal boat.

Wendy took a turn on the baby bike!

The canal was teeming with birds, including these swans. 

Incidentally, Falkirk is also a historic town. Falkirk sits on a hill/ridge, so it's no wonder the Antoine wall runs though it - the furthest extent of the Roman empire into Britain, around 140 AD. The Romans didn't hold this line very long, falling back to the Hadrian wall until they retreated from Britain altogether in 450 AD. 

There's a kirk from the 7th century, and the "current" town dates from at least the 1700s. 

Lindisfarne

We woke up late in Tadcaster after a long and luscious night sleep that followed the night of no sleep on the plane. And then we had to face the fact that we didn't have time or energy for York. Sometime we'll visit York Minister, Shambles and walk on the city walls - but not today. 

Instead, we headed north. To break up the five hour drive, we stopped at Holy Island - Lindisfarne. There was a huge Viking raid here in 793 - a splashy, dramatic raid to escalate the move from Vikings from traders to raiders. Lindisfarne was a wealthy, prominent community, so it was a big deal when it was attacked. We'd seen references to this attack in many videos about the Vikings - so it was interesting to stop and see the actual place. 

• In 793AD, Vikings attacked Lindisfarne. Here's why it was so shocking

These days, there's not much to commemorate that raid. The place is mostly known for other reasons - the birds, dunes, a castle that is not a castle, and for being an island that is not really an island. 

This causeway/road connects the island to the mainland for half of each day, when the tide is low. 

It's important to check the time tables before you go to Lindisfarne, because it's a drag to get stuck until the water goes down. But it's not hard. There are timetables posted way in advance, and there are signs reminding you when it closes. I was afraid that the road would be slimy or sandy from being covered twice a day, but it wasn't. It's just a very low road with wet/water on both sides. Neat, though. And yes, I checked the time tables before we went! 

Here's the castle - which is not actually a castle. It was first a fort around 1550, then turned into a holiday home in 1900.

We parked in the huge parking lot and followed the crowds through the town and along the path to the castle, stopping at the big bird blind to see the water birds that over winter here. 

Back over the causeway that was still safe to pass... 

and soon we got to the Scottish border!

A Month in the UK (mostly Scotland)

How much stuff do we need for a month in Scotland? A lot! But less than you think when you realize that the rectangular bag to my right is mostly full of - bicycle! 

 

This year, we're planning to rent a car in London and drive to Scotland, stopping to see stuff along the way. 

Our first stop was at the Nene Valley Railway, an old train station that is being restored by enthusiasts. Saturday was a big day at Nene, with short trips in a restored train pulled by Thomas, rides on the miniature (5" gauge) railway, and lots of other rail stuff to see. 

Tadcaster

The first day we made it to Tadcaster, near York and settled into our adorable airbnb, an apartment converted from an old barn. Tadcaster dates from Roman times, when it was resting place for travelers going from Londinium to York. It also had one of the only river crossings for miles, a big deal in those days. It's a tiny place now, but we enjoyed walking along the river and seeing the old buildings. Supposedly, it was in The Ark (see below) that the Puritans hatched the plan to migrate to the United States. 

Old bridge - though not original. 

New bridge. They've had a lot of flooding this year. 

Old stable straight ahead where we stayed. 

The part of The Ark that has survived. 

Churchyard with fantastic bells ringing. 

Portsmouth and the Tank Museum

Our last adventure was also inspired by military history (Adam): the Tank Museum and then Historic Portsmouth. 

The Tank Museum is just that - a museum full of tanks. Lots and lots of tanks. Way out in the middle of nowhere. Just over 2 hours southwest of London and not that easy to get to. So Friday we packed up, took the tube to from Elephant and Castle to Picadilly Circus, then the Picadilly line to Heathrow, where we rented a car and drove to the Tank Museum. I don't have any pictures of it because mom and I dropped Adam off there and left. I have about five minutes attention for tanks. 

We drove due south 15 minutes to Lulworth Cove, clearly a British tourist destination - and for good reason. A cute little cove with a series of cafes, ice cream shops, and hotels. And a huge parking lot. Even on a Thursday in February it was crawling with visitors. I'm very glad we didn't visit in summer! It was a perfect way to spend a few hours while waiting for Adam.  

Then on to Portsmouth for a couple nights. Portsmouth is a town along the southern cost of England, right on the channel. It traces its history back to Roman times. It's been a home to the Royal Navy for centuries. The town got its charter in 1194. It has the world's oldest drydock. There's a bit of history - and a lot of it related to the Royal Navy. Historic Portsmouth is a part of the harbor adjacent to the current Royal Navy dockyards that has been developed with museums - like eight of them. Adam, of course, wanted to see all of them. 

The HMS Victory is being restored. She was launched in 1765, and was best known as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. Adam toured her. He also went to see the Mary Rose, Henry VIII's favourite ship, which sank nearby 1545. They've been able to recover all sorts of artifacts which are in the museum. 

The ticket to see all the museums was 40 pounds - around $45. Mom and I got the free ticket that allowed us to wander around the grounds and take pictures of the harbor gulls and black-headed gulls. We liked that a lot. 

We'd been watching a reality show called Warship: Tour of Duty about a 7 month cruise of the HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2021. So it was especially exciting to find that the warship was in her home dock and we could see her! This view is from the harbor tour we also took. 

The harbor isn't just for the navy. There are also all sorts of ferries, going across the bay to Gosport, to the Isle of Wight, and various places across the channel. This huge ferry (significantly bigger than the Northlink) was doing 4.5 hour channel crossings to France. 

Mom and I also walked along the waterfront to Spice Island - where they used to buy and sell spices. We found out that Portsmouth is a walled city, especially at the entrance to the harbor, which was heavily fortified with towers and walls and a system to literally close the harbor. I took this picture from one of the towers at the harbor mouth. 

And this one through the harbor wall to the other side of the harbor mouth, Gosport. 

That night we went out to eat in a "real" pub. The final day we got up, drove back to London, and flew home to Minnesota! What a trip.

London

 I was worried about London. Getting there was complicated, the airbnb had all sorts of red flags, and I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do there. But Adam *really* wanted to go, and mom did too, so on Monday, we boarded the ferry and off we went. 

The weather forecast for the ferry was so bad that they cancelled the stop in Kirkwall, and delayed our departure, hoping the winds would go down. Everyone was boarded by 6:30 pm with an expected departure time of 9 pm, which was strange. Not bad. We settled into our cabins, had dinner, explored the ship - all while in port. Finally we cast off, and Adam and I took dramamine. Passage from the southernmost part of Shetland - Sumburgh - and Fair Isle is always the roughest. It's kind of the Drake Passage of the north, with the wind and storms from the Atlantic spilling over into the north sea. But snug in our beds with our dramamine, Adam and I dozed while enjoying the 26' swells of the ocean. By midnight we were on calmer water and we slept - well - OK. 

We arrived in Aberdeen at 9 am for our 9:50 am train - but we only had to walk 15 minutes to get it, so that worked out fine. Taking the train almost the length of the UK was neat. Coast and coves. Farmland. Trees! Towns. Cathedrals. 

Our train ended in King's Cross. The famous train station from Harry Potter. It was really dramatic - and vibrant. And crowded. Making our way into the undergroud, squeezing onto the cars at rush hour, getting out of the underground - was challenging. Our airbnb key was not at the designated location and that location was not the airbnb itself. So it was a relief to get there and get settled. 

The next two days, we did London - our way. Our first stop was the Imperial War Museum (Adam's pick). It's an amazing museum, and I particularly appreciated the Holocaust exhibit - how it described the world situation leading up to the Holocaust. Adam found it all interesting. 

Afterward, we walked along the Thames and found this COVID monument, walked through St. James park, saw Buckingham Palace, then took a double decker bus back. 

The second day, Adam went to the HMS Belfast. Mom and I walked to the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. 

Later we went to the Borough Market - which was amazing. 

Then Adam said that there was a warship arriving, so we went to see it come through the Tower Bridge and park next to the HMS Belfast. 

Next up: Portsmouth and the Tank Museum