Category Archives: travel

Stirling Castle

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Soon after arriving in Scotland I discovered my trusty old hiking boots were no longer waterproof. There was nothing else for it but to seek out a new pair so we ventured to Stirling for the big event. Newly booted, we paid a visit to Stirling Castle.

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Dating from the early 12th century, the present buildings were mostly built between 1490 and 1600.

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Unfortunately, the Royal Palace was undergoing a £12 million refurbishment so there wasn’t a lot for us to see.

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Judging by the weather, the walkway between the Palace and the Great Hall was a necessity.

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Just outside the castle walls lies Ballengeich Cemetery and gorgeous views across the River Forth and countryside beyond.

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The inclement weather put a dampener on the National Wallace Memorial, standing on the summit of Abbey Craig.

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The 13th century Scottish hero, Sir William Wallace, is commemorated by this 67 metre high sandstone tower, built in 1869.

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We didn’t explore the monument as we were short of time. We had a dinner date back in Greenock with some of Michael’s long lost relatives.

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Next time, we will visit the monument and climb the 246 steps to the top, hopefully on a clear day.

end of the line

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We awoke on the last day of our transcontinental rail journey to blue skies and a verdant landscape.

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The Nullarbor Plain was behind us and our destination, Perth, was merely hours away. While enjoying our breakfast in the Queen Adelaide restaurant car, the vista suddenly changed. We were passing what appeared to be massive salt lakes

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and the heavily clouded sky emitted an eerie glow.

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The lakes seemed to stretch for miles, yet, despite lengthy searching, I can find no reference to them.

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By lunch time, the scenery had changed again

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and before long we were passing through the wheat belt,

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the outer suburbs of Perth and finally, East Perth Railway Station.

Asciano

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On a perfect spring morning, we set off for a day of exploring the Tuscan countryside and some of the towns along the way. Our first stop was Asciano, an Etruscan hill town in the province of Sienna. We parked our trusty Fiat

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and wandered through the quiet streets.

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From a high point in the town, the 13th century campanile of the Church of Saint Agatha complemented the surrounding verdancy.

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We indulged in coffee and chocolate croissants

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before meandering back to the car. An Australian cycling team were taking a break, they were probably in the area for the Giro d’Italia.

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The clocktower was topped with a beautiful decorative feature.

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The 11th century Basilica of Saint Agatha looked quite different from this angle.

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I couldn’t write an Italian post without including at least a couple of doors.

As the cyclists left town,

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it was time to continue on our way, too. We didn’t get far before stopping to admire the breathtaking panorama.

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I think I found my dream home.

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Emu Valley

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I am ashamed to say, I have lived near Burnie for nearly eight years and knew of the existence of the Emu Valley Rhododendron Garden but only recently had the pleasure of spending a peaceful afternoon there. The 11ha site is a natural amphitheatre, sloping down to a large basin fed by natural springs that form a series of lakes.

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The scrub and blackberry infested hillside has been transformed over the past 35 years, mostly by volunteers, and is now classified as a plant museum. There are over 22,000 plants to admire

in this lovely, tranquil setting.

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The garden is set out in a series of “countries” from which the wild rhododendrons originate, I shan’t try to name them all.

There were other interesting features to be found as we meandered along the paths. Just past the Chinese Pavilion

we caught a glimpse of the Japanese bridge through the cherry blossom.

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Our walk continued past the Japanese ceremonial tea-house

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and across the covered bridge.

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The adjacent lawned area is popular for weddings.

The American Gazebo overlooks Lake Pearl

and the sound of water tumbling over rocks was mesmerising.

Some of the flowers were extraordinary,

all were beautiful.

We were fortunate to find a sculpture competition in full bloom.

I voted for Boho Bungalow.

We made our way past many more magnificent hybrids

and returned, across Olympus Bridge, to our starting point.

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It may have taken years to get there, but it was worth the wait.

The Falkirk Wheel

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We had seen a documentary on the Falkirk Wheel some time before our travels and just had to see it for ourselves. Near the town of Falkirk in central Scotland, the Forth & Clyde Canal used to be connected to the Union Canal by a series of eleven locks. In the 1930s, the locks were demolished and for decades there was nothing to connect these two canals. The Falkirk Wheel, the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world, opened in 2002 and reconnected Glasgow and Edinburgh via these canals. We walked along the Forth & Clyde Canal on a crisp autumn morning

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and were absolutely awed at our first sight of the wheel.

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The wheel works on Archimedes principle of displacement. The two gondolas are full of water. When a boat enters the gondola, it displaces a proportional volume of water so that the total mass is equal to the other gondola, whether there is a boat in it or not.

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The upper gondola is lowered as the lower one rises. Fascinating!

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The shape of the wheel was inspired by the Celtic double-headed axe. It is 35m in diameter and raises the boats 24m. More than eight boats can be carried at a time, taking around 20 minutes for a one way trip. Of course, we hopped on for a return circuit.

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I wish I had taken more photos, it was truly amazing.