Having family up in Scotland is wonderful. In the last few years we have taken the kids up a handful of times and each time we are welcomed into such loving arms. Rob's Auntie and Uncle look after us so well and treat our children as if they were their grandchildren, so going up for a long weekend has become one of our favourite things to do.
Dundee is the biggest city near them, about a 10 minute drive from their house so most days we are driving beside the Tay River on our way to somewhere. This trip was pretty special as the family's newest toy {not their Australian labradoodle, Harris} is a speedboat and we got very excited about our trip on it. Over the weekend we spent time at Dunnottar Castle and we went to Stonehaven to an open air swimming pool. We also spent a day at Craigtoun Country Park which very much was a day for the kids; train rides, parks, ice cream, pedalos and then the annual trip to Dundee to the Olympia swimming pool which Rob went to as a child when he came up and now we all love going to it too!
It rained a lot but on the Friday when we arrived after a detour to Falkirk the sun shone and we could have been walking along the Riviera.
It takes us about 6 hours to get to their house, we got up and left about 4.30 in the morning as we decided to go and see the Falkirk Wheel. After years of travelling up to Scotland, we had never stopped but as Rob and I both enjoy ingenious feats of mechanics, we thought we would give ourselves the day to detour slightly and spend some time there. It was actually Rob's auntie who also suggested going to see The Kelpies which was part of the same tourist trail in the Falkirk area. In as little words as possible; the wheel and the Kelpies are there as part of the canal systems that are still very active. The wheel is designed to transport narrow boats from one level of the canals to the other. Quite simply, it is a lift but indeed extremely clever in that its wheel motion is counterbalanced by a boat on each end. It is a very clever system which I later found out that my brother in law's uncle helped design! It was great to see working and if it wasn't for the rain we could have easily stayed there most of the day as there were loads of things to do and it looked to have a great play park and paths for walks along the canals. This part of Falkirk is connected to The Helix which is an eco park designed to connect 16 communities beyond Falkirk. The Kelpies are the vanguard of the project. They mark the Fourth and Clyde Canal and they are fantastic. Two huge horse head structures that stand proud on the canal itself. Again because of the rain and the usual grumpies from the journey we didn't spend as long as we could here but we had hot chocolates for breakfast and walked round the horses {which you can go inside for, for a fee} and just enjoyed the view. This was something I would do again but maybe in a couple of years and maybe on a barge!!!
Aside from Falkirk, our days were filled with trips to castles and swimming pools but our other most exciting trip was to the Tay River were we went Dolphin spotting. Now this was magical. Not only was Etta taken with how "Adorable" they were but this was the first time I had seen dolphins. What's great is even though we did this with family from Dundee you can go on Dolphin tours so if you are ever up there you can also get the chance. It was hard to get pictures as they were moving so fast and I just spent the time looking out and almost forgot. I had my video camera rolling though so I have footage I can keep of them.
With all of this excitement it's hard to think how did we get anything done but plenty of cups of tea and great food were consumed also.
It was a great little holiday for us and it very much felt like that even at just a four day trip. Collecting treasure along the Tay, dolphin spotting, castle ruin walking, saltwater swimming and good company all gave us our little Scottish break.
