Scotland 2014 #5 Portobello Beach

 No holiday is complete for me without a trip to the beach - and fortunately Edinburgh has one right on the doorstep at Portobello

And so few beach trips are complete without a dash for the car as the rain moves in!

Scotland 2014 #4 Edinburgh sky at night

As the sun sets, seemingly to the north over Fife, Edinburgh lights up.

I'm not sure my camera brought out the magical quality to these scenes but it gives a hint.

Scotland 2014 - #3 Edinburgh Fringe

If you're in Edinburgh in August there's no avoiding the Fringe festival taking place on seemingly every street corner around.

The real excitement though is on a small section of the Royal Mile - closed to traffic for the duration and taken over by drama companies and comedians trying to convince the passers-by that theirs is THE show to catch....even if they have to resort to slightly bizarre methods to catch your attention!

Don Quixote's windmill

two comedians in search of a flyer

I did get round to attending two 'proper' shows (more later) but could easily have spent all my time wandering around here with witches, jugglers, an invisible man, dancers, musicians, a random pig-rocker and the seemingly obligatory dead body!

Scotland 2014 #2 Falkirk - the Wheel and the Helix

I seem to spend a lot of time pottering about by canals - for one thing I love the flat, reliable surfaced walks alongside them!









There's an extra attraction to the canal at Falkirk though - the Wheel, a boatlift which joins the Forth + Clyde and Union canals, replacing a long flight of locks.

We were lucky enough to arrive just as it started to rotate.

You can take a boat trip and be carried aloft in the Wheel but we walked up the hill....

....through a spooky tunnel.....

...and discovered Santa's hideaway at the end of it.

Then we moved on a few miles (made more by getting lost) to The Helix, a country park dominated by the magnificent Kelpie sculptures.











I saw the mini mock-ups of these a few years ago at Falkirk Wheel and had been eagerly waiting to see them in their finished form.

Although strikingly wonderful from a distance, I think they lose something close to, when all the construction details can be seen.
This is probably my preferred distance - when they can be seen as a whole.