I’ve been building this list for years. Basically, whenever I see something on the net or get told of a cool place, I search it out on Google Maps and save it for later. I’ve got pins dotting my entire map now of interesting places across the globe.
First we arranged our ride to pass by the Kelpies. 2 massive horse heads next to the M9. I had deleted just enough stuff from my insta360 camera that I had enough space for 2 minutes of recording. With everyone ahead and Edd taking directions on comms I think I got a nice shot of us all going past.
But keeping my last few seconds of video ready, I set it recording as we arrived at the Falkirk Wheel, hoping to be and to pull up in front of it. But once we had faffed about getting traffic barrier tickets the recording had ended. There is free motorbike parking and a good cafe, so it’s worth a stop. But the highlight is of course the huge mechanical wheel moving boats from the top to the bottom of a hill in place of a traditional flight of locks. If you’ve not been, you should go, it’s fascinating.
I’ve had those two places on the list for years and been several times. I was basically tour guide today. But then an hour with we went somewhere that I’ve had on my want to go list for a couple years. The great polish map of Scotland.
On the way, both Aimi and Adam decided they wanted to go in front. The problem with this is that I need petrol and they didn’t know where I was leading everyone. After I finally caught up with Aimi she looked very sheepish after I jokingly ticked her off. Adam nearly missed a turning but then realised and dropped back into formation for the rest of the ride.
The title of this sight on our tour is a little confusing but basically, a Polish gentleman who, after suffering a wound in WWII locally, married a nurse from the hospital. He went on to become a successful hotelier and added the property of Barony Castle to his portfolio. Envisaged as a tourist attraction and homage to the country that had been so hospitable to him and his countrymen, he commissioned a huge scale model of Scotland to be built in the gardens. Built over 6 summers by cartographers and polish university students, it was originally painted with areas of forest, major towns, roads and rivers. The major rivers even had small pipes delivering water to their sources so they would run down to the sea. It’s set out at 1:10,000 scale with the elevation being exaggerated by 1:5 so it’s more pronounced.
Overall it’s an incredibly impressive structure, but ironically best viewed by drone, which didn’t exist back then. It’s also a great shame that its maintenance had not been kept up. The paint is all gone and the concrete is cracking in places but it’s still an incredible secret gem. We had our customary tea and cake at the hotel before continuing our journey back into England.
The last few valleys in Scotland gave us some of the best biking roads of the trip. Wiggly single track, well paved roads leading up and down hills with wide open views meant we could see far ahead. This allowed us to really keep up speed and flow between the corners. It was great fun if a little faster than we should have been going.
Randomly, in the middle of nowhere was a Buddhist temple. It looked like quite a large installation of buildings temples and gardens. But being on noisy bikes, we didn’t think they would appreciate us desecrating their peace and so moved on. It was just a bit culturally out of place to find this deep in the Scottish countryside.
After food shopping for our AirBnB stay, we crossed back over a little stone bridge onto England. Following little roads between many fields we eventually arrived at a gorgeous little barn conversion house. It even had a hot tub which we lounged in after dinner. This was a great way to relax stiff muscles from a week of biking.
Then we watched Braveheart on the TV, of course.
