Islay Trip Day Seven

Back Blipped 24th July 2017

On the road home, and the weather is trying to make up for all the dry time on Islay! In the south we've been hit with thunderstorms and flash floods, and the forecast for the ride down is dreadful... but in the end we had blue skies and fantastic anvil clouds - but no rain. Weather gods, gotta love'em.

Having "done" the Kelpies the previous evening (processing still) we stopped at the Falkirk Wheel, canal boat lift, in the morning. Greg had seen the wheel before, but I don't think I had. So he stayed with the bikes, and all the kit (and the bottles of wonder water in the panniers) while I went for a wander. Luckily, I arrived just in time to see the wheel in operation.

Two narrowboats had motored into the bottom gondola, sirens wailed and motors started to spin. With a reluctant clank the whole thing rotated so that the top gondola became the bottom gondola! I gather the five minute lift replaced a flight of eleven locks that took a whole day to navigate, and the lift takes boats up to a height of 35m. An engineering marvel.

Having the thing rotate right over your head is... a little intense. I hope the hugely distorted view here shows some of that intensity.

So, that's the end of the Islay Adventure. I did 1206 miles (Greg did a little more) and according to his trip computer we were riding for almost exactly 24 hours (leaving only six days for sleeping eating walking and of course drinking!). Pictures will appear on Flickr, but not yet. Tomorrow it's packing the camper for Druid Camp!!!

It's an enviable life...
{Greg's Day Seven)