Travel – 9 Usual Suspects

Here we are in dreich, wet, cold and windy, not quite what we had hoped for, but a welcome break none the less. We are currently stopped for the night in the Kelpies’ carpark for a very reasonable £7.50.

The Kelpies are horse-head sculptures that depict shape-shifting water spirits. They are constructed out of stainless steel on a mild steel framework being 30 metres high and weigh 300 tonnes each. These are not only a superb piece of engineering and also are stunning to look at from every angle.

GC891CY Phooning with the Kelpies by Doodlejack virtual D1.5/T1.5

In-between the weather we have managed to visit some amazing places and of course find geocaches and adventure labs.

Melrose Abbey, note the umbrella at the ready.

One of our ambitions was to walk across the Forth Bridge and to grab the virtual cache in the middle, we achieved this in the teeth of a freezing wind, but it was well worth it for the views. Since the opening of the “New” Forth Road Bridge only busses and taxis are the only motorised transport allowed across the bridge, there is a pedestrian and cycleway either side of the main carriageway at the moment only the east side is open. There was no sign of anyone painting the bridge, maybe they finally finished it!

GC7B69W Fiorth of Forth (Virtual Reward) by Devious_Dwarferkev virtual D2/T2

Forth Rail Bridge from start of the old Road Bridge

One of the adventure labs in Moffat took us down a leafy cul-de-sac to where a full size Second World War fighter plane was parked on a bungalow front lawn, it beats gnomes or solar water wheels for oneupmanship!

As we compose this the rain is still pattering down on the roof of the van, hopefully tomorrow will bring sunshine for a trip to the Falkirk Wheel before heading off to Lindores Abbey Distillery.

After five and a half years planning we are here in Flores, the most westerly point of Europe, surrounded by the Atlantic ocean, next stop the USA. The scenery is truly amazing and we find ourselves repeatedly exclaiming WOW. With Waterfalls over half a kilometre high and volcano calderas two a penny here it’s hard to describe the beauty. Geocaches however are a contrast often a small fragile plastic bottle from a popular local non alcoholic drink being abandoned in strategic locations, without the respect of private property or stone walls. Our lack of Portuguese is a handicap even with google translate often the text and hint are often incomprehensible.