[Photos] UK 18 - Falkirk, The Kelpies

[moonvoice]

I'm just going to write what I wrote on my Instagram post here, because I... this was a personal journey, and on the very top of my bucketlist, along with seeing Orkney.

*

Story time!

I have spent more than 6 years of my life writing about two kelpies, the Manx Glashtyn and the Scottish Each Uisge (Ash and Augus respectively in my Fae Tales series).

When I learned of these Falkirk kelpie sculptures by Andy Scott, I knew we had to go see them, and it was everything I hoped for. Scott drew his own two Clydesdales, Duke (head down) and Baron (head up), envisaging their great bodies standing beneath the water. 30 metres high! I have a print of that original sketch that will live in my writing office forever.

I've spent more of my life living, breathing and writing waterhorses more than any other mythological being, and I am indebted to them and others on this wild journey that is still ongoing, and endlessly grateful to the folks who read and enjoy their contemporary stories, and allow them to live on in those entirely new guises in writing and art.


Time to eat the sun










It was really interesting being here actually. The land is being rehabilitated around the Kelpies, and other art installations hide around the place, integrated into the natural spaces. There are a lot of walkways, but otherwise nothing else is nearby except for the coffeeshop/store for tourism type stuff. It's a long walk in (accessible), and a long walk back, and it was cold as fuck when we went. But that was really nice.

You see them from a distance (I don't have a picture of them from far away, because I sort of forgot to take pictures, lol), and you can already tell they're huge. As you approach, the kelpies begin to separate. But here, they are still together, a pair.











Look, I...really really liked this photo.





This is the point where you can literally see the cogs turning in my brain like 'HEY WAIT A MINUTE, MAYBE if I move a little bit THIS way...'










Next, Inverness, and the places we visited while we were around Inverness, including Eilean Donan castle, the Isle of Skye, and well, Loch Ness, and a few other places. Did I mention I fucking love Scotland?

Comments

[silverjackal]

Oh these are *spectacular*. Thank you for sharing the photos. I've seen photos before but somehow the did not capture the magnitude and grandeur and just how imposing they are. I think I particularly like the photos with the reflection but it's difficult to choose.

[moonvoice]

I was so happy we went. I had a moment because I was very tired (this was leaving Edinburgh after all, and my energy levels were hilariously low), but then it was like, no, come on, this is one of the two things you absolutely wanted to do more than anything else. They are striking, they do small tours inside, but you can go right up and touch them, and the tourism shop was generous with its information. (Also a lot of people with their dogs, since it was a dog friendly venue, which was actually pretty awesome).