GRAND TOUR OF THE SCOTTISH COAST NC500. PART 9.

By Anthony Osborne

Saturday 24th To the Kelpies, the Falkirk Wheel and the end of our holiday.

The six cars were scattered over the area around Edinburgh and its vicinities on Friday night with four of them staying at the Dalton’s Mansion, thank you Eric and Fiona, and the two MGs staying in separate hotels on the outskirts of Dunfermline.
In the morning the MGs met up and drove down to the Kelpies, picking up some much needed E5 Petrol on the way there. The first order of the day was to visit the coffee shop and partake of their liquid refreshment (No it was too early for alcohol and we were driving anyway) and, of course, to check the plumbing of the facilities!
It was not long before the rest of the group were spotted walking towards these massive sculptures and we spent some time exploring them.

The Kelpies are the largest equine sculptures in the world, standing at 100ft tall and weighing more than 300 tonnes each. They were modelled on two working Clydesdale horses called Duke and Baron who were at the official opening ceremony. The name ‘Kelpies’ is derived from mythical water spirits from Scottish folklore typically taking the form of horses which take delight at the drowning of travellers. Kelpies appear to their victims as horses who entice humans to ride on their backs, then carry them down to a watery grave.
Once we had enjoyed a look at these huge creations the convoy drove the short distance to the Falkirk Wheel. The Wheel is a boat lift linking the Forth & Clyde and the Union Canal that had been linked by 11 conventional locks, which were decommissioned and dismantled in 1933.
Concepts were drawn up to replace the 11 locks and the final design is claimed to have been inspired by a Celtic double headed spear, a vast turning propeller of a Clydebank built ship, the ribcage of a whale and the spine of a fish! Work started on the Millennium Link project to once again link the two canals with the Wheel in 1998 and the project was to cost £84.5m. The Wheel itself was manufactured in Derbyshire, assembled to prove it fitted together and dismantled then transported to Falkirk in 35 lorry loads where it was unloaded and, with the use of cranes, bolted back together again. 1,200 tonnes of steel and 15,000 bolts pushed through 45,000 bolt holes were used in construction. All the bolts were tightened by hand! There were 1,000 staff working on the project. In 2002 our late Queen officially opened the lift which is the World’s first and only rotating boat lift. The lift is 35m tall and the 600 tonne gondolas hold 500,000 litres of water, equivalent to the volume of water in an Olympic swimming pool. Incredibly, because of the way it is designed, the Wheel only used 1.5 kWh of electricity to rotate from bottom to top, enough electricity to run a 3 kW electric fire for half an hour!

wo vessels, in this instance, are moored in the lower gondola waiting to be lifted. (

The Wheel is rotated clockwise on this occasion, looking from the lower pool.

The two moored vessels are now in the top gondola.

Again, we have to thank Gar for bringing us to see this impressive piece of engineering which most of us could probably have stood watching all day.
This final visit brought the end of our Scottish tour for Bill and Daphne, the two MGs, and Henry, the J C Midge, who headed back to England for a night’s stay in Hawes, whilst the rest returned to the Dalton’s mansion for an extra day in Scotland.
We travelled in convoy to Cumbria and refuelled with precious E5 petrol at G&E Murgatroyd’s Spa/Shell garage at Kirkby Stephen, not far from the Fat Lamb Country Inn which has been used twice now by the Group on its Cumbria trips. As we pulled away it was noticed that Henry was smoking well, which was not normal. A couple of miles up the road there was a convenient layby that Gus pulled into where we were able to establish the reason for the smoke. Unfortunately, a tired and windswept Gus had mistaken the Shell V-Power B7 pump for the E5 pump.

Figure : The offending petrol pump.

We rallied round Gus with John and Kevin, in the red MGB GT, taking an empty jerrycan back to Murgatroyd’s for to collect 22.73046 litres (5 gallons) of fresh E5. By the time they arrived back at Henry Gus had pumped about 5 gallons of dietrol (E5/B7 mix) into another jerrycan. The fresh fuel was added but Henry did not want to start. He was pushed back out onto the road and ran down the hill towards Kirkby Stephen in an attempt to bump start him, without success. The two MGs caught up with Henry parked in the gateway to the preserved Kirkby Stephen East railway station with a frustrated Gus wondering what to do next. It was our turn to return to Murgatroyd’s to see if they had any Easy Start and returned with a can to find that Henry had actually tried to fire up but would not run. With Gus squirting the East Start into the air intake Henry perked up a bit and started to fire continuously although he did emulate a Royal Navy destroyer making smoke! This was a success and Gus, followed by Pat and Anthony successfully made it to the Fountains Hotel in Hawes, whilst John and Kevin were up the road in a guest house.
Having settled Henry and Bill for the night and checked in we endeavoured to find some food. We were late and the Fountain Hotel’s kitchen had closed for the night but there was an Indian restaurant next door. Unfortunately, they were fully booked. However, a starving Gus smelled frying and we followed his nose down the road to a fish and chip shop with restaurant. The three of us enjoyed a meal there which certainly revived and de-stressed Gus.

Fortunately, Henry expired in a cloud of smoke in a safe resting place

On Sunday morning, after a good night’s sleep and breakfast the cars were loaded up and John and Kevin appeared. Henry fired up without hesitation (but still emitting a load of smoke much to the amazement of the locals), goodbyes were said and the three cars headed in their sperate directions homeward.
Gar, Ian, Sarah, and Brian had a restful day taking a coach into in Edinburgh, Gar even falling asleep on the coach! Whilst there they went on a Hielan Coo hunt. Sarah was very brave but the Coo would just not show his face (he was more interested in his lunch than looking at a lovely young lady!).

Sarah tries to get up close to a Heilan Coo.

On Monday Ian and Gar set off from Eric’s mansion and headed south to the Midlands and a little later Brian departed in his Jaguar for the journey back to Eire.
We are pleased to report that all safely arrived at their destinations. All in all we had ten days of fantastic motoring and in spite of all the cars dating back to the last century we had remarkably few issues.

You Tube video of the final days of the tour

​We all owe Gar a huge thank you for organising, herding, marshalling and leading us through some of the most fantastic scenery in the British Isles. It is to be driven again, in the other direction, in 2025. Are you going to join us?