In June last year I had a long weekend in Scotland, travelling to Glasgow (for a Stone Roses gig) and Edinburgh. We had some time to kill in Glasgow and to be honest there wasn’t a lot -to our knowledge at the time- to see/do, so upon recommendation from a friend, we jumped on the train and headed on over to Falkirk to visit the Kelpies.
Visiting the Kelpies
Those Magnificent Beasts
The Kelpies are truly magnificent. Located at The Helix Park, the Kelpies are two 30-metre high equine stainless steel monuments based on the Clydesdale breed of horse, itself named after the Scottish county. The Kelpies form the vanguard of The Helix and the Forth & Clyde canal, and were designed by artist, Andy Scott.
I’m quite into the outdoors and I quite like canals, and it’s while watching ‘Great Canal Journeys’ with Timothy West and Prunella Scales on Channel 4 that I first became aware of the Kelpies. However, I hadn’t really twigged where they were, and that visiting them was feasible so for me, discovering how close these magnificent structures were to Glasgow was brilliant.
Getting There
We took the train from Glasgow Queen Street to Falkirk Grahamston, which took a little under an hour or so, and is about two miles from The Helix Park. We walked the rest of the way but I believe you can get a bus to the Falkirk stadium which is near by. Personally, if the weather is okay -which it was on our visit- I think you should walk if you can and you get to see more of the local area.
The Helix Park is a wonderful local greenspace and it was busy with families with young children, and couples all enjoying the outdoors. You can pay to do a short, 30-minute tour of the Kelpies which teaches you more about the history of their creation and takes you inside so you can have an in-depth appreciation of the level of engineering behind their construction. Alternatively, you can just walk around the park and see the Kelpies up close from the outside. There is of course a visitor centre with a cafe and shop.
Have you ever visited the Kelpies?
Until next time x
