We picked up our brand new car, and saw some interesting sights on our way to Glasgow

I had to go back to downtown Edinburgh to pick up our rental car. Ruth stayed back at the house because it didn't make sense to pay another £2.20 bus fare just so that she could accompany me. 

Car rental in Scotland is much more expensive than Spain was. I started searching months ago, and the best price I could get for a one month rental was £578 ($1,071 CAD, $782 USD).

I had booked the smallest and cheapest car available, but when I got there, they said they didn't have that size available so I would get a free upgrade. Not that I wanted an upgrade, because they usually use more fuel. I wanted something fuel efficient.

Well it turns out I got the upgrade, as well as fuel efficiency... with a brand spanking new MG ZS Hybrid+!

Yes, it only had 9 miles on the clock. 

And it gets 55 mpg!

It's definitely a little bigger in size though.

Definitely a little different to drive... with its combination fuel/electric motors that seamlessly kick in and out of each other. Usually I can just hop in and drive something, but I actually took ten minutes to get myself familiar with things before setting out. (I actually had to download the owners manual to figure some things out!)

Back at the house, I picked up Ruth and our bags and we set off to do some exploring between Edinburgh and our next destination, Glasgow.

First stop was The Kelpies...

A kelpie is a mythical Scottish water horse.

The sculptures were built in 2013.

Each one is 30 meters (98 feet) high.

Doh! This canal boat needs more than a bailing bucket!

They are made of stainless steel.

They also have lots of park space and walking areas along the canals...

Made with bicycle parts.

Ruth and a unicorn.

Flying owl.

Really impressive stuff... as was our next stop at the Falkirk Wheel...

There are miles of canals up here.

The Forth & Clyde and Union Canal system was built between 1755 and 1780. The two canal systems were connected by 11 locks that took a full day for boaters to navigate. But in 2002, a new system was built... the world's one and only circular boat lift that reduced the navigation time from 11 hours... to only 15 minutes!

The Falkirk wheel in operation.

You can see a boat in the lower section.

The boats is now almost at the top.

The top section of the upper canal where the lift meets it.

The boat exiting the lift.

And it is on its way!

Really phenomenal engineering! 

I thought it would be fun to rent a canal boat and explore that way for a couple of weeks... until I checked the prices. A two person boat rental for 10 days is £2,000 ($3,700 CAD, $2,700 USD)! And you still have to supply your own food. Compare that to our upcoming 16 day cruise for the equivalent of £1,600 ($3,000 CAD, $2,200 USD) where food is included and we get to go to Greenland, and it's pretty easy to see the cruise is much better value. Of course I realize that it's really apples and oranges because they are two completely different experiences.

Mom with her little ones.

From there, we drove to the outskirts of Glasgow. Our friends David and Mirsie live here, but they are currently in France and we're really disappointed to not see them... however they offered us the use of their apartment until they return in mid August. 

This is where they live!

It's an old Scottish manor house that has been renovated and turned into apartments. Pretty cool!

Gotta go... surprise meet up with Helen and Tony! They are up here with their motorhome and are going to visit us at our next house sit, but our paths are crossing sooner than expected and we are only 23 miles away!