Pandas in the UK Photographs.

Tuesday the 1st of May was finally the day where i got to meet the amazing Pandas at Edinburgh Zoo. The are more amazing up close that you could ever imagine. So beautiful so graceful and so lazy!

This is Tian Tian the female panda who had actually been sleeping all day, also known as Sweetie.

And this is Yang Guang the male bear also know as Sunshine, also being a bit lazy and sleepy. Although he soon got up and started feasting on his bamboo, panda cake and carrots and looked very content.

 Yang Guang in his outside enclosure whilst the Zoo keepers were preparing his food in his indoor enclosure.

 A very happy Yang Guang with his Panda cake.

 Eating every last crumb of Panda cake off the floor.

And onto his carrots, we were actually told that pandas can eat up to 14 hours a day and sleep for the rest of the day. I like this lifestyle i could quite happily exist to just eat and sleep.

 After so much eating it's quite tiring so a lazy rest for Yang Guang.

 A more traditional sight was to see the pandas eating their massive amount of Bamboo, and incredibly the pandas will eat up to £70,000 worth of bamboo a year. Lets just hope lots and lots of people keep visiting these beautiful bears so that they can stay. I really do hope in the future they will be able to mate and have a cub, then i would most definitely take another trip up to scotland and see them again. Pandas have a very short fertility window and they were recently put together in the hope that they would mate, the keepers said there were very positive signs with Tian Tian certainly making all the correct noises however it just didn't happen at this time. But they also explained they they have only been in their new home a few months and it can take up to 12 months for them to settle in properly and are hoping that this time next year they will have more luck. Here's some videos from when the pair were put together courtesy of Edinburgh Zoo

Beltane Fire Festival Edinburgh pictures

On Monday 30th April Edinburgh came alive for one evening to celebrate the Beltane fire Festival. The festival celebrates the closing of the winter and the opening of the summer, and celebrates the changing of the seasons. Up on Calton Hill over looking the whole city 1000's people gathered ready for the evenings performance.

The procession is lead by the May Queen,

Followed by her army of green men that have to pass through the fire arch symbolizing the death of winter and the rebirth of summer, along the procession are many other characters from drummers to the Red men.

These red men are the most noticeable during the evening and quite chaotic. The reds see the night of Beltane as theirs and they are there to enjoy their night and create mischief and havoc along with their drumming and dancing.

 It's the first time that i have been up to Scotland and indeed Edinburgh and very much enjoyed being up on Calton hill to witness this Scottish ritual. Although even with my thick fleece, ski jacket, Hat, Scarf and gloves it was still a chilly evening and can only imaging the volume of Scottish whiskey that had to be consumed for the barely clothed revelers to keep warm. I think the Scotts are made from a different material in scotland because my southern little self thought that it was pretty damn cold. 

If your ever in Scotland during Beltane i would recommend going to the fire festival, The views of the city at night with the sound of the drums and the party atmosphere is definitely worth a visit.

The Falkirk Wheel

On the second part of my day on Sunday 29th April we took a trip to the Falkirk Wheel. The Falkirk wheel was built in 2002 to join the Fourth and Clyde canal with the Union canal. These canals where 35 meters in height apart and the Falkirk wheel creates a boat lift that lifts or lowers boats up or down the 35meter gap to join the canals together. 

Whilst at the Falkirk Wheel i got to experience the Wheels stunning engineering by taking a boat trip up the canal. Entering the lift and rotating to the top and then through a tunnel to a lock that then joins the two canals together. From the top of the boat lift you can see views right across the countryside. Across to the docklands surrounding Edinburgh to the Trossachs mountains, which when we visited were snow topped and made the experience even more beautiful.

 This is the tunnel joining the two canals

 This is the view from the top of the Falkirk wheel, just before it starts rotating down to meet the canal at the bottom of the wheel.

The Falkirk Wheel is a really stunning piece of engineering and really worth a visit if you are in the area. For more information on the Falkirk Wheel and information on visiting times and booking a trip you can find more information on their website here. 

New Lanark World Heritage Site, Scotland

On Sunday 29th April i visited the New Lanark World Heritage Site for a lovely walk by the waterfalls. I hadn't really realized that i would be spending my morning doing an eight mile walk. but it was definitely worth it. The start of the walk was at the site of the New Lanark heritage site which was a beautiful restored 18th century cotton mill village. As you approach the car park you wouldn't know there was anything there but trees! but as you approach the footpath and the path winds down into the valley you begin to see all the buildings below, Including an incredible roof top garden.

 After spending some time in the visitors centre it was onto the walk to enjoy the waterfalls. These are the Falls of Clyde and there are three waterfalls in total Dundaff Linn, Corra Linn and Bonnington Linn all three are definitely worth the walk.

Visit to Scotland

On the 28th April, myself and my partner drove all the way up to Scotland, on a journey of nearly 500 miles in one day. Leaving Cornwall at 7am and hitting the A30 the sun was rising beautifully and the mist was rising off the hills creating a beautiful morning for a drive. However once we hit the Bodmin area the sun had disappeared and the heavy rain started, making driving not so much fun. Once we had cleared the road works on the M4 M5 junction at Bristol the rain and also traffic were both clearing. Moving on up country the sun rejoined us and the driving once again became more pleasant. Once past the main traffic hotspots of Manchester and Liverpool we were onto the open roads up country.

Passing through the lake district the scenery was incredible with the mountains and rolling hills making a real change from monotonous motorway driving. We soon reached our destination of Lanark in Scotland and found our lovely holiday cottage for the week.

 

Once arrived we went for a quick walk from the cottage up to the river Clyde, but with a biting freezing cold wind we soon headed back to the cottage and lit the open fire and snuggled in for the night, our first evening in beautiful Scotland. 

 The one thing i forgot to mention upon arrival at our cottage, was that it is surrounded by sheep! Pretty much every morning when the sun rose so did the sheep and we awoke to the sounds of bleating and baaing, Although i think these sheep were a little camera shy!