Wish You Were Here: Exploring Scotland and mythical Kelpies

Our globetrotting, fun-loving readers have traveled across the world in recent months, sharing their adventures as they cooked paella in Barcelona, hiked Kauai’s Napali Coast and explored Alaskan glaciers.

Now a Santa Cruz trio is sharing their tales from a recent trip to Great Britain. Read on for details, then find more travel inspiration at www.mercurynews.com/tag/wish-you-were-here/.

Wish You Were Here

SCOTLAND: A trio of Santa Cruz friends, Colin Smith and Sean and Elizabeth Seman’s recent adventure to Great Britain included explorations of the English countryside, as well as Wales and Scotland, where they planned to meet Colin’s family in Callander before heading on to Edinburgh.

“This truly is a gorgeous part of the world,” Elizabeth says. The visit included a stop at Stirling Castle “with its resplendent tapestries and carved wooden cameos of the king and queen.

“On a whim, upon our departure from Callendar, we dropped by the renowned Kelpies, a UNESCO world heritage site. These are massive horse heads that rise out of the landscape. They were designed and completed by Andy Scott in 2013. The Kelpies were shape-shifting mythical spirits inhabiting the lochs in Irish and Scottish folklore. The horses were modeled after the imposing Clydesdales that pulled barges up the Union Canal.”

TRAVEL TIPS: The Helix, the Falkirk park that houses the 98-foot tall Kelpies, “is a wonderful spot to stretch your legs and enjoy a picnic on the lawns before venturing onward to the delights of Edinburgh Castle.”