It’s a 100ft drop for brave abseiler from Aviemore in aid of SSPCA
What does a retired library assistant who still has ‘a spark of adventure’ in her do for kicks? How about throwing themselves off the Falkirk Wheel?
That’s just what Ann Wakeling will be doing tomorrow - at 86!
But as she prepared for the adventure this week, she explained that it was actually all a bit more than just ‘kicks’, as she will abseil from the top of the tourism landmark for a cause very close to her heart.
“With this challenge, I aim to raise funds to help provide warmth, shelter, medication and food for Scotland's animals,” said the woman who was much loved by bookworms and researchers over her 17 years helping to run the library in Aviemore.
“I would love as many people as possible to support me by donating what they can to my page, every penny helps and they will be part of the rescue too.”
She told the Strathy that she subscribed several charities and the Scottish SPCA was one that had assumed a special significance.
“It came about after I read about one particularly horrific thing that somebody had done with a dog. It just absolutely horrified me and I thought I just have to raise some money for the society to help them in their work.
“I fact it was the society that suggested I do an abseil and I thought it would be a good way to do it.
“I still have the spark of adventure in me and this is a great way to put it to use.”
It will be her first dive off the Falkirk Wheel - at least, a gentle descent by rope - but she is not actually a stranger to abseiling.
“In my earlier days I was a member of the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team and we did training but on those occasions I always had my feet against the rock. This is going to be very different, something entirely new, as my feet will just be in space.”
And she won’t have it easy on the way up either. Most people who enjoythe amazing landmark tourist attraction do it by boat, with a nice easy canal trip, but the Aviemore adventurer and animal-lover will have to climb all the way up by stairs.
The world’s only rotating boat lift, The Falkirk Wheel links the Forth & Clyde Canal to the Union Canal 35 metres above, allowing vessels to sail through the sky thanks to a unique fusion of art and engineering – and the same power it would take to boil eight kettles.
It opened in 2002 and replaced a flight of 11 locks that once stepped the Union Canal down to the level of the Forth & Clyde, more than 100 feet below.
Now one of Scotland’s busiest tourist attractions, it draws some half a million visitors a year.
