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Electric Brae – The best way to experience it

Electric Brae in Ayr – The best way to experience it. While we were on holiday in North Ayrshire in Scotland we visited Culzean Castle for the day. Very close by is an optical illusion road called Electric Brae which we had seen mentioned on the televisionand on Atlas Obscura. Always on the lookout for something a little different to do we decided to investigate on the way to Dunure Castle. Initially, we could not get the mysterious attraction to work, but once we did get the car to roll uphill the excitement on the kid’s faces was brilliant. The magnetic hill Scotland – Electric Brae is a must-see free family activity when visiting South Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland.

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Electric Brae – The best way to experience it

What is Electric Brae?

As mentioned Electric Brae in Ayr is an optical illusion that runs a quarter-mile on the A719, Maybole KA19 8JR. It is also known locally as Croy Brae after the Croy Railway Viaduct. Due to the angle of the road if you let your hand break off in the right place you feel as though you are rolling uphill. Thus going against gravity – an antigravity hill. Charlie particularly was interested in trying it out and didn’t really believe it would happen. He had recently been learning about gravity and magnetic attraction in a science class and so did not believe us. The look on his face when the magnetic hill Scotland worked and we eventually proved him wrong was priceless.

Is there a lay-by at Electric Brae?

As you drive along the stretch of road on the A719 you will see metal road signs informing you that you are entering Electric Brae. Which runs for a quarter mile. They are also designed to warn other drivers that there could be vehicles on the road as people try to test out the optical illusion road. We saw several families doing this when we visited. Just stopped in the middle of the road… Not something I would do with my kids sitting in the back of my car. You do not need to do this! As the council trying to minimise accidents has put in a lay-by.

If you are driving from Culzean towards Dunure then the lay-by is on your right, just round a bend. So it is easy to miss it. In fact, that is exactly what we did on our visit. Had to turn around a little further up the road and go back. Of course, this meant that when we reached the layby that we facing the wrong way (South) and we could not get it to work. Putting our suitably free-running vehicle into neutral, our stationary car was not moving either way – no magnetic force.

Not to be deterred we pulled out again and turned around so that we were facing North on the uphill slope. And it worked we had a freewheeling vehicle. Not only did it work but it really sped up towards the end. Of course, we had to have a couple of goes as it was a little unbelievable. So my advice to get this to work more effectively face North and pull into the lay-by.

Believing a car will roll uphill is the sort of thing that you really need to see working, I have a highlight of our trip to Ayrshire on Instagram where you can see a short video showing it in action (it was on our second full day).

How does Electric Brae Work?

Also in the lay-by, the council have put a stone that gives an explanation of the phenomenon and how the visual illusions work, basically because of the surrounding landscape and configuration of the land on either side of the road. The road looks as though it is going uphill but it is in fact going downhill.

Only taking a few minutes I would definitely recommend a visit to Electric Brae if you are local. It is a great free activity with a science lesson behind it. The magnetic hill of Scotland also makes an ideal stop if you are exploring nearby Culzean Castle or Dunure Castle on your travels.

Have you visited the hidden gem and mystery hill of Electric Brae or another natural optical illusion?