Sep 18 Falkirk

Many moons ago we owned a succession of river cruisers and had a dream to buy a narrowboat.  The plan was to take a break from work and travel around the canals of the UK.  That plan changed when my job gave us the chance to live in Germany for 5 years.  The narrow boat idea became a motorhome instead.  One of the places that,as boaters, we had read about and marvelled at, was the Falkirk Wheel.

Until 1933, the Union canal and the Forth & Clyde canal, were linked via 11 locks. They took a day to transit.  However, once the trains arrived it was no longer necessary to transport goods on the canals and many fell into disuse.  It was due to British Waterway’s Millennium link project that many canals were restored and thus the plan to link the two again was formed.  Rather than recreate the lock flight, BW wanted to mark the Millennium with something more spectacular.  A team was formed from several different organisations and the design finally came together.  The wheel opened in 2002.

The Falkirk Wheel is the only rotating boat lift in the world and is a spectacular tribute to the design and build teams.

View from our camping place

We were really lucky with our overnight place in the top car park.  We had a splendid view and thoroughly enjoyed watching it rotate.

Upright view
The two gondolas almost level

There are some fascinating facts displayed

Amazing facts

We just couldnt resist the lure of a trip on the wheel.  We did get a discount as we had paid to stay overnight.  The views were pretty good from the top and it was a good way to appreciate the beauty of the design at close quarters.

View back towards the wheel
View out towards the Trossachs

The guide was very informative and obviously very proud of the Wheel and the achievement of his countrymen.  The Wheel is a worldwide wonder and attracts a lot of visitors.  We were certainly not disappointed.

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