The Falkirk Wheel

Visited the Falkirk Wheel today, intending to photograph it in dusk with the new lights. Sadly, the computerised lighting system has not been a success and is having to be redone, so the lights will be out until perhaps early in the new year. Will just have to go back.....

The wheel is the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world, and is regarded as an engineering landmark for Scotland. It enables boats to traverse between the Forth and the Clyde canals. The United Kingdom has one other boat lift: the Anderton boat lift in Cheshire. The Falkirk Wheel is an improvement on the Anderton boat lift and makes use of the same original principle: two balanced tanks, one going up and the other going down, however, the rotational mechanism is entirely unique to the Falkirk Wheel.