A Falkirk Adventure

A stunning day: blue skies, sun, plenty of pretty birds, duckies and I suppose sibling's and friend's! :)

Today's visit: The Rotating Canal Lift: Falkirk Wheel.

For anyone who would like to know: in the 1930's, the Forth & Clyde and Union Canals were connected via a series of 11 locks, forming a staircase piece of canal. Which took nearly a day to drive through.

Unfortunately in 1933 (there abouts) this piece of canal was closed, the locks dismantled...

Until the great year of 1994: the year in which the wheel was conceptualised.

There are roughly around 15,000 bolts all of which are screwed in by hand. Each Gondola weighs around 600tonne (that's 600000kg) and holds up to 500,000 litres of water... (That's a lot... Isn't it?).

The reason I mention this is because... Despite the size (35metres tall) and the weight, as well as the energy in which to store such amounts of water, and canal boats.... The wheel itself uses very little energy... In essence it is a green machine (or in this photo fairly yellow...).

But the design its self uses about 1.5kWh to turn... That's the equivalent of boiling two modern day kettles... With minimal waterwaste (That's insane).

It is truly a pretty cool piece of design: environmentally friendly, incredibly futuristic, and I think pretty damn cool in appearance! Drawing inspiration from seven whale bones and celtic double headed spear...

Scotland truly is beautiful! The engineering, ideas, designs and scenery: phenomenal. The people: utterly wonderful. I'll miss it all when I have to go...

Either way my sister, friend and I had a pretty fab day touring this beautiful piece of canal, and exploring it's unique lift! Will have to come back again, after uni! :)