Falkirk – Sunday 30th June 2019

We had wanted to go to Falkirk for many years to visit the famous rotating boat wheel that connects the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal.  It opened in 2002 and re-joined the canals which had once been linked by a flight of locks until they fell into disrepair in the 1930s.  The wheel works on the Archimedes’ principle – the boats enter the gondola and the water is displaced to the weight of the boat, making the gondolas move in opposite directions (this is a simplified version of how they work!).  We booked to go on the wheel, and despite the dark sky, the afternoon stayed warm and dry and we had a great trip.

Before our visit there we just had time to pop into Falkirk town centre to visit the Waterstones.  It’s located in an attractive Victorian red-stoned listed building in the High Street.   Like other former Ottakars stores, it has one of Chris Burke’s murals behind the till.

The Falkirk Wheel

The image below was taken in 2004 by Sean Mack and appears on Wikipedia.  I have resized it slightly and it is used under the creative commons license.   It’s stunning – I think it shows the true beauty of the wheel.

Falkirk Town