Falkirk Wheel

Last week, at the end of the school holidays, I took my four older grandchildren for a day out.  We visited the Falkirk Wheel, a unique piece of engineering which I can't even begin to try and explain. All you need to know is here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkirk_Wheel!  We had a very good day, and despite intermittent heavy showers of rain, our spirits were not dampened.

Our boat trip was on the Archimedes.  It was he who discovered the principle upon which the Falkirk Wheel functions.  All to do with equal displacement of water and that is the extent of my understanding!  We started off at low level on the Forth and Clyde Canal, between the arches you can see above, and then while the guide was giving us all sorts of chat about emergency exits etc, we had risen up almost 80 feet to the level of the Union Canal.  During a more technical commentary, they took us a short distance along the canal, through a tunnel, to a watery turning circle at the beginning of a series of locks at the start of the Union Canal, as it heads off in the direction of Edinburgh.  

The visibility wasn't great but good enough to be able to see the hills of Perthshire to the north and to the east the outline of the petrochemical plant at Grangemouth, and a distant view of The Kelpies to the west of Falkirk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kelpies

Once back down again, we walked around the outside exhibits to watch the fun and games going on where you can tumble about inside a large balloon floating on water.  I thought the children might like a turn!  You don't get wet, just fall about as the balloon rolls around on the water, but they all declined!  A shame - it looked good fun!