Falkirk and the wheel

Eric's prime motivation for visiting Falkirk was to race in Sprint Scotland (Orienteering) competition, but it also gave us the chance to visit that elegantly designed engineering wonder, the Falkirk Wheel. The Wheel was opened in 2002 as part of a rejuvenation of the Scottish Canal system replacing a long ago dismantled flight of locks connecting the Forth & Clyde and Union Canals. It's a rotating boat lift that raises boats up 24 meters onto an aqueduct. Using Archimedes' principle the weight of the water plus boat/s in each gondola balances exactly meaning the huge wheel can turn on the tiniest amount of electricity.

Old and new - a canal boat (foreground) descends the last step to the Forth and Clyde canal while the Wheel raises another boat to the Union canal aqueduct in the background

We took a ride on a special tourist boat up the wheel and along the aqueduct (and back) to experience the wheel in action. The views from the top were very impressive

After our boat trip Samuel (and E&E) had fun playing in Archimedes' playground where you could channel water up and down using various sluice gates, pumps and an Archimedes Screw turned by a human powered treadmill. It might be the best educational children's playground we have seen.

Samuel making waves

Sprint Scotland was fun. It's always nice to go orienteering even in the unusual location of a Scottish Housing estate - as it was the complex and small streets and parks made for excellent racing terrain particularly the first race around Bo'ness. Eric caught up with a few friends from different parts of the globe. Our best orienteering skills also came in handy navigating the streets of central Falkirk which seemingly have less planning behind them than the streets in the medina in Fes!

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