Falkirk Wheel

Mrs D Wanted to go to a wee shop in Falkirk so we decided to take in the Falkirk Wheel at the same time. First time we have been and what a great experience. We took the barge trip up the wheel and were amazed at how quiet it was. It is made up of 2 counter balanced gondolas each containing 500,000 litres of water. Based on the Archimedes principle that floating objects displace their weight in water as long as the water levels are the same in each gondola they will be balanced. This allows different sizes of barge to be in each gondola (or one can be empty). It takes 4 minutes to move a barge from one level to the next a task that would have taken 6 hours before. Each turn uses in electricity only the equivalent of 6 boiling kettles! A great day!