The Falkirk Wheel (A week in the Trossachs Part 2)

I fulfilled a long-time ambition and took a 'turn' on the Falkirk Wheel. I first heard about the wheel when it was featured as a TV news item when it was opened, and thought it would be great to go on it (without having much idea about how or when). When I arrived in the Trossachs I realised that it was only an hour's drive from where I was staying, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The picture below explains how the wheel works. Just click on it to enlarge.....

It's absolutely enormous! You can just see a boat coming into the top gondola.
And then the wheel turned, and it headed down to the bottom. Of course I had to have a ride. I joined the Archimedes, which was one of two boats taking tourists that day, and rode the wheel up to the top. Then you go across and through the Roughcastle Tunnel to a pool where there are two locks to take you up even further. Since we were on a tour boat, we turned here and came back. Here's the view from The Archimedes as we came back toward the wheel through the Roughcastle Tunnel.
After getting off the Archimedes, I climbed up to the top and actually watched as it came up again, did its little turn, and then went back down the wheel again. Here it is, all ready to start turning.

One third of the way down...
Two thirds of the way down....
And here's it's sister boat, the Antonine, come to the top.
And it all happened using the same amount of energy that it takes to boil 8 kettles!