The Falkirk Wheel & Stirling On Your Own

Almost 100 years ago, a series of 11 locks was used to connect the Forth and Clyde Canal, running from Glasgow to Edinburgh’s Union Canal. As part of a Millennium initiative to encourage waterway usage, The Falkirk Wheel was designed and constructed to provide a 21st century solution to join the canals. It is a truly unique and awesome spectacle. Today, it is Scotland’s most exciting example of 21st century engineering, The Falkirk Wheel, is more than just the World’s first rotating boatlift. It is a symbol heralding the dawn of Britain’s new canal age. The boatlift’s role may be simple, but its shape is far from conventional. The Falkirk Wheel is unique, creating both an eye-catching working sculpture and Scotland’s most unusual tourist attraction. The Wheel has already claimed its place as a major Scottish landmark and is one of the World’s most important canal structures. The way its computer-controlled machinery gracefully raises or lowers 500 tons of boats and water, the 82 ft. difference between two canals appears complex but is deceptively simple. On arrival at The Wheel, you’ll embark on the canal boat and experience the journey through a canal tunnel and across an aqueduct – before seeming to drop off the end as your boat is lowered by the Wheel, you will be enjoying the most memorable yet gentle of white knuckle rides! Nothing like it has ever been built before anywhere in the world. Boat lifts are nothing new, though the last built in Britain was in 1875. But a rotating boat lift? The result is awe-inspiring and beautiful. Coming back to dry land, rejoin the motorcoach and continue the short distance to Stirling. On arrival into this major Scottish city, you will have free time to spend on independent sightseeing, shopping or a castle visit.