Not To Be Missed When in Scotland!

The Falkirk Wheel, in Scotland, is the world's only rotating boat lift.

It was opened in May 2002 and was built to link the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Union Canal.

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Before the wheel these canals were linked together by a ladder of eleven locks. This allowed boats to climb the 115ft/35m between them and the Falkirk Wheel itself is also 115ft/35m high.

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This photograph focuses on an empty gondola as it nears the top.

Each gondola, that holds the boats, contains 300 tonnes of water, meaning that the wheel moves 600 tonnes for each lift. Because the gondolas are always in balance moving them doesn't take much power and up to eight boats can be carried at any one time.

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This photograph focuses on the gondola nearing the bottom complete with boat, but if you look carefully you will see that the other gondola also contains a boat.

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We spent a lovely day here walking around and exploring. We had a nice picnic lunch in the area in this photograph and then moved to the cafe in the afternoon.

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The cafe is at the bottom of that glass building and we sat at a table right next to the water and watched the boats going up and down for a good couple of hours. It made fascinating viewing! 😊

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Thank you to @juliank and @photocontests for this daily photography contest.