The Falkirk Wheel & Mary Kings Close

Falkirk Wheel, Falkirk, Tuesday 27/09/10

This morning we caught the train to Falkirk then a bus to the Falkirk Wheel. I did not know about this place until Moira, a work colleague of my mum told us about it.

When we arrived I saw a high structure that went back into the hill. Dad said that this was where we were going to go.

We got onto the boat then decided to get off and get the next boat as a large group of school kids got on the first one. Some other people did the same as us. Our boat had older people on it but was okay. We sat at the front of the boat. We motored into a box called an aqueduct was full of water then a small gate closed behind us. It rose up from the water. One of the workers tied the rope to the side of the aqueduct and we waited. The aqueduct then started moving to the side and we moved to the side and were lifted up the 135 metres to the next canal. Our boat never moved, it was our aqueduct that moved. There is a diagram at then end that shows this and I also have it on video.

The captain of the boat said that if we sank all we had to do was lift our feet and we would stay dry as there was only 5 feet of water underneath the boat. 

Looking into top of the Wheel end

There are two aqueboxes and each one has to have the exact same amount of water in each one for the wheel to operate properly. It does not matter how many boats are in each one. The Falkirk wheel uses a gearing system that keeps both aqueboxes level and the trip up or down takes 30 minutes. The captain told us that the old system of canals used to take 8 hours and that the captains used to walk down the hill and sit in the pub until the crew brought the boat down.

View from top to where we started from

After our visit to the wheel was finished we returned to our hotel in Edinburgh but this was not the last thing we did.


Later we went to Mary Kings Close, Queens Mile, Edinburgh Tuesday 27/09/10

During our time in Scotland a number of people told us that we should visit Mary Kings Close. Check out this link: http://www.realmarykingsclose.com/ It is off the Queens Mile and the tour takes us underground to look at the way people lived in the 16th century before and after the bubonic plague that killed lots of people in Europe. People didnt really live underground although some of their houses were below street level. A close is a narrow pathway between two buildings and is open to the sky so technically not below ground even though once inside you do go down.

This part of Edinburgh is built on top of the old buildings and streets. The bottom level of the current buildings uses the top level of the old buildings as foundations. Most rooms were smaller than some of our bedrooms back home but these rooms are the lounge, kitchen, sleeping room and the toilet - Yuck.  The toilet in those days was a bucket that was then emptied into the street outside. The 16th century tour guide we had said that usually there was 2 inches of urine and poo on the street.

She also told us that those people who caught the plague were taken away to be confined in a place similar to a hospital but only if the plague doctor thought you had a chance of survival otherwise you had to stay in your home and put a white flag outside that meant only two people could enter. They were the plague doctor and the plague cleaners who cleaned up after you died. Sorry no photos, they were not allowed.

After the tour we went back to our hotel and Dad bought us a kebab for dinner - no bread just the fillings in a small container, thats how they sold it.