The Kelpies and The Falkirk Wheel

The Kelpies

A few years ago I was driving up the M9 towards Dollar in Scotland, it was dark and raining and suddenly I nearly crashed the car when I saw two huge hundred-foot-high horses' heads to my left-hand side. I had to pull over. I am not sure if I tried to take a photograph but I was dumbfounded.

This is from the Scottish Canals site but both them and The Helix which is the name of the park that The Kelpies and The Falkirk Wheel are on seem to be more about tempting you into taking tours rather than informing you in detail about these amazing constructions, although to be fair on the Scottish Canals site there is a section of The Kelpies construction.

“Standing 30 metres (100ft) tall, The Kelpies stand majestically above all around them and pay homage to the working horses of Scotland which used to pull barges along Scotland’s canals and worked in the fields in the area where they now stand.

Towering over a new canal extension which links the Forth & Clyde Canal to the North Sea, The Kelpies are the result of a unique collaboration between the partners and Glasgow-based artist Andy Scott.

Almost a decade in the making, the project has transformed 350 hectares of underused land between Falkirk and Grangemouth into a vibrant parkland, visitor attraction and marine hub with the canal and The Kelpies at its heart.”

My friend Nick Haynes wrote a book on the history of Scotland's Canals and we bought a copy when I visited the Falkirk Wheel and The Kelpies with him. The book is currently unavailable on Amazon but the link to it with an overview is below.

One of the most amazing sights is when the Kelpies are lit up at night, to give an amazing visual treat and they are constructed from aluminium so perfect to project coloured light into.

Watch this Launch Video and you will see what I mean.

The Falkirk Wheel

The Falkirk Wheel is the World's only rotating boat lift - lifting boats 115 ft which links the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal.

It is a magnificent, mechanical marvel which has been constructed to 21st-century, state-of-the-art engineering. It is already being recognised as an iconic landmark worthy of Scotland's traditional engineering expertise.

Designed to replace a series of lock gates built in the 19th century - long since demolished and replaced by housing - The Falkirk Wheel is the showpiece of the Millennium Link project where coast-to-coast navigation of the canals has been re-established for the first time in over 40 years.

When I visited it I was stunned by the simplicity of the concept but it looks incredibly futuristic and removes the need for lock gates so that barges could ascend and descend between the two canals.

It uses very little power (the same as boiling eight kettles of water) to raise and move boats so is an almost perfect piece of engineering. The shape of the Falkirk Wheel is based on a Scottish War Axe.

Ironically the Falkirk Wheel Website just directs back to Scottish Canal which tells you very little about it so the best source of information is the Wikipedia page here which does have a lot of information on how it was constructed and how it actually works..

Conclusion and Links

These are two amazing pieces of construction which, if you are ever in Scotland should be somewhere you have to visit.