Falkirk Wheel Opening (24/5/2002)

The Millennium Link restoration project was finally completed on Friday 24th May 2002 as the Queen officially opened the Falkirk Wheel boat lift to reconnect the Forth and Clyde and Union canals. A miniature replica puffer, the "Wee Spark", is the first boat in nearly 70 years to travel between Glasgow and Edinburgh by canal, carrying a gift from the Lord Provost of Glasgow to his Edinburgh counterpart.

The two canals were originally linked by a flight of 11 locks, but these were filled in back in 1933, cutting the waterway link between the two cities. When the Millennium Link project was being planned, it was decided to do something really special at Falkirk instead of simply rebuilding the lock flight. So the architects came up with the idea of a giant rotating boat lift, the only one of its kind in the world, to overcome the huge difference in height between the two canals.

The Millennium Link project has already brought major benefits to the canal system with the two individual canals being reopened in Summer 2001, but the wheel which allows boats to travel between the canals is the icing on the cake, giving opportunities for cruises between Scotland's two major cities for the first time in the best part of a century.

The Queen takes a boat trip round the locks and basins at the foot of the wheel

The boat carrying the Queen approaches the wheel, but she didn't actually go on it. Honestly. What are these royal openings coming to?

The architect of the Falkirk Wheel at the opening with his daughter, whose Lego he borrowed to build the first prototype!

The Queen presses the button to set the wheel in motion for the first "official" time

Click here to read more about the Millennium Link restoration project

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