Falkirk Wheel - your experiences? - getting there from Edinburgh?

I'm a big supporter of British Waterways (in spirit, not bucks) so I went to see it five or six years ago. Very impressive.

I drove, but there's a train station in the small town nearby (Camelton ?), so there's obviously a way to use public transportation.

No reservations, no charge, just wander in.

I've not seen it either, but it sounds so cool that I am will go see it sometime. It's good to hear that it's not too far from the train station. Is that the Falkirk station Ed? For those who want to know more about it check out these websites. http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/falkirk/falkirkwheel/ or the website for the wheel. http://www.thefalkirkwheel.co.uk/

Pam

we saw it in 2004. stopped on the way driving from glasgow to edinburgh on the day we visited stirling. it was really cool. lots of locals riding as a sunday outging. sorry dont know if you can reserve but it seemed that you just bought a ticket and got in line. we contented ourselves with watching and photos. but i would recommend a visit. its gives a change of pace between the history and castles.

I'w not aware of a station called Falkirk, but there might be one. The station I noticed was in a small town maybe a mile or so to the east / northeast. It was called Camelton or Camelot or something very similar.

Okay, I'm going to email the Contact Us folks at the Falkirk Wheel. I want to know this for myself!

PAm

Pam, let us know what you find out. We hope to see it on our next trip to England 2010.

Okay, to clear up the confusion I started, if only by a little.

The train station I saw was in fact called Camelon. Looking at google maps, it appears to be about a mile hike from the wheel.

There is another station at Falkirk. Google maps shows bus stops at the wheel and the array continues into Falkirk. This would seem to be the way to get there, but I have no idea how to go about it.

Regarding Keri's question about reservations, I was thinking only of how to see the contraption. BW has never charged anything to get into it's facilities as well as I can remember. One hunk of my BW literature shows what looks like a waterbus (boat with a bunch of seats and a surry top) entering the lifting bay. It is not in BW livery, so I would assume it's a concessionair affair. I guess you could buy a ticket and sort of take a boat-on-ferris-wheel ride. I never saw the actual boat when I was there. I wouldn't suspect that reservations where an issue. Note: the possibility exists that this boat was traveling the canal system on a longer trip of some kind rather than just being something that is permanently based in the turning basin.

We visited the Falkirk Wheel last September and it was wonderful. It was easy to get to. We landed at Edinburgh airport and drove there with a brief stop at Linlithgow. Our plane was late so only had time to drive by. Glad we did get to Falkirk. We had a picnic lunch watching the wheel in operation. I don't remember seeing a bus but there could have been a bus stop. They go everywhere else. There were alot of "pensioners" there. It is worthwhile to see and is on the way to other places-Stirling, Glencoe etc.

Success!

Look at this:
http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/scotland/sescot/map/index.php

then click 'Sterling and Falkirk Network'

Whatever Line 3 is goes from Falkirk town center to the wheel.

Thanks, Ed, and others who contributed information!!

FWIW, there is a website for the Wheel and it gives details about tickets and the trip 'around' the lift and on the waterways (http://www.thefalkirkwheel.co.uk/). The boat ride runs 8 or 9 times a day and reservations are for a day and hour. Tickets run £7.95 for an adult, with various other pricings (family, child, old codgers). It was the transportation angle -- plus actual experiences -- that I was looking for. So, thanks again to all.

UPDATE - and now that my eyes are more awake, I see that there is a should-be-obvious (red) link in the lower-left of their homepage with details on "Getting Here." It says the bus doesn't run on Sundays and says there is a train option.

Keri, good grief you are so right! I kept looking for this type of link on the page and missed it. I looked at every link across the top and the big ones down the side. Just goes to show that there are some website that better designed than others! If I do hear back from them, I'll let them know that I wasn't the only one who didn't find the little red in the bottom left. ; ) (Actually, I knew some sites are better designed than others because my company's division website is abysmal. I'm in marketing and have gotten emails of complaint from customers. I just wish I had some influence to make it better.) Pam