6 ms·

I am exactly the type of nerd that is super excited about this kind of engineering, to the point where I visited a couple years ago and rode a boat on the wheel

by splonk 7mo ago

I am exactly the type of nerd that is super excited about this kind of engineering, to the point where I visited a couple years ago and rode a boat on the wheel when I happened to be in Scotland. I mentioned having gone to a local in Edinburgh and got a very confused "why would you ever go to Falkirk?" It's a pretty easy half-day trip out of Edinburgh or Glasgow, and I recommend it if you have the time. One fun thing if you have kids is that the playground there has some demonstrations of Archimedean principles, like how an Archimedes screw works. Also, I don't keep many souvenirs of my travels, but I do have a refrigerator magnet of the Falkirk wheel that spins freely. It doubles as a cat toy.

jimnotgym 7mo ago
>easy half-day trip out of Edinburgh Another way to think about it is to stop somewhere outside of Edinburgh. Edinburgh is an easy half-day trip away. Walk 200 yards of the Royal Mile from the castle. It just repeats with the same kind of tourist shops for the rest of it. Now get back in your car and go and see some of Scotland!
- ErroneousBosh 7mo ago
  But don't do the thing that American tourists do where they say "Oh we're staying in Edinburgh and on Wednesday we're going to drive up to Skye to see Dun-vay-gin Castle because it's our ancestral seat because we're totally MacLeods you know" You won't be able to drive from Edinburgh to even Kyle and back in a day, never mind up to Dunvegan. You just won't. I could drive you from Edinburgh to Dunvegan and back in a day but I can absolutely guarantee you're going to hate every single terrifying mile of the journey and you won't get to see much.
  - theoreticalmal 7mo ago
    Apple says Edinburgh to Skye is a 3.5 hour drive, mostly along the A9. My understanding is A roads in the UK are much like USA interstates. What makes the trip terrifying and slower than what Apple says?
    - mm0lqf 7mo ago
      > My understanding is A roads in the UK are much like USA interstates. Not in Scotland, some of them aren't dualled (just a single carriageway in each direction), narrow, windey, full of terrible potholes and animals you can hit etc... its a 5-6 hour drive in reality source: Live in Edinburgh
    - tolien 7mo ago
      Google Maps says between 5 and 6 hours and 227 miles - doing that in 3.5 hours would be averaging 65mph. Good luck with that, especially when the speed limit on the A9 itself is 60 mph for cars! The US interstate is probably more comparable with UK motorways.
      - ErroneousBosh 7mo ago
        I can safely do it in good conditions in six hours and I'd consider myself a very experienced driver for that route, having driven from Skye to Glasgow or Edinburgh and back a couple of times a week for years.
        tolien 7mo ago
        Absolutely, doing it in half that time would be madness though!
        ErroneousBosh 7mo ago
        Doing it in half the time would be impossible. To travel 250 miles in three hours you'd need to keep up an average of 83mph-ish for the whole journey. I shouldn't think there are many places you can reach a peak speed of 83mph for long on the whole road.
        tolien 7mo ago
        Some lunatic will take it as a challenge :-) (and become a statistic)
    - 7mo ago
  - sjclemmy 7mo ago
    Which reminds me of a weekend I took a few years ago where we drove to Edinburgh from Manchester on day 1 then up to Arisaig on day 2 to camp on the beach - then back to Edinburgh for a wedding on day 3 and then back to Arisaig the next day to continue the long weekend. Then full day drive back to Manchester.
  - tolien 7mo ago
    I did see a Reddit thing where some tourists were planning to stay in the Lake District and visit Edinburgh and Stonehenge, all during winter. Could've been ragebait, to be fair - they weren't interested when people pointed out that things like weather, hours of daylight, travel time were all going to be against them (or even that the Lake District is a pretty tourist-friendly place to start with).
  - arethuza 7mo ago
    That's nothing, I had some people ask me if they could drive from Edinburgh to Rome for the day!
pjc50 7mo ago
While you're there, also see the Kelpies in Helix park: https://www.thehelix.co.uk/ https://www.thehelix.co.uk/
ErroneousBosh 7mo ago
Some friends and I used to cycle to it from Kirkintilloch, after fuelling up in the Brexitspoons on the high street, and then a quick pitstop to take on another pint or so of fuel at Auchenstarry because it's a hell of a long run to the next town (Bonnybridge, Banknock being a bit out of the way).
- dashzebra 7mo ago
  Ahahah "Brexitspoons". Never heard it before but it's brilliant!
amiga386 7mo ago
> why would you ever go to Falkirk? Callendar House, Falkirk Wheel, the Kelpies... Also not far from Culross or Stirling, which also work as a nice day out.
- jarofgreen 7mo ago
  whispers Stirling castle is better than Edinburgh castle
  - orangewindies 7mo ago
    Why whisper? Everyone knows Stirling castle is better.

by splonk 7mo ago

jimnotgym 7mo ago

>easy half-day trip out of Edinburgh Another way to think about it is to stop somewhere outside of Edinburgh. Edinburgh is an easy half-day trip away. Walk 200 yards of the Royal Mile from the castle. It just repeats with the same kind of tourist shops for the rest of it. Now get back in your car and go and see some of Scotland!

ErroneousBosh 7mo ago
But don't do the thing that American tourists do where they say "Oh we're staying in Edinburgh and on Wednesday we're going to drive up to Skye to see Dun-vay-gin Castle because it's our ancestral seat because we're totally MacLeods you know" You won't be able to drive from Edinburgh to even Kyle and back in a day, never mind up to Dunvegan. You just won't. I could drive you from Edinburgh to Dunvegan and back in a day but I can absolutely guarantee you're going to hate every single terrifying mile of the journey and you won't get to see much.
- theoreticalmal 7mo ago
  Apple says Edinburgh to Skye is a 3.5 hour drive, mostly along the A9. My understanding is A roads in the UK are much like USA interstates. What makes the trip terrifying and slower than what Apple says?
  - mm0lqf 7mo ago
    > My understanding is A roads in the UK are much like USA interstates. Not in Scotland, some of them aren't dualled (just a single carriageway in each direction), narrow, windey, full of terrible potholes and animals you can hit etc... its a 5-6 hour drive in reality source: Live in Edinburgh
  - tolien 7mo ago
    Google Maps says between 5 and 6 hours and 227 miles - doing that in 3.5 hours would be averaging 65mph. Good luck with that, especially when the speed limit on the A9 itself is 60 mph for cars! The US interstate is probably more comparable with UK motorways.
    - ErroneousBosh 7mo ago
      I can safely do it in good conditions in six hours and I'd consider myself a very experienced driver for that route, having driven from Skye to Glasgow or Edinburgh and back a couple of times a week for years.
      - tolien 7mo ago
        Absolutely, doing it in half that time would be madness though!
        ErroneousBosh 7mo ago
        Doing it in half the time would be impossible. To travel 250 miles in three hours you'd need to keep up an average of 83mph-ish for the whole journey. I shouldn't think there are many places you can reach a peak speed of 83mph for long on the whole road.
        tolien 7mo ago
        Some lunatic will take it as a challenge :-) (and become a statistic)
  - 7mo ago
- sjclemmy 7mo ago
  Which reminds me of a weekend I took a few years ago where we drove to Edinburgh from Manchester on day 1 then up to Arisaig on day 2 to camp on the beach - then back to Edinburgh for a wedding on day 3 and then back to Arisaig the next day to continue the long weekend. Then full day drive back to Manchester.
- tolien 7mo ago
  I did see a Reddit thing where some tourists were planning to stay in the Lake District and visit Edinburgh and Stonehenge, all during winter. Could've been ragebait, to be fair - they weren't interested when people pointed out that things like weather, hours of daylight, travel time were all going to be against them (or even that the Lake District is a pretty tourist-friendly place to start with).
- arethuza 7mo ago
  That's nothing, I had some people ask me if they could drive from Edinburgh to Rome for the day!

pjc50 7mo ago

While you're there, also see the Kelpies in Helix park: https://www.thehelix.co.uk/ https://www.thehelix.co.uk/

ErroneousBosh 7mo ago

Some friends and I used to cycle to it from Kirkintilloch, after fuelling up in the Brexitspoons on the high street, and then a quick pitstop to take on another pint or so of fuel at Auchenstarry because it's a hell of a long run to the next town (Bonnybridge, Banknock being a bit out of the way).

dashzebra 7mo ago
Ahahah "Brexitspoons". Never heard it before but it's brilliant!

amiga386 7mo ago

> why would you ever go to Falkirk? Callendar House, Falkirk Wheel, the Kelpies... Also not far from Culross or Stirling, which also work as a nice day out.

jarofgreen 7mo ago
whispers Stirling castle is better than Edinburgh castle
- orangewindies 7mo ago
  Why whisper? Everyone knows Stirling castle is better.