Scotland's Secret Bunker & The Fisheries Museum 5th Oct 2015

Hidden underneath a farmhouse near St Andrews is a secret Scotland kept for 40 years. The farmhouse was put up for sale with Estate Agents who were unaware of what was underground. On purchasing the house the new owner then brought in builders who discovered a steel door! What was behind the door must have been a real surprise - or shock!
2014 was the twentieth anniversary of the opening of the Bunker to the public. The Bunker lies 100ft underground and is the size of 2 football pitches, one on top of the other.

There is a 450ft tunnel .......

 

 

 leading you to the Security Office.....

 

 

... before reaching the entrance to the Bunker  - through the blast doors...

 

These doors weigh 1½ tons each!
  

The Bunker was built to safeguard Scotland during the Cold War in the event of a nuclear attack. Scotland would have been governed from here, where it was  hoped, those in charge would be safe from any bombs. The Bunker is encased in 15ft of reinforced concrete. Central Government and military commanders would have been living here for some time in the event of a nuclear war so there are all the facilities they might have needed, including cinemas, café, dormitories, medical facilities, chapel etc.

 

Dormitories

 

Canteen & Medical

 

 There are Operational rooms and Command Centres for many organisations.

 

 

This exhibit reminds you that although the Cold War may be over.......

 

  .... it was not that long ago.

There is one resident at the Bunker ....

 

 



... with her own entrance.

These are not real ... but just there to explain why they need Cleo!

The Secret Bunker is an amazing place. There is so much to see - you could be down there for weeks!


We then moved on to The Fisheries Museum, which had been highly recommended to us. This museum tells the story of the Scottish fishing industry, its boats, harbours and communities and is situated in historic buildings on the harbour at Anstruther. The buildings date from the 16th-19th Centuries and surround a cobble-stone courtyard which has associations with fishing from the 14th Century!

The buildings have all been linked internally to create the different galleries and visitor trail around them.
The museum is split into different galleries, beginning with one telling us about the fishing industry before the 19th Century.

Through the different galleries we then learned about the Herring Boom which was so important to the industry in the 19th Century. Changing Fishing Methods told of the new technology developed in the 20th Century and Developments in Boat Design told of the influences on changing boat shapes and technology.
There are many fantastic scale models of boats within many of the galleries ...

.... and also proof of a thriving Model Boat Making Club.

There is even a working boat yard - within the museum -where they are restoring a boat! As we watched the volunteers were busy shaping a piece of wood to fit where the original piece had rotted away.

3 boats in the museum are recognised as being of national significance by the Register of Historic Vessels. The Reaper, The Research and The Lively Hope are all included in the National Historic Fleet.

There are exhibits within the museum that give you a little experience of what life as a fisherman was like.

The final gallery is the Fishermans Cottage, a real cottage fitted out as it would have been when it was lived in by a fishing family.

The Fisheries Museum is a fantastic museum to visit. It is like the Tardis - it looks small from the outside and does nothing to prepare you for the extent of the building and its exhibits within. It is absolutely stuffed full of artefacts, models and history. The recommendation we got was spot on. A brilliant place and well worth a visit.

The Kelpies and the Falkirk Wheel Sun 4th Oct 015

The Kelpies are one of the more recent wonders of Scotland! They are horse-head sculptures, standing next to a new extension to the Forth and Clyde Canal, in a new parkland project called the Helix. This project was built to connect 16 communities in the Falkirk area.

The Kelpies were designed by Andy Scott, a Scottish sculptor with family roots in Falkirk. He graduated from Glasgow School of Art and is still based in Maryhill in the city. He specialises in public art  and many of his projects are site specific. He has completed projects across the whole of the UK and all around the world.

The name for the project was chosen by Scottish Canals and Andy Scott right at the beginning of the project. A kelpie is a shape-changing aquatic spirit of Scottish legend and were said to haunt rivers and streams, usually in the shape of a horse.

The models of the Kelpies were based on real horses - 2 Clydesdales called Duke and Baron. Clydesdale horses originated in Lanarkshire and were bred for their power and stamina, and used exclusively before the invention of the combustion engine. Glasgow Council still keep some Clydesdale horses and Duke is stabled at Pollock Country Park, the only Country Park in Glasgow. Baron was originally stabled there too but is now enjoying his retirement.

Scale models of the Kelpies were made to raise awareness of the Kelpies and Helix Park, and travelled all over the world. One of them now sits at the Falkirk Wheel.

 

 

Construction work on the Kelpies began in June 2013. SH Structures in Yorkshire were contracted to make the Kelpies and a team of welder fabricators began assembling the internal structures of the horses. They would later paint and install the horses on site.

Meanwhile, on site, piles reaching 32 metres into the ground were installed, and approx.1200 tons of foundations were laid. In total it took 5 months to assemble the structures and their 18,000 components.

The stainless steel skin panels, of which there are 990, were manufactured and profile cut by Outo Kumpo in Sheffield. They were fixed using an innovative bolting system.

They were officially completed in Nov 2013 and celebrated with a topping out ceremony, featuring Duke and Baron, the real Clydesdale models for the project. As a way of linking Duke and Baron to the art work and to commemorate their contribution to the project, they each donated a horseshoe, which have been put inside the structures.

Each Kelpie stands 30 metres high, weighs 300 tonnes and was built on site in just 90 days.
The extension to the canal, and the turning pool were then filled with water and opened to visitors in April 2014 - on the same day that the Kelpies were opened to the public.

8 years planning and 1 year fabrication and assembly and the Kelpies were finally complete. They are the largest works of art in Scotland and the largest equine sculptures in the world. Helix Park is open 24 hours a day and the Kelpies are illuminated after dark, with 5 alternating colours. There is a 45 minute guided walking tour of the Kelpies, which allows access inside one of the structures to admire the engineering and design of the artwork.

 

There are some facilities on the site but the official Visitor Centre is due to open very shortly.

The kelpies are a fantastic piece of public art. They may be huge in size, but their features are so lifelike you wonder how they can make them so realistic on such a scale. The construction of the Kelpies is a real feat of engineering but at the same time, looks amazing.

Looking at photos online, of the Kelpies when they are illuminated, just makes you want to go back when it is dark!!

Finally making ourselves move on from the Kelpies, we headed off just a short way to the Falkirk Wheel.

This is a rotating boat lift connecting the Forth & Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. Planners decided to create something spectacular for the Millenium to connect the canals, rather than just the usual lock gates. Designs were submitted, and rejected, until the final design was submitted as a joint effort between the British Waterways Board, Engineers, Consultants and RMJM architects, led by Tony Kettle.

Work began in 1998 and everything was made and assembled in Derbyshire before being dismantled and re-assembled in Falkirk. The structure contains over 15000 bolts, all of which were  tightened by hand.
In 2002 HM The Queen officially opened the world's first rotating lift.

The Wheel is 35m tall and raises boats by 24m. The gondolas hold 500,000 litres of water, enough to fill an Olympic size swimming pool. Despite its size the Wheel only uses 1.5kWh of energy to turn - the same as it would take to boil 8 household kettles! No time for a boat trip today but that just means coming back at another time!!  A grand day out seeing some wonderful sights.