Bridges on the Firth of Forth

 

On the left is the Forth Road Bridge and on the right is the Forth Bridge which services the railroad. The Forth Bridge was built in 1890 and is 8,296' long. It is made of steel and actually expands to 3' longer in the summer than the winter.
It is twice as strong as it needs to be because the previous bridge, the TAY Bridge collapsed killing 100 people aboard the train as it traversed the bridge in 1879.
It took 5,000 men 7 years to complete the bridge and 57 men lost their lives while working on it. 51,000 pounds of steel and 6.5 million rivets were used to complete the 365' structure. 

Some boats have to wait until low tide to cross under the bridge. The white house in the middle of the
picture was used originally to let ships know if they could pass through. There was a blind area so 2 green lights
meant GO and 2 red lights STOP, now they have a better system.

The poles are 12' in diameter. 

This bridge currently has steel beams that are breaking inside the poles. They have attached microphones inside to help them identify any problems. They periodically check inside the poles
for damage.



This bridge will be ready for use in fall of 2016 all things being equal. It will take over the traffic from the Forth Road Bridge which then will only travel by buses.

Incholm Abbey

This wonderful 12th century Abbey sits on an island in the Firth of Forth. A firth is an estuary and the Forth is a river.

Careful is the key word here, up and down.

The monks in the abbey began their day at 1:30am with prayer and continued until 6pm.

                   I would imagine they knew their Heavenly Father well because of their devotion.

This is the sanctuary where the monks would have eaten in total silence. It was only
broken by the reading of scripture.

What a beautiful, peaceful bay. We loved sitting on the bench and hearing the
sea gulls ad watching the water.

This is where the young woman lived 5 of the 7 days that she works. No TV, or internet access. So she loves Family History!

Wanlockhead Lead Mining Museum

 

Equipped to go in to the mine. The tour guide gave me her sweatshirt to cover my white coat. What a sweetie she was.

Plants only grow where there is light. They do have lights on the walls that are turned on when a tour group is there.

More wee plants. One month ago a person was panning for gold and actually found a nugget that was valued at 10,000 pounds.

The miners would carry candles to see what the oxygen content was in the cave. When the candles went out or flickered the miner would retreat. The young men were paid one penny a day during the winter and two pennies a day during the summer because of  more daylight hours. The young men ages 7-16 went to school 1/2 day and then worked in the mines the other 1/2. When they turned 16 if they could not read and write they were not allowed to work in the mines. The young men would teach their fathers to read and then the dads would teach their wives and the wives their daughters. The miners established a library and were great readers.

In the back of the picture is a triangle hill of residual left after mining that the Earl sells of periodically to maintain the roads.

This depicts three different time periods. The Earl allowed the workers to build their own houses and then when they were completed the Earl charged them rent. Previous to this time they lived in tents in the summer and then because of the harsh winters they went home and no work was done in the mines.

In the 1700s this half of the room was for the humans and at night the other half of the room was for their animals so keep them from being taken.

                                                                The roof was made of thatch on the top but underneath were twigs and branches that were open to the outside. Many times seeking warmth, dogs and cats would crawl in. Thus the term, Raining Cats and Dogs. The mattresses were filled with heather stems which are not very soft.



                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                       The 1800s brought nicer walls and housing accessories. The animals were moved out now.

                                                              




                                                                                

1900's brought many more of the niceties that we expect now. Women were typically 5 feet tall and men 5 feet 5-6 inches. So in the mines, they didn't always have to bend over.




They were concerned about witches flying by and coming in. So they hung in the windows a witches globe which would reflect their appearance as they flew by looking for some house to inhabit. They would fly by and see their reflection and think another witch was already in this house.
The furnishings were ordered in and the boxes that they were shipped in were fashioned into other necessities of life.

These were curling stones.

                         Examples of days gone by. Shetland ponies worked in mines pulling the carts.

Purpose of the sheep is to catch ticks.

Drumlanrig Castle

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This beautiful Pink Castle, as it is often called, because of the pink sandstone used to build it, took 12 years to complete. It has 17 turrets and 4 towers. In each of the towers are wonderful spiral staircases.

This 17th century castle is built on 90,000 acres. We were not allowed to take pictures inside :(

The gardens were beautifully kept and the fragrance of the roses was beyond description.

This was the inner courtyard.

This is where Neil Armstrong, the astronaut slept for one night. It is the same place

that Bonny Prince Charlie slept.

This dining room table was set with china from the Orient when we were there.

They love family history too.

They have 4 gardeners to take care of the gardens. I don't know how they do such a wonderful job.

Inside the castle are hundreds of portraits of the ancestors who used to live there. It is actually still used by the family
that still owns it. Their family pictures were on the end tables. We saw a Rembrandt: Old Woman Reading. It was
beautiful. They have a grandfather clock that only has to be wound once every 30 days.

CAERLAVEROCK Castle

Here we are with our friends the BROWNINGS.This moated, triangular shaped castle was built in the 13th century. It is 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) south of Dumfries on the southern coast of Scotland.


It was a strong hold of the Maxwell family from the 13th-17th centuries and then it was abandoned. King Edward I brought 3,000 troops to lay seige to the double moated castle. The 60 men inside were able to hold them off for 1 1/2 days and then surrendered.

The typical diet of the people inside consisted of 1-2 loaves of bread each day.

Three of the children in the reenactment: Thom, Kaitlynn and Erin.

Inside the castle. They had three levels and of course a roof  on the original

The outer moat without of course the water.

To the first castle built here. It had to be abandoned as the water for the moat, came from
the ocean and little by little the castle sank.

All that remains of Castle #1.

Beautiful flowers on the walk back to the Castle #2.

This is a Scottish size thistle.

The Irish wolf hounds. They were very calm. This one is 6 months old. They live to be about 10 years old.
This family currently has 7. Every two days they buy a large bag of dog food, it stands to my waist and then also feed the dogs
with mince (hamburger) and pasta. You can buy a puppy for 1,200-1,300 pounds.

Our calligrapher who has been doing this for 40 years. The bookmarks are free.

The knight BEFORE getting dressed in his gear.

His weapons, often came from his home.

This lathe was a traveling one. They had to use soft wood that was
not seasoned because the RPMs was not very high.

Five colors were used to make your Heraldry. You could have gold or silver but not both.

It was hard to see with your head gear on.

A game of old time marbles.

The outer gear of the mercinary.

This man was from Kansas.

This was the knight with much more armor on. This hindered his movement

The color of the tunic identified which TEAM the mercinary was on. Often times they would change their TEAM if they were offered more money by the other TEAM.

The first line would push their swords in the ground so when the horses and riders would advance the horses would be speared. The next line got the rider and the last line would get the next advancing horses.

The helmet was used in WWI as well. Also to drink out of and cook meals in.

Real weapons, be careful.