2250 metres in length, the Tay Road Bridge spans the estuary of the River Tay between Dundee and Newport on Tay.
It leads traffic directly onto the centre of Dundee and is mainly used by commuters.The bridge was designed by William A Fairhurst and was opened to traffic on 18th August 1966 having taken 4 years to build at a cost of approximately £5 million.
The cost of building the bridge today would be well over £100 million.
Having crossed the bridge you are immediately aware of a huge supermarket to the left of the bridge. We swung to the left behind Tesco's and attempted to access the first multi-storey car park we came to. We entered the car park on our second attempt. The trick is to have the car in gear, the hand brake off and your foot on the accelerator before pressing the button on the ticket. In with seconds to spare.
From the car park we walked along the outside of the railway sidings until we were able to turn left across the railway and reach the promenade. Further on we could see the more dramatic looking Tay railway bridge which was to be out first destination. The rise and fall and rise of this bridge is well documented by the press and celebrated in poetry. Dundee University has this brief statement about the bridge:
The original Tay Rail Bridge opened in 1878, only to fail during the stormy night of 28 December 1879 while a train was crossing. The train, with seventy five passengers and crew, poured off the collapsing bridge into the icy river with all lives lost. An enquiry blamed the exceptional weather conditions, and poor quality design.
The bridge was re-constructed in 1887, and the bases of the original's supporting legs can still be seen along the eastern side.
Naturally, I took many photographs of the bridge from various angles.
We walked to the end of the promenade. We did the tourist thing of taking each others' pictures.
Irene is convinced that the tree behind, my lamp-post and the bridge are elements of a picture on a postcard that she had sent to her. Here is our attempt to reconstruct the scene.
From here we walked back to the road bridge, but not without recalling the cause of the real fame about the Tay Railway Bridge. The greatest shame was, not that it fell down, but that one William McGonnagall wrote a poem about. His poem is now permanently recorder for posterity in stone along the embankment near the bridge.
As disinclined as I could be to inflict torment on anyone I feel obliged to include his poem here:
The Tay Bridge Disaster by William McGonnagall
Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.
'Twas about seven o'clock at night,
And the wind it blew with all its might,
And the rain came pouring down,
And the dark clouds seem'd to frown,
And the Demon of the air seem'd to say-
"I'll blow down the Bridge of Tay."
When the train left Edinburgh
The passengers' hearts were light and felt no sorrow,
But Boreas blew a terrific gale,
Which made their hearts for to quail,
And many of the passengers with fear did say-
"I hope God will send us safe across the Bridge of Tay."
But when the train came near to Wormit Bay,
Boreas he did loud and angry bray,
And shook the central girders of the Bridge of Tay
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.
So the train sped on with all its might,
And Bonnie Dundee soon hove in sight,
And the passengers' hearts felt light,
Thinking they would enjoy themselves on the New Year,
With their friends at home they lov'd most dear,
And wish them all a happy New Year.
So the train mov'd slowly along the Bridge of Tay,
Until it was about midway,
Then the central girders with a crash gave way,
And down went the train and passengers into the Tay!
The Storm Fiend did loudly bray,
Because ninety lives had been taken away,
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.
As soon as the catastrophe came to be known
The alarm from mouth to mouth was blown,
And the cry rang out all o'er the town,
Good Heavens! the Tay Bridge is blown down,
And a passenger train from Edinburgh,
Which fill'd all the peoples hearts with sorrow,
And made them for to turn pale,
Because none of the passengers were sav'd to tell the tale
How the disaster happen'd on the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.
It must have been an awful sight,
To witness in the dusky moonlight,
While the Storm Fiend did laugh, and angry did bray,
Along the Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
Oh! ill-fated Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
I must now conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed.
Moving on rapidly we had a good view of the road bridge which, thankfully in more ways than one, has not fallen down or we might remember it for a very long time.
Near to the road bridge the 'Discovery' is docked. We took our photos and some touristy ones.
We had a pleasant break in restuarant opposite the ship and I saw the sky darken as we sat and from here it was a dash to get my raincoat from the car and head off to the Dundee Contemporary art gallery.
It is a beautiful building and we went to the showing of work by Nina Rhode called 'Friendly Fire'. (url: http://www.dca.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/friendly-fire.html.) Circles or circular movement seemed to be the theme as well as collecting objects to make an art work.
We were particularly impressed by the sculpture made of the remains from a firework display.
I experimented with using different shutter speed to record various spinning wheels.
On the way out from the gallery we passed Dundee's hands-on science museum. We popped our nose in and took a picture of the model dinosaur on display.
It was still raining so we decided to head off somewhere else and finished up at the behind some modern apartments further down the shore of the Tay. We walked passed a strange looking boat with little sign of what it was. But, I decided to put my nose in and was greeted by a friendly chap who bemoaned that no one ever visited. So, as much out of pity as to get out of the rain. we paid our £5 and went in. The ship turned out to be the HMS Unicorn. It was built and a roof put on, because it never went to sea. But it is the oldest ship still afloat. The url is:http://www.frigateunicorn.org/ and the brief description is:
His Majesty’s Frigate UNICORN, of 46 guns, was built for the Royal Navy in Chatham dockyard, and she was launched in 1824.
The classic sailing frigate was a fast and powerful warship, and was one of the most successful and charismatic ship designs of the age.
UNICORN is a unique survivor from the brief transitional period between the traditional wooden sailing ship and the revolutionary iron steamship, and is now one of the six oldest ships left in the world.
These are my pictures.
From here we made our way back to Cupar. We spent a little time with Fiona before setting off to meet Joni at St Michael's Public House for my birthday meal.
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