There are three bridges that cross the river Forth at the 'important' bit, just after Edinburgh:
- A big red one
- A grey knackered one
- A new massive one
and over the past few years I've managed to weadle my way up all of em.
Forth Rail Bridge
The original. The classic. This hunk of A-grade steel has seen more explorers than trains over the past 4 years but you still can't beat it. It's not as tall and not as difficult to get to the top of as the others, but its an absolute flippin gem and defo my favourite of the three.
Nick knows full well that this is the case, here's a picture of him pointing at it, just to show you how much:
BOOM! What a bridge.
Forth Road Bridge
Unfortunately, a pisshead went up here in about 2009 and ruined it for everyone. Sensors and cameras went up and the poor bloke ended up with a 3 month custodial. Felix Bumgardener or what ever he's called (red bull BASE jump space man) did it way back in 2000, and apart from these two I'm not aware of anyone else who's managed to illegally climb it (although there must be boat loads, especially from before 2009). All this anti-nobhead tech now means you've got to use your head a bit, but it's doable if you know the trick/are feeling brave.
Queensferry Crossing
With the original road bridge basically falling into the sea, the powers that be figured they should probably chuck a billion quid into the pot to make a new one, lest they face the traffic horror of 2015 ad infinitum.
This new one is absolutely flipping massive, with each tower coming in at about 200m each.
You get a nice leg up on the climb with stairs to about the 100m mark. After that its ENDLESS ladders.
This was kinda cool to see. The cable winching stations where they individually pull through each steel strand bit by bit and clamp it into the cable holder.
Easy chairs for snooze time. Must take AGES waiting for each cable to be pulled from the deck up to here.
You can see here how much bigger the new one is. The old'uns look like horby.
So that's that ladies and gents, maybe worth popping back when they've finished the new one, but if the old road bridge is anything to go by it'll be absolutely NAILS to get anywhere near it.
- A big red one
- A grey knackered one
- A new massive one
and over the past few years I've managed to weadle my way up all of em.
Forth Rail Bridge
The original. The classic. This hunk of A-grade steel has seen more explorers than trains over the past 4 years but you still can't beat it. It's not as tall and not as difficult to get to the top of as the others, but its an absolute flippin gem and defo my favourite of the three.
Nick knows full well that this is the case, here's a picture of him pointing at it, just to show you how much:
Forth Road Bridge
Queensferry Crossing
With the original road bridge basically falling into the sea, the powers that be figured they should probably chuck a billion quid into the pot to make a new one, lest they face the traffic horror of 2015 ad infinitum.
This new one is absolutely flipping massive, with each tower coming in at about 200m each.
You get a nice leg up on the climb with stairs to about the 100m mark. After that its ENDLESS ladders.
This was kinda cool to see. The cable winching stations where they individually pull through each steel strand bit by bit and clamp it into the cable holder.
Easy chairs for snooze time. Must take AGES waiting for each cable to be pulled from the deck up to here.
You can see here how much bigger the new one is. The old'uns look like horby.
So that's that ladies and gents, maybe worth popping back when they've finished the new one, but if the old road bridge is anything to go by it'll be absolutely NAILS to get anywhere near it.
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