The Weird & Random S*** Around Scotland Thread

[Hedgecutter]

4 minutes ago, Ziggy said:

Does Ploo mean plough like it does in Ayrshire?

Aye.  Nobody there calls it the Plough, it's the Ploo.

[Hedgecutter]

On 10/10/2020 at 15:10, Le Tout P'ti FC said:

A bridge in Peebles. No idea how I'd have crossed the lawn without its help.

This is still my favourite post on this thread (after the Xenomorph gargoyle).  Seemed so utterly pointless that it had me close to tears.

However... I previously thought the same about a random bridge in a park beside Great Northern Road in Aberdeen (Woodside):

 

Turned out that it's not so random after all as it was built to cross the almost mythical Aberdeen-Inverurie canal, the location of this bridge being marked in red below.

Canal route map

Edited October 13, 2020 by Hedgecutter

[Forest_Fifer]

Chimneys in Loch Cluanie. The Loch is on the road from Invermoriston to Shiel Bridge on the road to Skye

I’d never noticed it before but watched a programme on BBC Scotland a few years ago about arial photography in Scotland from just after the war, which mentioned the story and the photos behind it. I look for them every time I drive past now. It’s only visible when the level is low in summer

The original Loch Cluanie was a lot smaller than it is today. There used to be some houses on the banks which are now underwater after they flooded the valley when creating the hydro dam in the 50s

There is a road, a bridge and all sorts still under the water but the tops of the chimneys of one of the old houses is all that is visible these days

That program is currently showing on BBC2 on Saturday nights down here, some cracking stuff in it.

[MONKMAN]

Star Hotel, Moffat, is the narrowest hotel in the world.

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

This oak tree is planted in the middle of a railway bridge in Culloden Woods. It was moved there in 1855 when the railway line was being built.

https://forestryandland.gov.scot/news-releases/high-hopes-for-second-highland-tree-of-the-year

[Melanius Mullarkey]

11 hours ago, Hedgecutter said:

This is still my favourite post on this thread (after the Xenomorph gargoyle).  Seemed so utterly pointless that it had me close to tears.

However... I previously thought the same about a random bridge in a park beside Great Northern Road in Aberdeen (Woodside):

 

Turned out that it's not so random after all as it was built to cross the almost mythical Aberdeen-Inverurie canal, the location of this bridge being marked in red below.

Canal route map

Is the canal why there’s a “port” in Inverurie? (Elphinstone?)

[Hedgecutter]

1 hour ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

Is the canal why there’s a “port” in Inverurie? (Elphinstone?)

Correct.  It only ended up being used as a canal for about 50 years and much of it was replaced by railway, e.g. the bits at Mounthooly (hence Canal Place, usually anal Place according to the sign of course) and the top of Bedford Rd.

[tongue_tied_danny]

A tenement block in North Ellen Street in the Hulltoon area of Dundee has these weird wee gargoyles next to the windows...

[tamthebam]

2 hours ago, tongue_tied_danny said:

A tenement block in North Ellen Street in the Hulltoon area of Dundee has these weird wee gargoyles next to the windows...

[The Mantis]

On 13/10/2020 at 14:01, Mr Tourette said:

Chimneys in Loch Cluanie. The Loch is on the road from Invermoriston to Shiel Bridge on the road to Skye

I’d never noticed it before but watched a programme on BBC Scotland a few years ago about arial photography in Scotland from just after the war, which mentioned the story and the photos behind it. I look for them every time I drive past now. It’s only visible when the level is low in summer

The original Loch Cluanie was a lot smaller than it is today. There used to be some houses on the banks which are now underwater after they flooded the valley when creating the hydro dam in the 50s

There is a road, a bridge and all sorts still under the water but the tops of the chimneys of one of the old houses is all that is visible these days

Just to add to this. The modern A87 goes by Loch Cluanie but previously it went by Tomdoun and over the hill to Cluanie. But the old road was submerged by the damming of Loch Loyne. Bits of the old road occasionally reappear in dry spells.

The two photos below are from wiki from 2010 and show the south bridge (top) and the north bridge (bottom). Apparently the north bridge has collapsed since. A mate of mine took some pics there a few years ago but didn't have the nerve to cross the north bridge as it looked dodgy.

[highlandcowden]

14 minutes ago, The Mantis said:

Just to add to this. The modern A87 goes by Loch Cluanie but previously it went by Tomdoun and over the hill to Cluanie. But the old road was submerged by the damming of Loch Loyne. Bits of the old road occasionally reappear in dry spells.

The two photos below are from wiki from 2010 and show the south bridge (top) and the north bridge (bottom). Apparently the north bridge has collapsed since. A mate of mine took some pics there a few years ago but didn't have the nerve to cross the north bridge as it looked dodgy.

 

looks like a half submerged crocodile-this is clearly a trap

[The Mantis]

Mangersta Bothy, Isle of Lewis. Built by John Norgrove, father of Linda Norgrove, who was kidnapped by the Taliban in 2010 and died during a rescue attempt by U.S. forces.

[Arch Stanton]

The River Cart Aqueduct built in 1810 and engineered by Thomas Telford, this has a couple of notable claims.

One of the oldest, if not the oldest bridges in the world carrying a railway, it originally carried the Glasgow and Paisley Canal but was converted to carry the Paisley Canal railway in 1885.

Secondly, the span of the arch is 27m and is the longest span masonry aqueduct of the canal age on a British canal. It sits just over 9m above the White Cart.

The bridge is still used today on the PC Line.

[Tony Ferrino]

On 12/10/2020 at 16:14, tongue_tied_danny said:

Same story with Rosefield Street in Dundee. You'll notice that part of the tenement block is a different colour.

Why?

Hermann Göring, that's why.

My old dad, born in 1934, said there was only ever one bomb dropped on Dundee. So its not true?

[Sergeant Wilson]

2 minutes ago, Tony Ferrino said:

My old dad, born in 1934, said there was only ever one bomb dropped on Dundee. So its not true?

Must've been a big one.

[Newbornbairn]

17 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

Must've been a big one.

Maybe a bouncing one?

[Arabdownunder]

8 hours ago, Tony Ferrino said:

My old dad, born in 1934, said there was only ever one bomb dropped on Dundee. So its not true?

Hitler didn't want Dundee bombed because Dundonians gave Churchill the boot in the 20s*

*May be urban myth and not true

[Enigma]

I’ve always liked that a crater from a WWII bomb on Stonehaven golf course is called “Hitler’s Bunker”

[Tony Ferrino]

16 hours ago, NewBornBairn said:

Maybe a bouncing one?

A Bam duster?

His story is that he was evacuated, but he missed his mum so much they sent him back. And then the only bomb landed in Baxter park. 
He also goes on about how much he missed his dad and how worried he was when he was serving in the RAF. He only found out after the war that he was a cook at a base somewhere near Great Yarmouth.

[tamthebam]

3 hours ago, Tony Ferrino said:

A Bam duster?

His story is that he was evacuated, but he missed his mum so much they sent him back. And then the only bomb landed in Baxter park. 
He also goes on about how much he missed his dad and how worried he was when he was serving in the RAF. He only found out after the war that he was a cook at a base somewhere near Great Yarmouth.

You have reminded me of a workmate's old joke:

"My dad won a medal in the War for saving 100 men...

 

 

 

 

...he shot the cook"