On the other side of the River Forth from my home town of South Queensferry lies another little town which (rather suprisingly) is called North Queensferry. Although I have stayed in South Queensferry for over thirty years, and we have some perfectly adequate bridges across the Forth, I have only visited North Queensferry a handful of times. A couple of weeks back on a windy but sunny day I decided to visit North Queensferry again, and share my experience with your good selves.
The first thing you notice when you drive down the hill leading into North Queensferry (NQ) is the fact that it also has two large bridges (almost identical to those in my home town of South Queensferry).
There is a long, grey road bridge............
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| Forth Road Bridge from NQ |
...........and there is a huge, red rail bridge:
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| Forth Rail Bridge from NQ |
Tucked under the Road Bridge is a quaint little harbour, and unlike the trim and tidy marina of Port Edgar on the south side of the river this is a harbour with a bit of character.
This is reflected in the boats that were sitting on the pier, hauled out of the water and tucked up sheltering from the worst of the Scottish winter.
There were some beautifully looked after boats, like the wooden hulled example below:
Which appeared to be smiling very smugly when you looked at it from the bow (that's nautical speak for 'the front' if you didn't know):
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| Smiley Boat |
There were a few less glamorous boats as well...........this one called 'Pioneer' looked as though it had a torpedo slung underneath it:
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| Pioneer with torpedo |
I'm not a nautical person so I can't think why you would want to have such a large protrusion at the bottom of you boat.............unless of course it was for ramming other boats.
Maybe that is what happened to poor Blue Moon below:
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| Blue, Blue Moon |
As well as sail boats and power boats there must also be rowing boats at NQ harbour, because there was a little hint at the entrance:
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| NQ Boat & Sports Club 'Pull Together' |
I didn't see any rowing boats however, maybe they were all safely indoors. That anchor doesn't look like it is from a rowing boat, either that or they have very big rowing boats and very big rowers ....................time for a sharp exit.
The bay next to the harbour looks as though it has some history as well, there was evidence of a boating heritage in the large wooden pontoons and the skeletal remains of a wooden hulled boat of many years ago:
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| Old Wooden Pontoon (with train in background) |
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| Remnants of Old Boat in mud of NQ Bay |
There were a few birds to see in the bay, however it was very windy and they were quite far away so that is my excuse for the poor quality of my photographs:
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| Redshank in NQ Bay |
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| Shellduck in NQ Bay |
I decided to get out the wind for a little while and drove round to the other side of North Queensferry to the car park under the Rail Bridge. It was very pleasant sitting in the car, in the sun and out of the wind, with the beautiful views across the River Forth to SQ.
After a few minutes warming up I braved the wind again and took a couple of snaps of the Rail Bridge (which you get right underneath and can really appreciate how impressive a structure it is)
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| Underneath the Arches |
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| Towering above the Rooftops |
There wasn't much in the way of wildlife venturing out today and those that did, such as gulls whooshed past at such a rate I couldn't photograph them. I did manage to capture a couple of Magpies who seemed to think they were ostriches and buried their heads in the sand (grass):
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| Ostrich Magpies |
Perhaps they didn't want to be photographed.
There were very few people (other than stupid me) out on this windy day but I did see one brave boat out on the water:
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| Powerful Tug (with South Queensferry in the background) |
The town of North Queensferry looked quite picturesque on this blustery day:
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| North Queensferry from Rail Bridge car park |
On my way out of NQ I took a detour along a little road that runs under the Road Bridge (sorry it is a private road apparently) to see how the next bridge across the Forth was progressing. It's in it's early stages but you can start to see the line of the new bridge now that they have the cassions in place:
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| Cranes working on the foundations for New Forth Bridge |
There is a big debate on what the new bridge should be called and they have narrowed it down to half a dozen names. My money is on Queen Margaret's Crossing as that is where the Queen in Queensferry comes from (she was also Saint Margaret don't you know).
Anyway, whatever they call the new bridge it is going to cross over some very exclusive properties on the south side and on the north side is this lovely little house...........I think it is their private road I am on!!
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| Nice Little House in NQ |
I left North Queensferry and drove a few miles up river to the little village of Limekilns, which also has a nautical feel to it.
In the strong wind the yachts securely anchored in the harbour were bobbing up and down furiously, making that distinctive clanging sound as the rigging cables rattle against the mast (at least I think that's what happens):
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| Bobbing Yachts in Limekilns Harbour |
From the harbour pier you get a good view back down the river towards the Forth Bridges from whence I came:
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| Bridges from Limekilns Pier |
Right on the end of the pier you can also see the remnants of an old flag pole which stood at the end of the pier many years ago.
From the pier you can also look back towards Limekilns and the adjacent village of Charleston:
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| Limekilns from Boatyard Pier |
I quite enjoyed my little trip over to the North side of the river, but I couldn't leave before taking the opportunity to capture this final photograph:
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| On a Jetty with a Yeti |
Sorry, I couldn't resist it............... (It's a Skoda Yeti for those who don't know)
Take Care,
Teddy Edward
