We were along the Fife coast a fortnight or so ago; at Limekilns where there is a good view of Rosyth Dockyard and the Forth Bridges.

Currently fitting out at the dockyard is the new Royal Navy aircraft carrier – the one there won’t be any planes for once it is completed. Both bridges are in the background.

On the way back from Dalmeny though South Queensferry I noticed a new memorial. I mentioned in this post that there was a lack of a proper memorial to those who died while building the Forth Bridge.

That omission has now been rectified.

The Forth Bridge was opened in 1890 or so and it has taken until now to commemorate by name those who died in its building.

On Saturday we took a wee trip to South Queensferry really just for something to do but also to check out an antique shop we’d seen featured on the TV. (We didn’t buy anything in the end.)

Just by the jetty from where the boat trips to Inchcolm island set off there is this sculpture. The plaque mentions there is a large grey seal colony on the island.

South Queensferry is of course dominated by the two Forth Bridges but mainly by the original (rail) Forth Bridge. The trains seem to be every few minutes one way or the other. They look like toys against the Bridge’s sheer size. Here’s one coming off the bridge to the south. The photo captured the reflections in the water quite well.

The local shops etc make great play of the bridge connection. This is the Rail Bridge Bistro and Gift Shop.

I like the way the Rail Bridge motif is maintained on the fencing to the left front and also on the door handles on the entrance.

The sculpture of one of the bridge spans is to commemorate those who built the bridge.

This, I believe, contains the only commemoration to those who died in its construction, who are not enumerated individually anywhere. (Edited to add:- there is now such a memorial on the pavement opposite to this.)

A couple more pictures of South Queensferry have been added to my South Queensferry flickr set.

We took a stroll around North Queensferry last week. It wasn’t much of a stroll because it’s not very big. It must be the best location in the world for viewing iconic bridges, though. It lies slap bang between the two famous ones over the River Forth.

The following two pictures were taken from the same spot. The angle between the photos is about 60⁰.

They’re doing some repair work on the Road Bridge which, thankfully, you can’t see from the road.

The next time I drive over it will be more scary than usual now I know all that is going on below.

Pictures of the northern cable anchor point and a support pillar are on my flickr site.

Looking west we could see the trans-North Sea ferry berthed at Rosyth.

There was an aircraft carrier at the Royal Navy base too. I had thought we no longer had any of those, or was it just the new ones the Coalition Government planned to scrap? My camera isn’t quite good enough for the distance involved but it was definitely an aircraft carrier. It had that upward sweep at the bow.

This is a nice view of both Forth bridges. It was taken from the grounds of Dunfermline Abbey.

From this vantage point the more modern road bridge is in the foreground.

The Forth Bridge is in the background, still festooned with the plastic cladding they have been using in the latest painting effort.

A few weeks ago myself and the good lady took a stroll along the waterside at Dalgety Bay on the Forth.

Unusually there was activity on the river. Ships do appear and disappear from the estuary but they seem to do it overnight.

This was a pleasing shot of two tugs.

There was a yacht out on the river. You can almost see it to the left against the Forth Bridge.

The houses at St David’s Harbour remind me a bit of Portmeirion, though they aren’t as Italianate. (As a point of reference the foreground lamp-post in both pictures is the same.)

They are what Portmeirion might have looked like if it had been designed by a committee.