From here, you can see the 3 main vehicular bridges across the River Forth Estuary.
The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge and is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was designed by Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker. Construction began in 1882 and it was opened on 4 March 1890 by the then Duke of Rothesay, the future Edward VII, who drove home the last rivet, which was gold plated and suitably inscribed. The bridge carries the Edinburgh - Aberdeen line across the Forth between the villages of South and North Queensferry and has a total length of 8094 feet (2467m), with the double track elevated 150 feet (45.72m) above the water line at high tide. It consists of two main spans of 1700 feet (518.16m), two side spans of 680 feet (207.3m) and 15 approach spans of 168 feet (51.2m). Each main span consists of two 680 feet (207.3m) cantilever arms supporting a central 350 feet (106.7m) span truss. When it opened it had the longest single cantilever bridge span in the world, until 1919 when the Quebec Bridge in Canada was opened. It continues to be the world's second longest cantilever span of 1709 feet (521m). "Painting the Forth bridge" is a colloquial expression meaning a never ending task and derives from the belief that at one time in the history of the bridge continuous repainting was required and commenced immediately on completion of the previous repaint. This practice never in fact existed, although there was a permanant maintenance crew for the bridge. In 2011, the bridge was covered in a new coating designed to last for 25 years, bringing an end to having painters as a regular part of the maintenance crew.
The Forth Road Bridge is a suspension bridge, which replaced a centuries old ferry service to carry vehicular traffic, cyclists and pedestrians across the Forth. Construction began in September 1958 and it was opened on 4 September 1964 by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh.The bridge has a total length of 8241 feet (2512m) and was the longest suspension bridge outside of the United States and the fourth longest in the world when it opened. It was awarded Historic Scotland's Category A listed structure status in 2001. The bridge's central main span is 3301 feet (1006m) long, it's two side spans are each 1339 feet (408m) long, and the approach viaducts are 843 feet (257m) on the north side and 1437 feet (438m) on the south side. The towers reach 512 feet (156m) above mean water level. The main strung cables are 23 inches (590mm) in diameter, with 11618 high tensile wires, each 5mm in diameter. The bridge was the main crossing across the river until the Queensferry Crossing opened and it became a Public Transport Corridor on 1 February 2018, carrying public transport, cyclists and pedestrians only.
The Queensferry Crossing is a three tower cable stayed bridge with an overall length of 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers), the longest triple cable stayed bridge in the world. It was initially known as the Forth Replacement Crossing, and formally received it's name on 26 June 2013 after a public vote. Construction begain in late summer 2011 and it was officially opened on 4 September 2017 by Queen Elizabeth II, 53 years to the day after she opened the adjacent road bridge. The bridges' three towers are each 679 feet (207m) high. Wind shielding has been built into the design to enable use of the bridge in high winds, a problem that used to cause the old Forth Bridge to close to high sided vehicles on a regular basis. The bridge is dual carriageway, with hard shoulders in both directions throughout it's entirety, and has no footpath for pedestrian access.
This is our first geocache hidden as a family. We have left some children's SWAG in the cache to start with. Please feel free to swap.
Congratulations to Penfold64 for FTF!