Closed Bridge September Update

The bridge by Balintore Castle's gate lodges has been closed to traffic for almost a full year now as it has been deemed unsafe. To say this has been inconvenient for me, my builders and my neighbours is a total understatement. Now you have to approach the castle via a 40 minute detour from the south, rather than approach it directly from the east.

One of my neighbours parks her car on the west side of the bridge, even though she lives on the east side - as otherwise her daily commute to Perth would be an extra hour.

The Council's timescale for fixing the bridge has already slipped four times. It's a public service mega-fail. Anyhow, I will document the full shocking saga in due course, but this blog entry is about today's visit to the bridge to examine the changes made for the "Ride the North" cycle event on the 24th August this year, when 1000 cyclists rode past the castle. Two days before the event, when I last visited the bridge to check, the concrete barricades were still fully blocking the road. However, just the morning before the event, a neighbour alerted me to Council activity.

Today's visit shows that the central concrete pipe sections were moved slightly out of line to allow passage for the cyclists. 

However, the main reason for my post is simply to rejoice in today's fantastic weather and to show you the resulting photos. One of the housekeepers ordered me away from my computer to take an evening walk in the sunshine. :-) Indeed, the sun beat down warmly from a clear sky all day. You get days in autumn, which can still feel like summer and today was a prime example.

view to east over closed bridge

You can see the Rowan trees on the right in particularly heavy berry. Indeed all the Rowans in the area are cropping much more profusely than usual. Gregor, my builder, tells me this is the sign of a harsh winter ahead as the bird will need a lot of berries. I am doubtful that mother nature's supply and demand is so well organised, but we shall see.

view to west over closed bridge

Looking "against" the light was so beautiful, that I even took a telephoto (or digital zoom).

view to west over closed bridge (digital zoom)

Hoist the Lantern

A Great Hall need a great light  - and I mean great in both senses! On the 29th August 2024, the huge Art Deco lantern, collected from an architectural reclaim yard in Wolverhampton, was finally hoisted into position at the top of the Great Hall.

A special bracket had to be made to attach the great weight to the floor joists on the level above. My first view of the installed lantern was through the scaffolding as per the image  below:

George the sparky had spent many days patiently re-wiring the lantern with modern bayonet fittings to replace the old/broken/missing Edison screw ones. With 66 light bulbs, he declares it the largest he has ever worked with. Thanks to George for his steady, calm and efficient services at Balintore. The photo was taken at the moment of the first illumination. I love the way the light reflects warmly off the gold of the lantern.

There are more metal pieces to fit to the lantern, and then it has to be re-glazed because all the original glass has been lost. So there are more chapters ahead in the story of the lantern.