Wemyss caves, Scotlands secret bunker, The Kelpies and on to our housesit

Glenrothes Wetherspoons hotel. Good beer, good food, what more do you want?

We have now arrived at the Housesit which is beautiful, as are the cats, Mr.T and Mrs.P. A first however we have been asked not to put pictures of the cats or house on the blog, a request we respect, so it’ll just be us, though the odd paw or whisker might be visible occasionally...

We enjoyed our stay in Glenrothes, it’s not an exciting town by any means, but that was probably what we wanted. We were staying in a Wetherspoon hotel, above a Wetherspoon pub, so a decent pint at a good price and reasonable food both for dinner and breakfast.

Coastal walk to Wemyss caves

Obviously most of our talk on Sunday was about the build, we decided that the rafters probably weigh about the same as I do, no wonder carrying them got boring quickly! Even shifting the pallet of plywood was noticeable, each sheet was fine, but by the time Tony and I had moved the whole 1500kg pallet that was boring too. My injuries form the week are healing well, I scraped a shin falling over, too busy talking and not looking where I was going! The weirdest thing though are the first two fingers on my right hand, I really burned them on my fish, on Friday night, most surprising having left the shop, driven to the harbour, walked to the end, sat down and unwrapped it! It must have been superheated somehow!

Entering one of the caves

I’d love to say that we woke on Monday bright and refreshed after a good nights sleep. It was a good nights sleep though I did wake to male voices and been confused as to why Tony was showing people around the new build in the middle of the night, till I realised it was our neighbours going to their room! A good breakfast set us up for the day, no more to eat except an ice cream till dinner.

We headed to the coast and Wemyss caves. Don’t know much about them, and the visitor centre is only open on a Sunday, but it was good to have a potter between them and the little castle ruins. We then headed along the coast to Anstruther with its award winning fish shop, only to find neither of us were actually hungry, so another gentle potter before driving to Scotland’s hidden nuclear bunker. On arrival neither of us could actually be bothered so we headed back to the hotel for a doze before dinner.

Carved shapes in the caves, inhabited since pre-Christian times

Jackie just has to find her way into every cave

Yesterday we did wake up feeling much more normal, but with a long day stretching ahead of us, we weren’t due at the Housesit till 20.00. We decided to head back to the secret nuclear bunker. It had been constructed as part of Cold War preparations to be the seat of government for Scotland should the worset happen. Above ground a ‘normal’ house, below ground two floors of dormitories, war rooms, broadcasting studious and everything required for life below ground. On accessing the long passageway in, the first thing we saw was a cat flap and a sign about Cleo, and how this was now her home. There wasn’t actually a cat flap in the blast door, but there were many others. Don’t suppose they were original!

The remains of MacDuff castle above the caves

The inconspicuous farm building containing the entrance to the huge bunker

We got as far as the canteen where I asked about Cleo, to my surprise he went and hoiked her out of the still top secret room, with cat flap, where she was hiding!

There were two movies showing, one a serial of adverts from the ‘80’s called “Protect and Survive” which we both vaguely remember. How to build your blast shelter in your house, and what to store in it. What to do if you heard the four minute warning etc. This wasn’t as horrific however as a black and white movie made sometime about 1965 showing how life would probably be from bomb drop and for the next few days. Incredibly well made, using experiences from heavily bombed German cities and from Hiroshima it described the initial firestorm with 100mph winds that consumed all the oxygen suffocating people with the produced carbon monoxide and dioxide to the police having to end the suffering of the ‘category 3’ victims who had no hope of survival and weren’t even to have had painkillers, to the breakdown of civilised society with looting and appropriation of rations. Very sobering.

Above are the internal walls of the farm building, below a 150m long tunnel leading to the underground nuclear bunker. It's on two floors (so we're told), each the size of a football pitch, protected by 3m thick titanium reinforced concrete walls. It has its own recirculating air supply and can operate sealed from the outside world, power supplied by generators with enough fuel supplies for three months. Down these steps, in the event of a nuclear war, the most important people in the country would have walked (including the bunker cat - can you see her entrance door on the left?)

How to find the secret bunker!

Still not really requiring lunch we had a scone before heading off to see the Kelpies, two 30m high statues of horses heads. Visible from the M9 we’ve seen them while driving, but never for very long. We arrived in the rain, and just made it to the visitor centre to use the toilet, but not in time for a tour, I guess going inside would have been interesting, but ho hum. They are amazing, but I would still like to see them at night, when they are lit up with coloured light and, I should imagine, look amazing.

The inner entrance beyond the 1.5T blast doors

Allowing for traffic round Glasgow it seemed time to head to the sit, stopping for something to eat just before we got there at an Italian restaurant our hostess had recommended, but warned we’d probably have to book. We were lucky, and thoroughly enjoyed it. We arrived at the sit to be welcomed by our hosts, Mr.T cat and Mrs.P cat, a bottle of Prosecco and a bottle of beer.... It got even better when B went to the loo in the night and Mr.T cat snuck in and settled on the bed before he was back, we are going to like it here!

The emergency radio broadcast room that would have given out instructions on what to do if the UK were under attack from nuclear weapons. An actual prerecorded emergency message was playing on a constant loop in there

The operations room where info on nuclear fallout would have been recorded

Desks where emergency services, the treasury and, beyond the police, ambulance and fire services would have been coordinated from. The most sobering thought is that these were actual preparations and departments from where the country would have been run after its total devastation following a nuclear war. They would have carried the burden of the future of mankind beneath a possible devastated planet

Finally we caught up with Cleo, the nuclear bunker cat. Living deep below ground she's well looked after and can freely roam throughout the bunker through her cat flaps

Not all the bunker is open to the public, quite large areas are still top secret and in use. Here's one door we're not allowed to enter, but Cleo is, as you can see!

Jackie forgot to mention the Robinson Crusoe statue in Lower Largo, Leven, Fife. You can just see it above the red door of the building behind. It's there as it was the birthplace of Alexander Selkirk, the author of Robinson Crusoe 

Here's a better view of it

Off to The Kelpies in Falkirk, dodging the rain showers

The Kelpies (means shape-shifting water spirits) were designed by Andy Scott and completed in October 2013. They stand 30m high, weigh 300 tonnes each and are built of structural steel with stainless steel cladding. 

A view of the inside. We couldn't get in, just poked the camera through a gap. It is possible to go in on a guided tour but we were too late in the day for that

Jackie peering up at one. It appeared to us that every cladding panel was of a different shape (but we can't confirm that), not just bent differently, but with a different outside shape and with different hole patterns.

My, what big nostrils you have! Some wag had managed to get a football through its nostril and got it wedged inside. Don't think you can quite see it here, but it was definitely there