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

Proper building work in Scotland

The Scottish working team!

Our last couple of days in Derby were pretty uneventful, thank goodness. B popped back to Alvechurch to mow the lawn and move the carbon monoxide detector while Ruby and I chilled. Friday Ruby was in Doggy daycare to tire her out for Saturday when we would be leaving before Tim, Jill and co arrived home. We took the hirecar back and gave the house a bit of a clean before enjoying a few moments of peace.

Saturday we awoke as usual, walked Ruby, packed the car and waited for the message from Tim that they had landed, so we could head up to Tony and Nicky in Scotland. The drive wasn’t too bad, and the new car performed very well. We both quite like it.

We arrived about half an hour after Helen, Ian, Manu and Monty dog. All ready and set for a few days hard work. We started however with a gentle walk to the pub, just down the road, that even after this many visits, none of us knew existed. We had a very nice pint before heading back to be shown round and introduced to our jobs! 
Starting as we mean to go on, dinner wasn’t till after 22.00 and much wine was drunk.

Final night with Ruby dog in Derby

And a very chilled Stimpy cat

Sunday Brian and Ian were introduced to the 19 Velux windows to be fitted into the roof. Manu with assistance from Helen started making temporary doors and windows for the gaps that were unfilled, while I started to fit ‘sole plates’ to the blocks on the floor. This was very slow and painstaking as these initial 6m lengths of 4x2” wood would shape the whole structure as they were to be the base plate to all the internal studded walls. We then moved on to making some panels on plywood. Installing these we could check all verticals and horizontals to ensure we were as true as possible. 

Off to Scotland for our week of proper building

Between these panels uprights and noggins were inserted to fit insulation and we were off. Once we’d got so far we started putting the two beams on these so we could then start on the rafters. These planks were heavy, very heavy. It wasn’t far to carry them in but both Nicky and I took our turn bringing them in with Tony and rebelled after 5 or 6. The first two of these were slow to go up, till we knew what we were doing and got into a routine. Noggins had to be cut and screwed to both adjoining rafters, again ensuring that everything was at right angles and horizontals and verticals were true. Writing this it doesn’t seem very impressive, but when you look at the pictures and realise I had to measure and cut every single piece of wood there with a millimetres accuracy we were jolly pleased with our progress.

All the buildings you can see are Tony and Nicky's house. On the left is the finished part with Nicky's garage on the very left, their fabulous finished house next to it and, with the green roof, the 100 foot long building they are converting into another fabulous house. Further right is Tony's garage which is as big as many 5 bedroomed houses, further right is the top of the large poly tunnel where they grow their own food and the trees mark out their fruit trees and chicken and geese enclosures. The solar panels Tony has installed, together with the insulation fitted means the house uses very little external energy making it almost self sufficient and environmentally friendly

See that green roof there? That's how it looked on the day we arrived...

Brian and Ian however did far better than expected. The first window took them a day, only another seven the same size and eleven smaller windows to go then! By the time Ian, Helen and Manu left on Thursday all bar one of the big windows was in, the hole had been cut, but the frame when they came to install it was damaged, a replacement arrived, but was also found to be damaged. This was also replaced. It had all been going swimmingly till Nicky looked at a window from outside and realised it wasn’t in line with the window in the wall beneath it. 

And here it is a week later with 16 Velux windows fitted on this side and 3 on the other side

And all fitted from the top of those towers from the inside

Can’t live with that, it has to be moved. This was harder than initial installation but they moved the hole only to discover, now they were looking that this frame was also damaged. Sadly the supplier had now run out, so a new one is on order, but hasn’t arrived. They had also done three of the small windows. So this was two people eleven widows and 4 days, leaving Brian with eight windows and three days..... The smaller ones were easier, but even so, with a hand from Nicky when required, didn’t he do well to finish? The frustration of the non arrival of the last replacement is huge!

Brian and Ian looking out through the first opening

As ever despite, or because of, working ridiculously hard, we also needed to eat well. Roast pork, Indian roast lamb, roast Turkey, cold meat and salad, with Jo, a guest who came on Tuesday for roast turkey. Much wine and gin was also drunk. It’s great, whoever has time cooks, so Nicky did arrival night and turkey, I did roast pork and Indian lamb and vegetable curry, and Helen did salad and vegetables and her fish most nights. Once we were down to four, with the end of the turkey I made a pie, though cheated with pastry from the freezer. Friday we were treated, as last year with a trip to the local art exhibition and fish and chips on the harbour finishing last night with beef stew cooked by Brian, well he’d finished his windows by then! He also did a five minute syrup sponge and custard, yum!

We love it, we ache, have bruises and feel like we could sleep for a week, but have a huge sense of achievement. We start a housesit on Tuesday near Glasgow, but have got a couple of nights in Glenrothes from tonight - well Booking.com sent me a £25 off voucher....!

And Brian working on the last two windows on his own after the others had left

It was, however, a bit easier doing the last two as, by then, Tony and Jackie had built the first quarter of the internal wooden walls and first floor rafters. By throwing some 11mm plywood and a number of 100mm thick insulation boards and much better platform for working on was available. It also stopped the 'tower movement memory' in the evenings. Working on top of the tower all day, which moved quite a bit while we worked made it feel like the floor was moving in the evenings on solid ground. A bit like getting off a ship and feeling like the earth is still moving

Jackie and Tony worked as a team all week, and look what they got done!

Here's a view of that same area when we arrived. What a difference

Jackie cut every one of those pieces of wood on the circular saw

And some modifications with a jig saw

Tony having a rare break while Jackie cuts the next piece

Jackie measuring out to the underfloor building blocks which mark out the internal walls. You can just see them on the floor, but to make sure....

Here's the same picture taken with Tony's thermal imaging camera. The colder underfloor building blocks are now much clearer. I always knew Jackie was hot stuff!

While we worked inside, Helen and Manu worked outside to secure the outside of the building with temporary wooden frames and polythene covers. There were a lot of openings that needed filling!

As usual on our visits we start about 10:00am, but go on late. Here we are just about to start dessert and look at the time, 11:25pm. LtoR are: Helen, Ian, Nicky, Tony, Jackie and Brian. Manu is taking the photo

But we did have a bit of time to get out and about. Here we are on our way to Craigmin bridge. LtoR: Jackie, Tony, Helen, Nicky, Manu and Ian. Brian taking the photo

Here's the bridge, what an amazing structure

Nicky, our local guide, told us that it is believed Bonny Prince Charlie hid in a room through that doorway under the bridge

Not forgetting the seals on the beach at Spey Bay

Or the Bow Fiddle Rock they took us to see. The cat followed us down and wanted plenty of fuss.

Back at the house, Ghengis cat joinedus on the bed. Jackie planted her teddy by him for this photo but he didn't want to let him go when she tried to retrieve him, holding on with a claw

We had turkey with all the trimmings one night (cooked by Nicky and here's the Christmas pudding (cooked by Tony's mum) alight with brandy

Every morning chickens, geese and guinea fowl had to be let out, fed and watered and put away at night. Helen did it while they were there, but we took over after they had left.

Here's one view of the finished part of their house...

Here's a view from the back garden showing Nicky's garage on the left. The green roof to the right is the start on the current project

And there's the back of the 100 foot long conversion they are working on. 

Here's a photo of the misplaced velux window that Ian and I managed to fit wrong. It was supposed to be in line with the window underneath. It isn't as you can see. It's exactly 100mm to the right of where it should be. Why? Well, you know how, when taking measurements, you often start at the 100mm mark on the tape measure rather than the end, to make sure you get it right on the mark? Well, it's important to take that 100mm off the measurement of the final measurement. In this case we forgot. Actually, I can't tell a lie, it was Ian who forgot. Sorry Ian! 

However, we corrected it, as you can see

Bye Tony and Nicky, we've had a fabulous, but exhausting time and we're looking forward to relaxing in your lovely lounge next year when we come up again to help. Gluttons for punishment or what!