Unfortunately, the first pics I took of this slightly unusual structure just didn’t seem to show it as anything recognisable – I somehow managed to pick viewpoints that produced abstract views that might be fine for posting along with pics that show the structure better, but on their own, make almost no sense at all.
Hopefully, this one that survived the cull as I worked through what I had collected does the job, and shows at least on decent view. It was almost a surprise when I got there and caught first sight of the thing – the first pic I saw made it look like a tunnel, or covered/enclosed crossing, and nothing like the actual structure.
It would be nice to take pics from some of the windows overlooking the crossing – but that’s not going to happen, for me at least.
I will have to revisit this, and choose better viewpoints armed with the knowledge I gained on this slightly abortive visit.
While I was there, it only showed the white lighting seen in the pic. However, in earlier pics it was washed in various colours. No idea of that was just a temporary effect installed for the opening, or now just doesn’t work.
Approach from Glasgow city centre
Not a complete disaster though as this feature covers a large area, with some interesting aspects.
This is the approach to the bridge from Baird Street, which has the stairway shown for pedestrians, and an almost hidden serpentine ramp with a shallow grade for cyclists., which can just about be made beginning on the centre right.
You need to open the full size image to see it.
Most of this pic is ‘real’, but I had to avoid the very bright street light on the right, with the dark sky/cloud behind. I now know this will seriously knock back the exposure of a scene like this, and ruin the shot by making it much too dark.
I took more than one shot, ensuring the light source was NOT in any of them, and stitched them together, meaning there was no upper right corner, so had to make that up, but the dark cloud is real.
The scene came out very much like an old sodium street lamp view (although the lighting is white LED), and I had to reduce the effect.
I believe this was caused by the effect lighting on and around the bridge, which has a number of reddish floodlights on those curved poles, as well as a few white ones.
Approach from Sighthill flats
As if to prove it’s never a good idea to give up on pics before trying all the options.
I ended up with this half decent result after playing with some advanced processing tools which recovered the central horizontal area of the pic, which included the bridge.
While this was a wider view of the bridge and its surrounding, the lighting at the time – between the sky and the brightly lit line of light along the path in the foreground – meant it was just a dark area of shadow, with no detail apparent.
Sometimes even I’m impressed at what can be coaxed out of the darkness.
Guess I don’t need to go back now, for a general view, and can look for more interesting detail in future.
I didn’t know how to get to the bridge from the city centre at first (by bike), and first ventured there by going to Speirs Wharf, which I now know well.
It’s a corner of Glasgow I have seldom visited, and was almost surprised to find RS was on the next street along from the bridge – but it did explain why the place looked familiar.
It’s not too bad to get to, apart from the slightly steep climb from George Square to Bath Street, but after that there’s a ‘Quiet Cycle Route’ leading to the bridge.
It cuts out all the busy streets from Argyle Street to Cowcaddens if heading to Speirs Wharf, and could be a handy alternative to that fairly busy route.
At the moment, I’m avoiding it as the Cambridge Street section is a disaster, while works are in progress to properly install the cycle route that was set up there a few years ago. Granted it will be even better once the work is done, but after negotiating the diversion for the works, I found it easier to just stay on the road, and avoid it altogether.
Maybe the rusty bridge route means there’s simply a way to get to Speirs Wharf and the start of the towpath cycle route – I’ll have to try at a few times.
Secret Scotland 