A walk, but not in the Park.

Most mornings as part of his daily exercise routine, Elder Bylund walks from our flat up along the river Tay, or the Firth of Tay as it is called. This is the estuary where Tay empties into the North Sea. It is salt water, ever changing with the tides. At spring tide, the difference in the water level between high and low tides is about 5 meters, or 15 feet.

Looking east, toward the North Sea, is a dock, which generally has one or two ships in port. In addition, oil drilling rigs from the North Sea come in to dock for weeks at at time.

The docks, with a ship and two oil drilling rigs east of our flat.

There are two bridges that cross the Tay as shown in the photo, the closer one (1.5 miles long) for pedestrian (I have walked it once), bike and vehicle traffic is, and the further one for rail traffic.

The Firth of Tay, looking west from our flat

Along the way, there is a “work of art” composed of 11 slabs of concrete spaced about 18 inches apart. The centers are cut out in the shape of a ship. 

There is ship inside there.

Looking form left to right

Looking from right to left

Further on down, is Chandler Lane, a street and buildings (now with flats) that are restored to how they  were in the 1800s.  

Chandler Lane

 Next is the observation tower, overlooking the Firth of Tay, which I climb several times, mostly for exercise.

Firth of Tay Observation Point

The waterfront area of Dundee is undergoing a major redevelopment, which won't be finished until 2016. Since we have arrived, there has been mostly demolition. I watched each day as this building was slowly demolished, such that there is not much left. 

Start of Demolition

Almost done

 This is a Hilton Hotel which is being demolished to make room for redevelopment. The large orange piece of equipment with jaws is one of several around the area. We affectionately call it a dinosaur, and when it is working, it is feeding. The smaller one in the lower left is a scavenger.

What used to be a hotel is now feeding grounds for dinosaurs. 

The ship Discovery, which was built in Dundee and sailed to the Antarctica about 1900, is in dry dock as a museum.  There is a second “dry dock” next to the Discovery. It was full of water when we came, but they are now filling in with, at least in part the rubble from the building above (above the hotel).

Former dry dock on the left. Discovery on the right. 

 In front of the museum four penguins (only two of which are shown) who greet visitors to the museum.

 As part of the redevelopment, they are redoing the approach to the Tay Bridge. We drive through here often, but haven't quite figured out what they are doing.

Redoing the on-ramp to the Tay River Bridge

Beyond the Discovery, is more of the path along the Firth of Tay, and it goes on for 4 miles.

Path and railroad bridge 

We live on kind of a peninsula, so on the way back I sometimes walk on the other side of the peninsula where there are two ships, a lightship and the Unicorn, a 46-gun frigate launched in 1824.

Northcarr Lightship. 

 Not exactly a hike through the woods, but not bad for a morning stroll. 

The Stone of Scone

Elder Bylund noticed in the news in July that a Kay Matheson had passed away. Her claim to fame is  that she was the only woman among four Glasgow University students who “retrieved” Scotland’s historic Stone of Destiny (Stone of Scone) from London’s Westminster Abbey in a dramatic raid on Christmas Day, 1950. Historically, the Stone, over which Scottish Kings were traditionally crowned, was kept at the now-ruined Scone Abbey in Scone. Because we had recently visited Scone Palace (only 20 miles from Dundee),  I pursue the story further, both watching the movie, “Stone of Destiny” and reading the book, The Taking of the Stone of Destiny”, written by Ian Hamilton, the ringleader of the group.

Some Scotts have quite the dislike of the English and dislike even more being governed from London. The retrieval of the Stone of Scone awakened the Scots sense of nationalism, which is alive and well today. One year from now, the Scots will vote on independence from the United Kingdom. The question to be voted on is simply "Should Scotland be an independent country?" It will be interesting to watch. 

The retrieval of the Stone is quite the story. The four students from Glasgow drove to London, a journey which took them eighteen hours. Later that day Ian Hamilton hid under a trolley in the Abbey, but was caught by a nightwatchman after the Abbey doors had been closed, briefly questioned, and then let go.

In the middle of the following night, the three men entered a works yard and gained entrance to the Abbey. On removing the Stone from under the Chair, it crashed to the floor and broke into two pieces.  The three men, using Hamilton's coat, dragged the larger piece down the high altar steps, then Hamilton took the smaller piece to one of the cars waiting outside dirven by Kay Matheson.

Ian Hamilton placed the small piece of Stone in the boot of the car and got into the passenger seat. As he did this, a policeman approached, and Hamilton and Matheson immediately fell into a lovers' clinch. The policeman stopped and the three proceeded to have a conversation even though it was 5 am.. Matheson drove off to Victoria and Hamilton went back to the Abbey. Unable to find the other 2, he proceeded to drag the large piece of stone to the car himself. Hamilton drove to Kent, hid the large piece of stone in a field and made his way back to Scotland. Matheson left her car, containing the small piece of the Stone, with a friend in the Midlands. On discovering that the Stone was missing, the authorities closed the border between Scotland and England for the first time in four hundred years.

A fortnight later Hamilton and some friends recovered the two pieces of stone and brought them to Glasgow. They hired a stonemason to mend the Stone.

In April 1951 the police received a tip-off and the Stone was found on the site of the High Altar at Arbroath Abbey (10 miles from Dundee) where in 1320 the assertion of Scottish nationhood was made in the Declaration of Arbroath.. The Stone was returned to Westminster Abbey in February 1952.. The perpetrators were not prosecuted.  The Stone was officially returned to Scotland in 1996 and resides in the Edinburgh Castle, as we have independently confirmed.