Forth Road Bridge, South Tower

You can tell that many of my contributions are aerial panoramas, so I couldn't turn down the opportunity to climb 512 feet to the top of one of the main towers of the Forth Road Bridge and take a panorama.

A lift takes you most of the way up the tower but the final 50 feet is by ladder, appearing out on the cross-beam of the tower (you can see other people standing here). A final external ladder takes you to the highest point, above the cable saddle, beside the navigation beacon.

From here you can see North Queensferry / Fife (long side of bridge) and South Queensferry / Lothian (short side of bridge). To the east, running parallel to the road bridge, is the Forth (Rail) Bridge opened in 1890.

Work is due to start on a second road bridge on the west side of this bridge, and is due to be completed in 2016. When this is complete there will be three bridges here from 3 centuries, 19th Century cantilever, 20th Century cable suspension, and 21st Century cable stay. Each representing design excellence from its era.

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Europe / UK-Scotland

Lat: 55° 59' 48.84" N
Long: 4° 25' 16.2" W

Elevation: 156m

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.

Nikon D60, Sigma 10-20mm, handheld, Lightroom, PTGui, PaintShop Pro.

For safety reasons, some strict constraints were placed on taking this picture, no tripod was allowed and all equipment had to be landyarded to reduce the risk of objects falling 350ft to the roadway below.

My intention was to use a philopod but even with a substancial weight the stiff breeze at 500ft meant the philopod was all over the place! I eventually took the shots freehand.

Look closely and you can see some stitching but I still feel the effort was worthwhile!