In Ruins

I love ruins and derelict buildings, I always have. I love them so much that it bothers me when humans take it in themselves to rebuild old buildings and castles, usually to then charge an entrance fee. That often takes away all the interesting bits and turns it into some kind of Disneyland. Considering this it is lucky that I live in Glasgow, this city is full of abandoned buildings and sites, and the surrounding area is full of castles, most of which are in ruins and not rebuilt!

Of course in the name of safety the city council takes it upon itself to block all possible entrances to all the interesting building and sites. Luckily we can always rely on neds to break into these places, allowing the rest of us the pleasure of exploring these sites.

As of late I have found myself with plenty time on my hands and there is no better thing to do in the cloudy and wet Scottish summer that to go explore what is out there with my trusty steed (see mountain bike). Places that are usually right there in front of us but few of us bother to look at them in detail. In two of my last outings I have stumbled quite by accident across some really impressive derelict sites that were hardly protected. I have taken pictures of them, and it has occurred to me that I ought to share them in this blog. Because we all know how many millions of people will pass by here on their cybernetic travels.

In Ruins: Derelict Shipyard

A couple of weeks ago I was returning from a climb in Ibrox and for one reason or another my bike was not with me. I therefore thought I would take the subway back, but alas I had no money on me and the nearest cash machine wanted to charge me almost £2 pounds for its services. I therefore did the reasonable things and decided to take a ridiculously long walk back through Govan and then the Cyde tunnel. This is by no means the quickest way home but it was a way I had not done before so it seemed like a good idea. I was proved right when justa few minutes after I stumbled on this:

What was this place? I couldn't see much more but it looked like a shipyard, even more interestingly and abandoned shipyard. Unfortunately then place was quite solidly fenced off. But as I already mentioned the troublesome youths of Glasgow are quite crafty and soon I found a spot where the fence, a solid metal fence, had been torn apart, leaving it with a hole large enough for a large man to walk through quite comfortably. I should have taken a picture of this because the fence was pretty sturdy and I struggle to imagine how on earth they managed to break it so effectively. I walked through the gap and into an overgrown wasteland.

I turned right to check out the basin I had seen from beyond the fence, soon I encountered evidence of the presence of people in this area, that it it was covered in rubbish. Most notably there was Tennents Mountain:

I like to think that a bunch of friends regularly come to this spot and drink themselves numb stashing their used cans in a mountain of evidence of their past drinking experiences.

Having passed this landmark I reached the main basin of the shipyard.

The old and the new Glasgow; an abandoned shipyard from the Victoria era with the spire of the science museum in the background.

Neatly placed tires in the basin. 

 Stairway leading to the basin

Evidence of an earthquake?

Precarious wooden bridge, yes I did cross it. It turned out to be a lot more solid than I expected. At this point I started to hear the voices of rowdy drunken youths. For the sake of my own entertainment over anything else I decided to be extra sneaky and avoid detection.

What have we here?

Derelict building, jackpot! 

Ceiling is in a bit of a state, not a great spot if I ever become homeless...

This little room could work! might have to move the shelves though.

Old machinery 

Rusted iron things on the wall, coat hangers?

Outside view

 The tower I had seen for afar before

More rubbish! this time its a pool

I love it when old buildings get taken over by vegetation. Nature reclaims!

Another abandoned building nearby, view from outside.

Inside looking out.

More rusted iron attachments, these ones must have been used to hold cables.

Before leaving I look at the other side of the river, there in lies civilisation

Stay put for the next instalment of the In Ruins series, an abandoned hamlet in the East of Glasgow. Meanwhile if you enjoyed this post and enjoy the sight of abandoned man made creations things I urge you to visit this site:

http://www.artificialowl.net/ 

The content there puts my humble photographic documentary to shame. Hopefully one day I will have a decent camera and wont have to rely on my iPhone for these things.

Farewell