2025-03-09 56 -2

Location

The parking lot of an apartment building, Dundee, Scotland

Participants

Mcbaneg (talk)

Expedition

There were two interesting hashpoints this weekend that were mutually exclusive. 2025-03-08_55_-3 was spectacular: on Drum Sands, a part of the Firth of Forth that is underwater most of the time but exposed at low tide, and low tide would be occuring at 4 pm on that Saturday. Getting to the point would require a local bus ride and a beautiful 1.5 mile coast walk with views of the Forth bridges much of the way. Alternatively, Susanne and I had discussed the possibility of doing a weekend overnight trip to somplace in southern or central Scotland, but hadn't identified a target yet. St. Andrews was one possibility, but there weren't hotel rooms available for the Saturday. Friday afternoon's Dow opening delivered an option: 2025-03-09_56_-2, in Dundee. That was half an hour by bus from St. Andrews and had affordable rooms available. The hashpoint itself was much less interesting, in an urban apartment complex's parking lot, but would add a new graticule to the collection and expand the Minesweeper count by one. The two expeditions were mutually exclusive because we'd have to leave town before we could get back from the low-tide excursion if we were to make the Dundee/St Andrews tourism trip worthwhile. I consulted with Susanne and we settled on the Dundee trip. I now see that Gaelan actually reached 2025-03-08_55_-3; I'm glad somebody did!

Dundee has the look of a moderate-size city whose traditional economic drivers have faded but that is working hard on diversifying its economy and maintaining its vitality. Computer game design seems to be one focus (Grand Theft Auto comes from here.) There's an impressive museum, a branch of the V&A, focused on design. There's also still a modest working port, though the shipbuilding of bygone days is no longer. My morning walk from hotel to hashpoint took about 20 minutes and went past some interesting old buildings and several bits of industrial brownfield that have yet to be redeveloped. The hashdance was easy and I was back well before the hotel breakfast period ended.

Photos

Grin.
Proof.
View north from hashpoint.
View over shopping center toward Dundee Law with its hilltop war memorial, from return walk.
North Carr lightship in nearby dock, the last remaining lightship in Scotland. It was decommissioned in 1975. An attempt at raising money for restoration as a historic vessel has now been abandoned and the ship is expected to be scrapped.