This is the organ of Glasgow University Chapel – the same chapel I explored the roof of recently. This was a visit by invitation.

Originally built along with the rest of the chapel in 1929 for the sum of £75,000 (an incredible £3.7M in today’s money), it was in a bad way until it was recently restored for a similarly eye-watering amount.

It really is an incredible work of engineering, though – there are 2,500 pipes in all sizes, from ones smaller than a pencil to ones taller than three people, made of metal or wood.

How’s this for a fantastic valve system? The air reservoir empties, the weight drops, it pulls the fabric tape over a couple of pulleys, and opes the valve to let in more air.

It was a really cramped space to work in – the organ was also being played at the time, so quite loud and I kept being squirted with jets of air!

Back again to Glasgow Uni, and this time an attempt on the main part that’s eluded me – the roof of the chapel.

That’s the chapel in the middle of the above picture. Built in memory of those from the University who died in WWI, it was dedicated in 1929, and designed by Sir George Burnet to blend in with the Gothic main building.

The chapel has a beautiful lead-covered steel spire. Getting there isn’t simple, though, with little ladders and bits of roof to navigate and squeeze around.

Finally, though, the base of the spire itself – and oh, look

Up the ladder, through the door (making sure it doesn’t latch behind me as there’s no handle on the inside), up another ladder in the dark, past the bell motor, then up another ladder and through a trapdoor:

And one short ladder to stand above the bell:

That’s it, really – another fine night spent gazing out over the city…

Glasgow University’s imposing Gothic main building stands on a hill in the West End, dominating views from all over the city. Designed by George Gilbert Scott and opened by Queen Victoria, at the time it was a move to a fresh leafy suburb from the university’s old location in the city centre.

The roofs of the building have always been tempting from the ground, but it was only when I first got up there back in May 2010 that I found out how wonderful they really are. Turrets, little roofs, gables and windows are everywhere, linked by little ladders, hidden walkways and rather unnerving parapets.

Back in 2010 the tower eluded me – I got close, but no cigar. This time I got onto a balcony part way up:

And onto the little flat roof right beside the tower (In 2010, I got as far as the parapet around the tower on the right, but no closer):

There was a good view of the upper half of the tower, which still eludes me:

Next off to the East side of the quadrangle, where some restoration work is just finishing:

Next, a very low parapet around this tower:

But leading to a lovely little hidden bench where I could sit and watch drunken students stagger home:

Shakespeare Street School in Maryhill was built in 1915 as one of the new School Board schools to educate the masses – and clean them, it was well provided with showers for the grubby little tykes.

After it closed as a school, it was used by various artists:

And Maryhill locals:

Clydebank’s La Scala cinema opened in 1938 – seating 2,648, it was described as the pride of Clydebank, and survived the Clydebank Blitz unscathed.

Here it is in the 1950s:

(Scottish Cinemas website)

It became an ABC cinema, then closed as a cinema in 1984. Subdivided, the top half became a snooker club, the bottom half a bingo hall. I only explored the top half:

The pride of Clydebank is now in a sorry state.

Up higher, to the battery room:

Cabinets for two mercury vapour rectifiers:

The projection room:

Because of the odd way it was subdivided, the snooker club used one of the original entrances as a beer cellar:

Lochaline is a pretty wee village in, basically, the middle of nowhere – when you need to take a ferry and drive down 20 miles of singletrack to get somewhere, it’s very un-urban exploring!

But what Lochaline has is a silica mine – opened in 1940 to meet the wartime need of silica to make optical quality glass, the sandstone in the mine is very pure. The mine closed in 2008, but is reopening in the spring.

What’s odd is that the mine is full of cars! Old wrecked ones, used to get about in the mine, and shoved into side passages when they finally died.

The mine is huge – 48km of tunnels, covering 370 acres, and capable of producing 100,000 tonnes per year – destined mostly for Pilkington’s solar panel production, apparently.

I thought these were explosives at first! They’re not – they’re resin for roof bracing.

On the surface, the processing equipment is all ready to go, and the silica sand goes out by sea.

No idea why I didn’t report on this before – probably because it wasn’t all that exciting, but there were some decent views of the Mitchell Library, so here you go

This scaffolding was next to the M8, on the ex-MoD pink building, and was remarkably easy to do – harder to do on a Saturday night with the city full of drunks and cops arresting them!

And, um, that’s it. Told you it wasn’t exciting

Barnton Quarry has had several lives – first it was a stone quarry of course, then in WWII it was the operations room for the Turnhouse sector of Fighter Command. After the war it was unused for a few years, then in 1952 a whole second bunker was built underground to turn it into a R4 ROTOR bunker – ROTOR was a radar early warning system. Abandoned again, it became a Regional Seat of Government (RSG) in the 1960s, where the Scottish government could hide in the event of nuclear war – a BBC studio was built where encouraging messages could be broadcast to the surviving population.

It was abandoned again in the early ’70s, and then suffered some catastrophic fires to leave it in the condition you see it now – the plan now is to renovate the WWII surface complex first, and use the proceeds from this to restore the ROTOR bunker. I have visited before, a couple of years ago. This was a permission visit, to take pictures and help clear out an old truck that had been dumped down the access shaft and set on fire.

Above, the ROTOR bunker, and the top of the three-level main staircase. The place is full of old tyres – this is one of the more photogenic piles

Looking down three floors in the main operations room:

Almost every room is smoke damaged:

The basement telecoms switching room:

The studio:

A blast door:

Part of the massive air conditioning system:

Plant room:

Showers in the WWII surface bunker:

I absolutely love the paint scheme in this place

And some self portraits

And the cliche shot that everyone gets:

The Commonwealth Games are coming to Glasgow in 2014, and as usual with these big things it means lots of construction – existing venues are being reused a lot, but we’re also getting a big new sports arena – the National Indoor Sports Arena and the Chris Hoy Velodrome. This was a visit from May.

Construction of the main structure was mostly complete, so I thought it was a good time to go along for a first look. This is the NISA, which will have a hydraulically-operated 200m running track (not sure exactly what that means) and 5,000 seats.

Next door, connected by a “hub” with the facilities, is the velodrome, which will have a 250m high-banked track and 2,000 seats.

What’s that you say? Overhead gantries? I don’t mind if I do