St. Andrews via Dundee

Tuesday, 24 September 2019

Today we are driving to St. Andrews, but Rick Steves suggests we stop in Dundee to visit Discovery Point and the RRS Discovery along with Verdant Works Jute Museum.  Both of these museums are marked in his book with a triangle symbol meaning they are both "worthwhile" to see.  Usually we take his advice, but a jute Museum?  I didn't even know what jute is.  It turns out that these two museums have a combo-ticket and the jute museum has free parking, so what the heck.  We headed there first.

It turns out jute is a plant that grows predominantly in India and can be processed into a fiber that is woven to make such things as burlap.

Jute harvesting

thIn the 1830's, Dundee businessman developed an industry built around the processing of jute which had a huge market before plastic was invented.  Burlap was used for sacks, rope, sails, canvases, and carpeting.  This lucrative industry made Dundee a thriving metropolis for 70 years until jute factories opened up in India and then eventually the development of plastic.

The cool part of the museum is they had small working models of the actual machines that were used to process the jute from the raw material to woven sheets.  There was a volunteer that demonstrated each step by turning on the machine to let us see it work.

Here are some photos Tim took of the facility. 

Can you believe that we spent over 2 hours learning about jute?  It was definitely more interesting than we ever thought possible.  Again...Rick Steves was right.

Next stop is the Discovery Point Museum and the RRS Discovery.  This museum tells the story of the Royal Research Ship (RRS), and the research missions to Antarctica.

Below is a representation of the construction of the Discovery.  At the end of the 19th century, ships of any size were pretty much being built of steel, but wood could take the crush of ice and icebergs better than steel, and so they built this ship of sail (and steam powered propellor) specifically for the mission of discovery.

Displays showing geology (depth soundings) and biology (drawing animals), elements of the first mission of 1901.

Here is the RRS Discovery - not a replica! - the actual ship.

We board - with the top end of the steam engine before us.  Actually the only significant part of the ship that wasn't preserved was the boiler and steam engine - the boiler was scrapped for steel for WWII, and the engine sold off.

Gerri in a coal hold.  The slots just above her head hold salt which soaks up any leaks from the outer planks, as well as abating rotting of wood from the moisture.

Crew quarters for the seaman (enlisted).

Officer's mess, with their quarters surrounding it.

The bridge - open to the elements.  The structure behind is a "way out there" art museum.

The sail rigging still standing tall - however, the ship isn't maintained in a 'going to sea' condition.

That art museum was just around the corner, and free, so we checked it out.  It's called V&A Dundee (Victoria and Albert).

It's art - a robotic arm creating bubbles.

An homage to Scotland's eastern seaside cliffs - the exterior look of the building (not ships as we had guessed) - we experienced many of these cliffs in the days just before.

Onward to St. Andrews, after checking into our little BNB, we took in another brewery...

...and Gerri followed it with a flight of gin and tonic.

Tomorrow we continue our tour of St. Andrews - you'll read some things that didn't work out, but some things did.