I'm traveling again, and took a few photos on my run this morning. They were all taken within 15 minutes of each other on an overcast morning.
I need your expert help in getting a bit of information about the scenes and locations they depict. For each photo, a link to the full image is given by the link in the caption.
1. What is this strange obviously artificial waterway? Did it serve any particular function? If so, what?
2. The church shown below is associated with a famous writer. Who is the writer, and what's the connection? (If you're feeling on top of your game, what's the tree on the right of the image got to do with the right?)
3. How long is this tunnel?
I ran through the tunnel, so I have a good idea. But here's picture from roughly the middle.
Can you help me out with my research?
Search on! (And be sure to tell us HOW you figured these Challenges!)
I need your expert help in getting a bit of information about the scenes and locations they depict. For each photo, a link to the full image is given by the link in the caption.
(I did it this way so you can easily get to the full resolution of the image, without making this page gigantic and slow to download.)
1. What is this strange obviously artificial waterway? Did it serve any particular function? If so, what?
 |
| I'll save you a step: the lat/long is 55.913090, -3.258981 Link to full-size photo. |
2. The church shown below is associated with a famous writer. Who is the writer, and what's the connection? (If you're feeling on top of your game, what's the tree on the right of the image got to do with the right?)
 |
| Link to full-size photo. |
3. How long is this tunnel?
 |
| Link to full-size photo. |
Can you help me out with my research?
Search on! (And be sure to tell us HOW you figured these Challenges!)
OMG you are in Edinburgh! My daughter went to the Univ. of Edinburgh for her undergrad and master's degrees. As soon as I put the latitude and longitude into google maps and saw Water of Leith I knew where you were. From the map we switched to satellite view and checked out the pictures. We saw images for Spylaw Park and did a search on that. From that search we got this result http://www.waterofleith.org.uk/audio-trail/4-spylaw-park.html and from reading we saw that Colinton was the name of the area. This part of the Water of Leith is in Colinton Dell. These waters were used for milling in the past. The exact path seems to be the Balerno Line Path. We will try to search more for what this small waterway coming off of the Water of Leith is.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2) since we knew that you were in Colinton Dell we did a search for churches in Colinton Dell. By viewing images we found that the Colinton Parish Church was the church in the image. The writer is Robert Louis Stevenson (RLS). This was a little tricky to find. We found nothing on the churches website nor in Wikipedia. However we did a seach for colinton parish church writer OR author and found a reference to RLS in a facebook post about the church. So we then did a search for "robert louis stevenson" colinton and got this result - http://www.colinton-conservation.org.uk/rls-statue-1.htm - RLS's maternal grandfather was the parish priest at this church. A bronze statue of RLS as a boy with his dog was placed on the site. Anne and I think the tree is a yew tree from this poem " Beneath those rugged elms, that yew tree shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a mold'ring heap.
Each in his narrow cell forever laid,
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." WE found the poem on this site and then did control F to find the word tree - https://archive.org/stream/parishofcolinton00shan/parishofcolinton00shan_djvu.txt
We got to this site by doing a search colinton parish church tree cemetery
Question 3) we knew from prior searches the name of the tunnel was the Colinton Tunnel, also known by some other names as well. We did a search Colinton Tunnel length and got this result https://www.flickr.com/photos/k-burn/8036191748/ and found out that the tunnel is 153 yards long.
More on question 1: From the book The Topographical, Statistical, and Historical Gazetteer of Scotland: I-Z on page 249 it describes how the Water of Leith can become quite dry especially because some of the water is drawn off into a mill-lead. I got to this by doing the following search - small water channel in colinton dell - Tried to find more information on this mill-lead but so far haven't found anything.
ReplyDeleteGood day, Dr. Russell, fellow SearchResearchers
ReplyDeleteSearched and Answers
1. What is this strange obviously artificial waterway? Did it serve any particular function? If so, what?
I looked for the location using your coordinates in Google Maps. In that way, I found you are in Edinburgh. I looked around to see the different places you mention.
[define waterway]
[water of leith intext:waterway]
[water of leith history]
[water of leith history intext:waterway]
Canal History
[water of leith history canal history ]
Union Canal
Water Of Leith Canal Edinburgh Bike ride
History of the Union Canal
A. Union Canal. It helped to move products.
2. The church shown below is associated with a famous writer. Who is the writer, and what's the connection? (If you're feeling on top of your game, what's the tree on the right of the image got to do with the right?)
After seeing photos in Maps.
[Colinton Parish Church]
[Colinton Parish Church Around(4) writers] Nothing
[Colinton Parish Church Around(4) Famous] To find in Serp Robert Louis Stevenson; famous novelist
Robert and his and Dr. Lewis Balfour
[Colinton Church tree history] In the Serp, next to bold tree : Sycamore.
Heritage trees with roots in history
Statue of Robert Louis Stevenson as a boy. Includes video.
[colinton parish church history]
Colinton History: Other famous in the church
Colton Parish Church facts. Includes links to different topics in the challenge
link text
I also found there is a "Tree Trail"
A: Robert Louis Stevenson. He played on a swing on the yew tree next to the manse and wrote some of his poems and poetry beside the waterside nearby. The new church rooms have been named ‘The Swing’ in his memory. Source: Links already mentioned.
About the tree. The Sycamore (400 yrs now) had the tree-swing that inspired Robert. From scotsman.com: "Stevenson mentioned the tree and its swing - the metal brackets are still attached to one of its branches - in some of his poems, particularly in A Child’s Garden of Verses, written in 1885."
I didn't understand the end of the question related to the tree.
3. How long is this tunnel?
The Colinton Tunnel, also known as the Water Of Leith Tunnel and the Dell Tunnel Flickr by K-burn.
Rodney Street tunnel Site provides video.
link text
[Colinton Parish Tunnel] Nothing
[Colinton Tunnel]
The Colinton Tunnel, also known as the Water Of Leith Tunnel and the Dell Tunnel Flickr by K-burn.
[Water Of Leith tunnel length]
Rodney Street tunnel Site provides video.
A: 153 yards= 139.90 m.
a taste of the trail & a few bits:
ReplyDeleteColinton Tunnel pass through
Water of Leith Walkway at Colinton Dell
geograph info
like this image from the link Debbie G found
Redhall Mill lade
Redhall Mill Weir & bridge - winter
Redhall
Redhall audio
RLS ref
a year later, to the day - RLS statue
the Balerno RR
papermills
also in the area:
A. Gormley artist: AG
St.Cuthbert‘s Parish Church, originally founded around 1095 by Elthelred
when I think of papermills - earbug
a few other bits - slàinte
ReplyDeletetunnel passage
interesting view of Colinton
graffito
RLS dedication dog & book (6:41 ?? wha)weir @ the end
overhead - view of the urban forest - see around 7:00/9:00 church
return of the cat
I was wondering if I could find were Dr. Russell is without using his coordinates. Best chances are with photo of the Church:
ReplyDelete1. Used partially photo. Not luck yet.
2. Zoomed and yes. Photo says " Saint Cuthberts". Lots of them. Looked again and says Parish Church of Colinton.
I wonder if there is another way to find you, without coordinates or clue in Church.
[saint cuthberts church colinton inscription]
interesting ? Ramón - didn't find any way to ID Colinton outside the church clue and/or the coordinates…
Deleteknowing it was Colinton Church could conceivably get one here:
plaque would confirm
and then other sites referenced would be found here:
NT2169
like this:
RLS Yew
swing
what I don't quite understand is why a search by image doesn't turn up the church or this?:
railway tunnel on the Balerno branch line
or
very similar to Dan's pic - had no luck, even when I added key words to the search -Redhall Mill lade
using [tunnel colinton running trails in edinburgh scotland] - taking the village name from the church plaque - got me to the tunnel ID:
tunnel & map
Hello, Dr. Russell and Remmij. Thanks for the links :)
DeleteWhat I mean, is Can we solve Dr. Russell Challenge without using his clues? If we took and remove coordinates and church inscription, would make the challenge much more harder.
After reading your posts, Remmij:
[Redhall mill lade] [Redhall mill lade function]
Water of Leith - Colinton Dell 1750's Grottos, wooden bridges, Mills and lades of the mill. Good description of a walk in the site.
[Define Grotto]
Have a great day.
thanks RG - now I know a bit about Roe deer, wonder if DMR spotted any - or heard them?
DeleteRoe
barking
in Portugal
for Rosemary, nice spot of video:
Antony Gormley 6Xs - acceptable entropy
S: information theory
it would be cheeky of Dan to snap a selfie with one…
Dan with No.1
remmij Thanks good photo of Dr Dan & #1 - quite amusing and a good choice to use #1. Good video as well.
Deletean addendum -
DeleteHorizon twice, beginning & terminus, #1 is #6 is every#, AG
classic view - easier link tool, imho
Angel of the North
treasure trove
multi Dan on the Horizon
Dan The tree on the right. THe last word: did you mean WRITER not RIGHT ?
ReplyDeletejon
Entering as a query the coordinates google maps provides us with the Edinburgh location. Looking around the map at landmarks I see Colinton Parish Church.http://bit.ly/srs_22Oct14_ColintonParish
ReplyDeleteAs well on the map is Water at Leith running through the area. http://bit.ly/srs_22Oct14_LeithTrust
and http://bit.ly/srs_22Oct14_NakedGuyinCreek I didn’t search for details on the Naked Guy wading Statute. Maybe there’s a good story .Did you see him?
The Water of Leith Trust mentions Spylaw Park (4th paragraph down) and here you can listen to an audio while walking/running through the area. There are 21 other audio tracks for the area which is a great idea. http://bit.ly/srs_22Oct14_SpylawParkAudio This page also mentions Colinton Parish, Colinton Tunnel and Robert Louis Stevenson.
I did a book search for Water of Leith and I found [The Town and Port of Leith] which talks about the bakers and their mills along this canal used for transportation. The book is available online for free. http://bit.ly/srs_22Oct14_TownLeith
A nice photo of the Colinton Tunnel mentions the length as being 153 yards http://bit.ly/srs_22Oct14_ColintonTunnel
Robert Louis Stevenson was connected to the Colinton Parish as shown by the image on Wikipedia http://bit.ly/srs_22Oct14_RLStevensonPhoto [Statue of Robert Louis Stevenson as a child, outside Colinton Parish Church, Scotland]
Query for Colinton Church trees to discover it’s a yew tree and also a heritage tree. http://bit.ly/srs_22Oct14_YewTree
Following up this connection with the query [Robert Louis Stevenson Yew Tree] http://bit.ly/srs_22Oct14_ColintonYew tells us young Robert spent his summers here at his grandfathers parish . This particular link to Geograph.org.uk is one we have seen before and worth remembering for searching Great Britain and Ireland.
the beans on toast (kids menu) looked too good not to pass on…
Deleteyumm, where's the haggis?
British-Style
with cheese
English NHS
the Scots have their own, as does Wales
ReplyDeleteYour Facebook page tells me you are in Scotland at various places and somewhere else.
Nothing posted to Strava. Darn. How could you forget this ?
The water pix is matched perfectly with pix by Dougie Mathieson via Maps. Unidentified but rapidly found by search for canal water of Leith which produces Edinburgh canal or Union Canal
Lat/Long indicates Water of Leith
SEarch on [Leith Church] Images produces Colinton Parish Church
The tree is clearly a Yew.
http://www.treewarden.org.uk/Heritage%20Trees_6.htm
Species: Yew (Taxus baccata)
Access: The tree is within the grounds of the Manse, but can be observed from the Churchyard which is open to the public.
Robert Louis Stevenson spent much of his childhood at Colinton Manse. He is known to have played in the spreading branches of the old Yew tree and specifically refers to it in some of his verse ('Children's Garden of Verse). The remains of a swing in which he used to play are still evident on one of the limbs. It is a fine specimen - its trunk measures 116cm in diameter and it is thought to be around 300 - 400 years old. This tree has been identified as one of Scotland's top 100 heritage trees.
Search on Colinton and famous writer produces
Robert Louis Stevenson who spent the summers of his childhood at the manse when his grandfather was the village's Parish Minister;
http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/
RLS writes... the great yew making elsewhere a pleasing horror of shade; the smell of water rising from all round, with an added tang of paper-mills; the sound of water everywhere, and the sound of mills - the wheel and the dam singing their alternate strain...
The Little Book of Edinburgh: tells us the Yew was old when it was mentioned in the kirk minutes of 1630.
SEARCH [colinton TUnnel] because its nearby - lucky guess
https://www.flickr.com/photos/k-burn/8036191748/
The Colinton Tunnel, also known as the Water Of Leith Tunnel and the Dell Tunnel is 153 yards long and it runs on a constant, pronounced curve.
Cheers
another great puzzle
jon tU
1. Union Canal
ReplyDeleteFrom coordinates given by Dr Russell I found NCR75. Google-searched NCR75 edinburgh and found http://www.bikemap.net/en/route/611143-union-canal-loop-ncr-75-754-76-and-1/ and http://uk.placelandia.com/map/ncr-edinburgh-city-of-edinburgh-eh-uk.html. I discovered that it was a cycle route.
2. St Cuthbert's Edinburgh - from plaque (magnified several times). Writer = Thomas De Quincey buried there (wikipedia)
3. Identified a list of "possibles": Scotland Secret Street Tunnel, Innocent Railway tunnel (too straight) and went through process of elimination. Came across this site http://www.gcat.org.uk/blog/?tag=innocent-railway " There are two smaller tunnels further north on the route of the same line, at Rodney Street and Trinity, and like the Innocent Railway Tunnel you can walk or cycle through them" and thought that the photos on this site matched those of Dr Russel. Not sure though.