Yair Bridge

A bit of a nostalgic image for today.

I had a trip to Hawick in the Scottish borders for work and had various options of which road to take but chose the route that took me over the Yair Bridge.

It must have been 25 years ago that the bridge was renovated, and it was my first job in charge of my own project. In truth it was pretty daunting for one so young.

Large scaffold supporting structures were erected in the river to carry the stone arches and all the stone from the arches upwards was stripped and set aside. A massive reinforced concrete structure was then poured under the road surface area before all the original stone was rebuilt up the sides to give the bridge its original appearance.

It was technically difficult, challenging and rewarding, particularly as the stretch of water beneath the bridge is the river Tweed and this is one of the best strips for salmon fishing in Scotland. If any of the works had disrupted the fishing season, we were in big trouble. Fortunately all went well.

It was a long time ago but the old girl still looks pretty good and the sun even shone briefly for the photograph.

Happy days.