Glensanda Super Quarry

Fjord · Glensanda Super Quarry

This place is one of the remotest and hardest to reach industrial monsters that sit's on the west coast of Scotland.
Glensanda one of the largest quarry's in europe and very few people have heard of it let alone seen it up close.
So lastweek I decided to go see for myself what all the fuss was about.

A point to note is that there's no roads in or out of this place for many miles and all staff, materials, vehicles etc arrive and leave by boat including the huge amount of aggregates that are exported by massive bulk carriers to various destinations around the world to build roads... and things!

If you fancy going remember it's a long way to get to the starting point by car then your on your own to negotiate 7 or eight miles of very rough ground on a spectacularly remote coastal walk. Go prepared!

The size and scale of this place is mind blowing it's like a set out of a Sci-Fi set and this was just a fraction of the place where all the loading took place.
What eluded us was lying 1500 ft above us on the mountainside where the main quarrying takes place before it's dropped down a 1000 ft vertical shaft comicaly known as the "Glory Hole" to the crushing machines buried deep in the bowels of the mountain.
This will have to wait for another day as our legs were knackered with the rough walk in and we had to return by the same route so that put paid to any hill climbing for a better look. These pics don't do the place justice maybe someone else daft enough will get some better ones.

Standing at the far southern end of the operation amongst the scarred backdrop of the mountain stood this little castle oblivious to the monumental operation nearby.

Alex Glass

Double WOW! WOW!

Great find Fjord

Nice one from our roving explorer

cybers

Amazing .... Who Knew that was hiding there.
Don't think i fancy the trek in there myself.

John

Great stuff Fjord

I had never heard of it either

Cheers for the education

jan1962

It was good to see the Glensanda photos.

I was in charge of the manufacture of the conveyor that came from the bottom of the glory hole all the way out.

After the manufacture i went on site to install the conveyor.

What a project i would love to go back some time.

Gordon

sputnik

beatiful unspoilt beach as well in the 1st pic

watched something about this place on telly .did it not feature in coast at all.

roryboy

That whole peninsula is fantastic. The walk in i did to Sanda was 5.50 miles but i cycled from Corran right round to Lochaline then dumped the bike at loch Tearnait. I also spent a crackin night in a bothy as it was good to get away from the big man made structure of the quarry. I.ve cycled a lot in this area and i've found caves bothies lean to shelters and loads of beautiful places to put my head down for a night Worth a visit a would say but i do like the solitude of the place.

Roryboy

Fjord

roryboy

Ardgour is for those not in a hurry and the good thing is,
theres no munros. The smaller hills are magic, ive done
just about all now during my exploring of this area. I still
feell that im on an island as i usually leave my van at the
ferry at Onich. No charge on the ferry as a foot passenger
and the bike goes free !! Planning a wee trip up there soon
and on a tip from an old hill friend of a new bothy for me, if i
find it as his memory of where it is seems a bit sketchy, but
its all part o' the fun.

Roryboy...

sputnik

fjord,scotland from the edge showed some footage of the quarry this week and can still be seen on line.

Fjord

Cheers for that I'm off to watch it

jimmys

This is the first time I have heard anyone speak about this quarry. A number of persons around Oban work at it and seldom talk about it.
The work shifts are brought in from Rhu Garbh which is a small port above Benderloch.
Before retirement I worked in shipping and was involved in the trade.
It is a very large complex and very low key. I went in by ship.

regards

Fjord

Stuball

Man dies in superquarry accident (BBC)

A man has died in what is believed to have been an industrial accident at the Glensanda superquarry in the west Highlands.
A 999 call was made to police just before 1800 BST.
A spokesman for Northern Constabulary said they were dealing with the incident and had sent officers to the scene.
The quarry, which produces millions of tonnes of rock, is in a remote part of the Morvern Peninsula in Lochaber.

I'm kind of curious how the Constabulary got there... I'm betting they did'nt hike there but sailed up in the S.S. Lidl

Conservation Cookie · Great places to work

I've worked for Aggregate Industries for nearly 5 years now and still love coming up to the Morvern penninsula. Roll on the spring when I can get up there to work on the biodiversity action plan!

cybers

Oh my gawd ... Tree Hugger alert.

Welcome to UrbanGlasgow Conservation Cookie

John

Another wee bit of drama up at Glensanda.
Source http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/10501134.stm
Fire cargo ship salvage under way in Lochaber

The fire caused significant damage to the cargo vessel. Efforts are under way to salvage a cargo vessel and eliminate any pollution risk after it caught fire off the west coast of Scotland.

Firefighters battled through the night to contain the blaze which broke out on the Yeoman Bontrup at the Glensanda pier on the Morven peninsula on Friday.

The fire was brought under control on Saturday evening and salvage experts are now assessing the damage.

The blaze broke out on a conveyor belt used to load cargo onto the vessel.

It spread to the ship and set off an explosion involving gas cylinders on board.
The seriousness of the fire and remoteness of the location have made this a difficult incident to resolve
Because of Glensanda's remote location, emergency services had to travel to the peninsula by barge and RAF helicopter.

One member of the crew was taken to Oban Hospital for treatment to injuries which are not thought to be life threatening.

A number of others were also treated for the effects of smoke inhalation and for minor injuries.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said work had begun to salvage the 100,000 tonne bulk carrier.

Equipment is being flown in from Holland and pumps are being brought in from across the UK.

The scene is now under the control of the Secretaries of States Representative, Hugh Shaw, who has responsibility for shipping or offshore incidents on behalf of the Department of Transport and Department of Energy.

He said: "The seriousness of the fire and remoteness of the location have made this a difficult incident to resolve.

"The salvage company is now on scene and are working hard to stabilise the vessel and eliminate the pollution threat from the heavy fuel oil on board."

Glensanda Super Quarry

Great places to work