Key to surviving nuclear war...? Pedal like blazes!
FITTED with blast-doors and decontamination facilities, this hi-tech shelter was designed to survive an atomic winter.
But anyone hiding in the bunker might have been forgiven for thinking they had been taken for a ride by the basic solution to a power outage.
Two bicycles, mounted on a metal frame with their front wheels removed and their back wheels connected to a belt drive, were the only way to keep clean air circulating in the facility after the diesel generators failed.
The Raigmore bunker, hidden beneath Mackintosh Road in Inverness, is no longer in use and has been put up for sale by Highland Council, who have invited offers with no set price.
John Bound, of estate agents CKDGalbraith, said such quirky buildings can often prove popular buys.
He said: ‘It’s a bit like selling an island. We recently sold Little Ross Island (off Dumfries and Galloway) which went viral with a huge amount of interest.
‘A number of bunkers have sold down south and they do attract a lot of interest.’
Built in 1941 as a secret facility for up to 50 RAF personnel, the bunker played a vital role in protecting the coast during the Second World War. With concrete walls and a roof thick enough to survive a direct hit from the most powerful bombs of the time, it was later adopted for Cold War use and underwent a £500,000 upgrade in 1988 so it could withstand nuclear, biological or chemical attack.
More recently, it served as a civil defence headquarters shared by Highland Council and the emergency services.
A small metal box is the only visible sign of the bunker above ground. A flight of stairs leads down to two underground floors that span 13,000sq ft.
The surface site extends to about 1.7 acres and includes a car park and radio mast.
During the Second World War the bunker was a radarprocessing facility for the RAF, and helped track any German aircraft that approached the North of Scotland. During the war, the RAF kept the bunker staffed around the clock.
In the late 1980s the facility became the then Highland Regional Council’s civil emergency operations.
The bunker was called into action on numerous occasions to co-ordinate responses to major national emergencies.
They included the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak, the 2003 Summer Isles grounding of the Jambo freighter – and a response to major floods that affected Dingwall and other parts of the Highlands in 2005 and 2006.
It emerged this week that the police had used the facility in recent times for armed training exercises.
The two council staff who worked from a cabin at the site until last year have switched to offices at the council’s HQ, which has prompted the sale.