Bridge to Nowhere Comparisons

I decided to try another of my ordinary mono versus IR comparisons but this time with a beachscape. There were nice puffy clouds in a blue sky, which would normally favour IR so I compensated by darkening the blues and cyan in my ordinary mono conversion. I made a poor choice by using the Bridge to Nowhere as my focal point and took the shot from slightly above the bridge so that I could show the s-shaped sweep of the river. Unfortunately the bridge is painted a light gun metal grey so it tends to disappear into the background beach and sea a little especially in the IR version (bottom mono version). Also the Bass Rock virtually disappears in the IR version. In the mono versions I have lost the sweep of the river as it does not tonally contrast sufficiently with surrounding beach though the IR Version is slightly better as it shows the river as a darker tone (see colour version also).  I like the IR sky better but that is partly because the cloud formation was more dramatic at that point but overall prefer the ordinary mono version at the top as it gives a better range of tones, a more distinct bridge and slightly more drama.
 
 
Please comment freely but I suggest you view large to see the differences clearly.