Roslin Glen – jewel of the North Esk river! An old favourite of the Dirty Weekenders and indeed myself.
Wind and rain accompanied our walk from the bus stop, but the shelter of the glen made for an enjoyable day nonetheless. For me the day’s work began with the gritting of paths, which lead one through what was once the largest gunpowder mill in Scotland. Said paths lead down the gorge to the weir and old wheelhouse, in sight of which the second team was burning brash (having made valiant efforts in lighting wet kindling).
A hearty lunch was provided as ever, with excellent homemade biscuits courtesy of Ms Rodgers.
After lunch, some of us turned our attention to turfing the banks of the drainage ditch, which over the course of several visits to the glen I have come to regard as an old friend. Since our last visit, the intersection of path and ditch has been fortified, and over the course of an hour or so several portions of turf were added to the banks. For a precious few minutes, neat square turfs were dug, but alas our enthusiasm waned and the remainder were somewhat irregular in shape.
I fear I must now be called an ex-member of the society (one of the fabled “Warty Deadenders”) but the visit to Roslin reminded me of the shear joy of being outdoors and the reward in contributing to the maintenance of our precious remaining woodland.
~ Matt (former Society Secretary and Social Secretary)
pics thanks to John
