Shale Trail

West Lothian was the centre of shale mining 100 years ago. It made some people rich and gave many others jobs. The advent of cheap oil from abroad sounded the death knell and the mining gradually declined. The last of the Pumpherston works closing in the 1960s. Not far from where I live is an open mine which was flooded when it closed and is now a lake with a wide range of birds.