Friday wander

Here’s the River Esk, blipped on this afternoons post work walk. The River Esk is also called the Lothian Esk and flows through Midlothian and East Lothian. It initially runs as two separate rivers: the North Esk and the South Esk. The North Esk starts in the Pentland hills near North Esk reservoir. The South Esk starts high in the Moorfoot hills on the side of Blackhope Scar. Both rivers flow through the landscape towards Dalkeith Country Park where they join.

This river was highly modified by creating weirs and dams which provided power for the gunpowder mill near Roslin.  More than 20 weirs were constructed. In 2016, the Roslin Gunpowder Mill weir collapsed. The following year, Polton and Springfield weir collapsed. The river has slowly started to take back control, removing these obstructions, allowing resident trout to progress upstream.

Have a good weekend all.