This is very interesting on a couple of levels and I shall certainly look for the book. A few years ago I walked stretches of the Tweed with friends. One very hot day we paddled in the river and, despite the rest of us advising not to, one of us refilled her water bottle from the river. The following 24 hours left her with severe diarrhoea, vomiting etc. subsequently I have learned that the Tweed is full of toxic substances in some parts. This summer I’ve taken part in an Art Walk Porty project to walk one of Edinburgh’s burns from shore to source. The burn changes name several times and is known as Bonaly, Braid and Figgate depending where you are. We met people who came to talk to us about the burn. In some areas there have been reports of raw sewage in the water. This is pretty scary indeed in a modern apparently well organised city. We know we can’t drink it at the source end because sheep graze on much of the area, may have liver fluke, and who knows what else. I’m sure our ancestors would have used this burn as a water source, villages and human habitation dating back to the Bronze and Iron Age are to be found near or on the burn. All food for thought.
Definitely. That's awful about the Tweed, especially as it's a salmon river. I used to live by the Water of Leith and saw how that filled with rubbish, although I did also see a kingfisher there, and dippers too. However, even here in Orkney you need to take care. At one spot I walk by regularly there is a ditch that sometimes stinks with effluent from a nearby byre where the cows are kept in winter. Another farm has a silage clamp that's right by a burn, which as far as I know isn't legal. There is a spring near us, a holy well named for St Magnus, and we do drink from that sometimes with no ill effects!
This is very interesting on a couple of levels and I shall certainly look for the book. A few years ago I walked stretches of the Tweed with friends. One very hot day we paddled in the river and, despite the rest of us advising not to, one of us refilled her water bottle from the river. The following 24 hours left her with severe diarrhoea, vomiting etc. subsequently I have learned that the Tweed is full of toxic substances in some parts. This summer I’ve taken part in an Art Walk Porty project to walk one of Edinburgh’s burns from shore to source. The burn changes name several times and is known as Bonaly, Braid and Figgate depending where you are. We met people who came to talk to us about the burn. In some areas there have been reports of raw sewage in the water. This is pretty scary indeed in a modern apparently well organised city. We know we can’t drink it at the source end because sheep graze on much of the area, may have liver fluke, and who knows what else. I’m sure our ancestors would have used this burn as a water source, villages and human habitation dating back to the Bronze and Iron Age are to be found near or on the burn. All food for thought.
Definitely. That's awful about the Tweed, especially as it's a salmon river. I used to live by the Water of Leith and saw how that filled with rubbish, although I did also see a kingfisher there, and dippers too. However, even here in Orkney you need to take care. At one spot I walk by regularly there is a ditch that sometimes stinks with effluent from a nearby byre where the cows are kept in winter. Another farm has a silage clamp that's right by a burn, which as far as I know isn't legal. There is a spring near us, a holy well named for St Magnus, and we do drink from that sometimes with no ill effects!
You’ll be pleased to know the dippers and kingfishers are still at the Water of Leith!