South Calder Water near Allanton

Image: © Ian Dodds Taken: 13 Jun 2021

The word Calder is used extensively across Central Scotland in place-names. Very old maps usually spell it with a 'K', however, and sometimes minus the 'l'. It seems likely to be so old as to have been in use before things started to get written down. For this reason its etymology is uncertain - the most quoted translation is 'well watered woods' which seems to me like an awful lot of information to be crammed into six letters! The banks round this section aren't at all steep, but the high vegetation makes progress rather slow. A small fledgling forest, South Calder Wood, is on the Southern side of the burn, just off camera to the right. The water has plenty of its own vegetation too. I don't know its proper name but vast amounts of river-seaweed can be seen on the bed and attached to a high number of stones sitting in the middle of the burn itself, giving it a curious character.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0