What happened to our fords?
Continuing power please to the creative elbow of Mark Chalmers: I thoroughly enjoyed his story of the Cairn o Mounth (_Leopard_, November 2007), though he does not mention the fords of my youth.
There used to be two on the Cairn o Mounth route, one crossing the road at Bogendriep, with the second not far away. Each added adventure and lustre on cycling expeditions on this colourful road, but both were swept away in the early 1980s by a zealous roads engineer.
We have few fords left across all Scotland now, almost all having been bridged by the Elf’n’Safety brigade. The few left include a watery crossing through the Langton burn at Gavinton, Duns, in Berwickshire; through the Tweed at Lyne Station in Peeblesshire; and through the Water of Leith above Balerno. I can think of none in Leopardland.
Gordon Casely
45 Beaconsfield Place, Aberdeen AB15 4AB