After a filthy wet Saturday I was expecting the river in Woodhall ‘gorge’ in East Lothian to be a complete torrent this morning – but it wasn’t. I was working for East Lothian Outdoor Ed, the job was to work with a group of six year pupils from Mussleburgh to see how far we could get in one of the classic ‘gorge walks’ of East Lothian. I still continue to be surprised at how wet and young folk get and still come back for more.
If you care about your geology/geomorphology I’m pretty sure that the gorge was formed by the melt water outwash at the end of the last glaciation – there just hasnt been enough time for the depth of it to have been created by the current stream. The gorge is a real wee adventure, it gets pretty narrow , you can bridge a lot of it – but at times there is nothing for it but to wade/swim on through. We didn’t encounter any real issues – if you’re interested in doing it the only thing I would be wary of (other than awkward exits, but you just need to backtrack) is to be careful of any loose materials slipping on you above – and there are some pretty unstable log-jams. Apart from that … enjoy!
