Lochee Burn - part two

What's left of New Mill with the addition of some more modern farm
buildings in the background. Taken on the Rollei 2.8F and HP5.

The previous Lochee Burn post left with a photo showing the end of the "den" part of Denhead of Gray. This one starts with the old mill, ironically called New Mill, that's situated where the den gives way to somewhat more open countryside.

Here's a quick map (from 1859) or "locator graphic" as an editor I worked for once called it to, thankfully, massive derision from the assembled cynical hacks. X marks the point where the burn breaks ground. Y is where the last pic on the previous post was taken. Z is the spot where I was standing to take the photograph above.

This post is mainly concerned with the passage of the burn between points 1 and 2. The dark blue burn coming from the left to meet point 2 is the Fowlis Burn. The light blue burn heading south from point 2 is the Invergowrie Burn, made up of the Lochee and Fowlis Burns. For those of you with a curious nature, there isn't a great deal of interest between points Z and 1 but I've yet to walk the course of the burn there so I might stumble upon a pic or two worth taking in the future.

With the scene hopefully set, we'll get underway at point 1. From here down to its confluence with the Fowlis Burn, the Lochee stream runs through some lightly wooded land, skirting the western boundary of a hotel and a couple of houses.

The burn is open to the sky for a short stretch before it dives into some trees once again. The fence on the right in the pic above has been erected by builders who are in the process of throwing up a large housing development. This photograph and the ones that follow were taken on the Rollei SL66E loaded with Delta 100. Please take the time to click on the pics to see the full size image. The 6x6 format and Delta 100 capture a lot of detail which you'll only see when the pics are allowed to breathe.

Running parallel to the right of the burn in the pic immediately above is a bit of engineering that must have served a purpose at one point but I haven't yet been able to find out what that was. It seems obvious water was once diverted into these channels but there's no sign of any of the mill buildings that I would have expected to find in the area had that been the case.

Further on there's a large walled-off area extending to around an acre that is still squelchy underfoot and seems to have been a pond at some point in the past.

The stretch of water furthest away in the image above is the start of the Invergowrie Burn. In the foreground is the Fowlis Burn coming in from the right. Out of sight to the left is the Lochee Burn. "Confluence" seems such a big word for the coming together of two piddling, wee burns which give up their very existence to make a third piddling, wee burn.

The pic above was shot on the 40mm Distagon on the SL66E. I'm standing on top of a stone slab (bridging the Fowlis Burn) just to the left of the shooting position in the previous pic. The Lochee Burn is running diagonally on the right hand side of the image.

After a couple of visits, I began to feel that I'd probably taken most of the interesting photographs that I could find along the burn so I looked out the early 1900s Sonnar lens I can use on the SL66E to see if it would impart a different look to the images. I was very surprised to find just how different similar scenes to those above looked through the Sonnar. Those pics will be the subject of the next post on the Lochee Burn.

This is proving to be an interesting project and quite a challenge. The scenery surrounding the burn is quite chaotic, almost entropy in action. There's a mad jumble of overgrown undergrowth (is that even a thing?) along most of the burn's length. Access to the waterside is topographically restricted in many spots. Along the length of the "den" part of the river's course (between points X and Y on the map), only the right bank is accessible as the opposite one rises up very steeply.

Trees and branches grow in all directions with no pattern or orderliness. Sneaky wee brambles hide in the rough grass biding their time before they spring into action and ensnare shoes, socks, trousers and, worst of all, flesh in their spiteful grasp.

The photographic problem is trying to capture the chaos but in a way that makes some sense of it all. With the spring buds now bursting into leaf, will this extra greenery make it easier or harder to tame the jungle?

The old Sonnar looking quite at home on the front of
the SL66E