River North Esk

The River North Esk rises where the Water of Mark and the Water of Lee meet in the hills. It winds east through Strathmore, marking the border between Angus and Aberdeenshire for part of its course. Near Montrose it turns north-east and reaches the North Sea four miles further on. In the 19th century anglers knew it as one of Scotland’s best fishing rivers. The river gathers water from several tributaries along its route. The Water of Effock joins on the right bank, then the Water of Tarf arrives at Tarfside. The West Water, also called the Water of Saughs in its upper reaches, enters near Stracathro. The Luther Water, draining the Howe of the Mearns, is the last tributary before the estuary. Tarfside hosts the Glen Esk Folk Museum and St Drostan’s Episcopal Church, built in 1880. Nearby stands St Andrews Masonic Lodge, erected in 1821, and the Masons’ Tower on the Modlach hill from 1826. Above the village the river squeezes through the Rocks of Solitude, a narrow gorge of waterfalls where the Highland Boundary Fault cuts across its path. Local legend tells of a piper taken by fairies whose music is still said to drift from the gorge on quiet evenings.