Andrew Boath - Adventures from Wardie Bay and beyond

This was our first meeting of 2010, and was chaired by David King, who welcomed those present, extended good wishes for the New Year, and introduced the speaker, Granton History Group Chairman Andrew Boath.

Andrew gave a most interesting talk, about a wide range of outdoor activities.

He spoke first about the Port O’ Leith Motor Boat Club, based at the time - the early 1970s - on the Water of Leith, above Junction Bridge. This brought its own difficulties, with the need to time trips to avoid high tide (in the days before the entrance lock was built at the docks) in order to pass under the bridges. He touched on tragedy at the Oxcars Lighthouse in the Firth of Forth, before moving on to activities based on the former Compass Adventure Centre, based in the old Granton School at West Granton Road, a building now used by Granton Youth Centre.

These included canoeing to places such as Loch Awe and the Island of Eigg, using canoes built at the Compass Adventure Centre.

He went on to speak about skiing at Glenshee, the Devil’s Elbow and the Cairngorms, all during the 1970s. This was followed by recollections of hill walking at Glen Brittle and Lairig Ghru. Andrew’s talk was illustrated with slides taken on his excursions, many of them showing spectacular scenery at a time when outdoor locations were very much less crowded than they are now.

At least one of the audience had been with Andrew on some of these trips, and a good discussion followed both immediately after his talk and later in the evening.

Photographs of the meeting by David King.