A trip to the Earlsburn reservoirs, nestling deep in the Campsie Hills between Fintry and Denny is a good easy walk.
From the main (single track) road a rough track road leads up to the reservoirs.
Following local mill owners’ concerns about regulating water distribution following many years of winter floods and summer droughts they agreed to combine resources in the early 1830s and construct a dam on a tributary of the Earlsburn
The first dam was completed in 1836 and inspected regularly. In June 1839 the inspection confirmed the dam to be in good order.
However, in December that year, a series of tremors measuring 4.5 on the Richter Scale hit the area over several days. Eight hours after the earthquake the dam collapsed releasing thousands of gallons of water, flooding the local area, sweeping away bridges and buildings in its wake.
The dam was eventually rebuilt in the 1840s using more resilient materials (the first dam had been constructed of earth and peat with a thin clay lining). Although earth tremors continued, most notably in the 1860s, the dam has survived to this day.
Fishing is popular here and each reservoir has its own fishing shack, provided by the respective fishing clubs.
Taking a path from the first shack by Reservoir 2, up onto Hart Hill and its many electricity-generating wind turbines provides wide open views as well as an appreciation of the sheer size of the wind turbines (which are due to be replaced with even larger ones!)
A short stroll along the ridge of the hill led us to a path back down to
Reservoir 1 and another fishing shack.
The hills were silent except for a low ebbing from the wind-powered generators.
An excellent circular walk with great views of the surrounding hills and hardly a soul to be seen.