Musings from the Merse
Monday, August 24, 2009
Said Tweed to Till 'Pxxx Off'
Someone on the Today Programme commenting on the BBC series 'Rivers' informed the nation that unlike England and Wales canoeists in Scotland had the 'right to roam' in any bit of water they wanted to (not the reed bed sewage plant in Hutton, one fancies) This may be the formal legal position but I suspect the Tweed Commissioners and the riverine Lairds (same sort of creature once the Tweed is fully within Scotland)might have other notions in the interests of the protection of precious fishing. I don't see His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch bothering with legal niceties if a horde of canoeists entered his territorial waters of the river-extensive as it is. Nor would the Tweed Commissioners have truck with such yobs if they dared come mob handed.
One does see the odd canoeist in the Paxton House reach where the river still forms the border between Alba and Albion nd I have actually seen a small Hovercraft on the Tweed, launched from below Paxton House (see image)
but only once.
I suspect the launch was unauthorised, possibly from sheer ignorance of the wrath likely to come, and doubtless the guys with the Barbour Jackets, Green wellies and double barreled Purdeys later called on the skipper for a bit of a talking to.
The Tweed can be very nasty in a spate but apparently the Till has the killer reputation as this ditty, composed shortly after the battle of Flodden, of blessed memory, points out:
Said Tweed to Till,
What gars ye rin sae still?
Said Till to Tweed,
Though ye rin wi' speed,
And I rin slaw,
For every ane that ye droon
I droon twa!"
Canoeists, you have been warned
Labels: Canoeists, right to roan, the Till, Tweed
Comments:
Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord,
Wha struts, an' stares, an' a' that;
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that:
For a' that, an' a' that,
His ribband, star, an' a' that:
The man o' independent mind
He looks an' laughs at a' that.
Wha struts, an' stares, an' a' that;
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that:
For a' that, an' a' that,
His ribband, star, an' a' that:
The man o' independent mind
He looks an' laughs at a' that.
# posted by 
: 11:41 AM
: 11:41 AM
I fear that 'The man o' independent mind' would be no match for the Tweed Commissioner with his ribband star however coof.
I had it in my mind with one more line as:
Says Tweed to Till,
Whit gars ye rin sae still?
Says Till to Tweed,
Whit gars ye rin sic speed?
Though ye rin fast
And I rin slaw
For ae man that ye droon
I droon twa.
Says Tweed to Till,
Whit gars ye rin sae still?
Says Till to Tweed,
Whit gars ye rin sic speed?
Though ye rin fast
And I rin slaw
For ae man that ye droon
I droon twa.
I am the owner and operator of the "small" hovercraft above. I regularly cruise on the river (tidal part from Berwick to Norham) as is my (and anyone's) common law legal right. Far from anyone "having a word with me" I have received no complaints whatsoever and have spoken with bailiffs, landowners, fishermen and other river users on many occasions (I've used the river since 2004). The Tweed Commissioners do not have the legal power to "control" access to the tidal river in spite of what you may think.
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