The Luggie Water rises in North Lanarkshire and flows west for about 18km before joining the River Kelvin in Kirkintilloch. In bygone days the Luggie provided water to power the various water mills built along it’s banks.
Waterside had two mills, the Old Mill for processing crops and the Lint Mill where lint was separated from Flax Plant stalks to be used by the local weavers. After many years of pollution caused by the various industries that used it as gutter the Luggie is now relatively pollution free and supports a wide variety of Wildlife and Flora. On a walk from Waterside to the Stepping Stones upstream it is not unusual to see Herons, Buzzards, Roe Deer and for the very sharp eyed even Kingfishers. This means of course that fish are also returning to the Luggie.

Edward Z Smith, Author & photograph