They made nice lines on the map. After following the same path from Huntly they diverged. The black line of the railway curved elegantly to the north west, next stop Keith. It crossed the blue ribbon of the river, the Deveron, the course of which took the opposing curve, to head east to Turriff, before breaking for the northern shore.
In a rare moment of whimsy I had taken the advice of Mrs Satnav, and made a right turn. She, I assumed, had calculated that the country roads may shave a mile, perhaps a minute, or even both, from my usual route on the main road. A few miles further along I was transfixed with green girders. The railway crossed the river. But what a bridge. It must have a story.
Rothiemay Viaduct, across the Deveron. There had been a station, just passed the west bank, but Rothiemay was closed in 1968, on 6 May. There had been an older bridge, still there but out of use when the station closed.
The Great North of Scotland Railway had bridged the river in 1856, in five-arched stonework. That bridge carried a single line. As the demand for rail travel grew the line had to be double-tracked. A new bridge was needed. That was in 1900.
The Rothiemay Railway Bridge has a span of 64.8m, and is 7.6m wide to accommodate both lines. It is steel lattice trussed. On each bank of the river the bridge span rests on stone buttresses, and each of those has a low basket-arched flood arch.
Whilst the Deveron regularly has a depth of only half a metre or so as it skirts Huntly, it can rise by over 3m at times. Rainfall and snowmelt are plentiful in these parts. Those arches will come into occasional use, of that I have no doubt.
The northbound river, after leaving Huntly behind, is swollen by the addition of the waters of the River Bogie, harnessing the tumbling burns through Strathbogie. Shortly after the bridge, The River Isla adds the waters from around Keith to the meanders to Turriff.
I know the Deveron mainly from it's outflow to the firth, the end of its 61 mile run from the Ladder Hills, the Cabrach. The river tumbles into the surf over the sands between Banff and Macduff, where the estuary is bridged with seven arches of stone. The Deveron is known for salmon fishing, and retains the record for the heaviest fly-caught salmon in the country - a hefty 27.6kg, back in 1924, by Mrs 'Tiny' Morison.
I returned to the bridge at Rothiemay, finding access to suitable viewpoints not readily available. I had no desire to disturb grazing livestock in my quest to get from road to river, even if there had been available parking. The absence of a safe place to stop, even around the old station site, became frustrating. I managed a view, the same one I had glimpsed on that first drive past. But I need more. For, whilst I have the green girders and flood arch (one only) I have no sight of the river itself. I look again at the map, and can see no obvious solution.
It was a fine late autumn day, low sun highlighting the gentle slopes, woodland cloaked in greens, coppers and umbers, bright. All it needed was a ribbon of river glistening in the sun, rippling over rocks, burbling over boulders. I knew it was there. Hiding its fear. But not a glimpse; neither a twinkle nor a tinkle.
I long for a view that takes in both river and bridge, those opposing curves on the map. It is not possible from the roadside, either north or south of the green girders. Perhaps the river is the answer. And a foolhardy quest brews.
Now it is fully 50 years and more since I last controlled a kayak, so a river ride from the shallows at Huntly for a couple of miles downstream may not be a viable option. However. Paddling a packraft might just provide a possible solution. Dare I dream...
I search for the river journeys of Paul Murton, on YouTube. He made three fine series, 18 rivers travelled. Ach, the Deveron was not among them. On your own then. Or maybe not. And an old Angler's Map tells me there was an Otter Pool just below the bridge, an Otter Stone a little further upstream. Oh I am keen to see these waters.
Whilst considering that, I delve deeper into the bridge, the bridges, that have spanned the Deveron to service Rothiemay station, on the line from Aberdeen to Inverness. The original stone built single track bridge that was in use from 1856 to 1900, was eventually demolished in 1978, after seventy eight years of company for the girdered double-tracked neighbour. The irony there is that the railway had returned to single track operation in 1970.
So much to find, on the road less travelled; a glimpse of a bridge. And pretty patterns on the map.
Allow me to close with the words of Khalil Gibran, Fear:
It is said that before entering the sea
a river trembles with fear.
She looks back at the path she has traveled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.
And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.
But there is no other way.
The river can not go back.
Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.
The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that's where the river will know
it's not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.
