The first horse ever to refuse a Tom Stothart Pandrop

Maybe it could still smell the cake Tom ate in Amsterdam

Pub Lunch in Denholm

My 61st Birthday Border Abbey's Walk

For my birthday we once again tackled a section of the Border Abbey's Way, this time from Jedburgh to Hawick a distance of about 14 miles. We left the cars at Hawick and took the bus (free once again) to Jedburgh so by 9.45 am we were on our way. John & Martin had travelled from Edinburgh and Tom and I from Langholm.

This picture was taken outside the Jedburgh Town Jail where Tom spent the weekend for eating a strange cake in a Brown Cafe in Amsterdam.

5 Minutes on Fair Isle

The E & L Advertiser gets everywhere.

Once we had clearance to fly we were advised we could not be guaranteed a return flight unless we came back on the same aircraft so we decided we would just go there for 5 minutes and as it only cost £28 return (50% reduction for being over 60). The E & L Advertiser are always looking for an unusual place for the Langholm Paper to be photographed at so we thought Fair Isle as the remotest community in the British Isles would be worth a photograph. The lady on the right is a SNH employee from Melrose who issisted she join us on the photograph when she heard we came from Langholm.

St Ninian's Isle and a Tombolo

St Ninian's Isle is joined to the Shetland Mainland by the finest example of a Tombolo in Europe.

We walked round the Island on Sunday morning in bright weather, but the wind was so strong we could hardly stand up at times.

Unst Bus Shelter

The most unusual and remote Bus Shelter in the UK, but you dont get bored waiting for the bus as it has a Computer and a TV plus a few books.

Bonxies

These birds called Arctic Skuas or Bonxies were everywhere on our 2.5 Mile walk up to Muckle Flugga. Luckily for us they had not started to nest yet as they can be very dangerous when they start to dive bomb you.

Muckle Flugga and Hermaness Nature Reserve

This is the most Northern point of the British Isles and the nature Reserve is one of the best places there is to see Puffins. We were not dissapointed as there were hundreds of them and they were not at all afraid of us so we got a lovely view of them. Muckle Flugga is the name of the lighthouse which is still in operation, but of course is not manned now.

Unst Ferry

The Ferry from Yell to Unst was able to take about 10 cars but we were the only passengers. We were on 4 Ferries on Saturday and the cost of 1 car and 2 passengers in total was only £11.20 which must be the cheapest fares in Europe.

Shetland & Fair Isle

John and I set of on another May Bank Holiday Island Adventure to the Shetland Islands and Fair Isle. The Islands visited in Shetland were Yell, Unst, and Bressay, with Fair Isle being visited on Monday, but only for a few minutes as the flight out was delayed by fog and the Pilot could not guarantee being able to come back for us on his second scheduled flight of the day. It was quite strange as there was no fog at either Fair Isle or Lerwick but the diversional airport at Sunburgh was closed so he could not fly until it was clear. We did however land on Fair Isle so can say we have been there. We spent 4 hours sitting at Tingwall Airport in the company of a Russian Artist and a retired BA 747 Captain who between them kept us well entertained. The Russian called Nina was married to a Scot and was going to fair Isle to experiment with some Felt work. She showed us some of her work and it was absolutely beautiful. The BA Captain called Mark Preston was a friend of Alison Hutton's brother Mike and he had piloted a 1930s Hornet Moth Bi-Plane to Shetland and was waiting for the weather to clear so he could fly to Orkney. We started our walking on Friday afternoon on the area of shetland called West Burra which looks like an Island but is joined to the mainland by a narrow spit of land.