Trespassing

Gaye and I decided to head for Rowanburn for a walk along the old railway line to the Riddings Viaduct. The photograph above is all that is left of Canonbie Station. The photograph below is the very pleasant seat on what used to be the bridge over the railway line at Canonbie Station. The daffodils were planted in 2005 by Rowanburn and Canonbie schoolchildren when they planted 26,000 of them between the two villages.

The Riddings Viaduct which was not blown up when the railway closed as it is a Skew Viaduct and therefore quite rare and Listed. There is a fence at each end to stop people from going on to it but some kind person has made a space in the fence at the Scottish end to enable people like Gaye and I to Trespass on the Viaduct. I suppose while on the Scottish side you are not trespassing as long as you dont do any damage but at the English side you are definately trespassing and would be prosecuted. I of course was not keen to break the law but Gaye made me do it.

Looking north with Scotland on the left and England on the right.

Hanging on for dear life but determined to make it accross into England.

The Wedding of Nicola-Jane Irving to Matthew Brown

This weekend Gaye and I attended the wedding of our best friend John Irving's daughter Nicola-Jane to Matthew Brown. The wedding was in Edinburgh and then we were all taken by bus to Glencoe for the reception. We had a great weekend in excellent company and the weather was good. The above photo was taken at John's house before we went to the church.

Gaye photographed with John's Mother Nan and her sister Molly. They had booked Andersons Taxi to take them to the church in Edinburgh for the wedding and the driver did not have a map or a satnav so they took 3.5 hours to get to the wedding and arrived late. Luckily the bride was late so all they missed was the Brass Band and the Choir giving excellent pre wedding entertainment.

Taken at Glencoe on the way to the hotel at Ballachulich.

Martin's Birthday Walk

Martin's choice for his Birthday Walk was taken from the excellent publication "Walking in the Land of the Reivers" by I.W.Landles and A.G.Brydon from Hawick. It starts at the Stobs Camp 4 miles south of Hawick on the Hawick to Newcastleton road. The camp was a German Prisoner of War camp in the First World War and an army camp in the second world war.

This photograph was taken at the highest point on the walk Penchrise Pen (1430ft). John and I knew where we were but as usual Tom is lost and Martin is searching for the answer.

At the furthest point of the walk in the middle of the forest is a stone called The Tinlee Stone and it is believed it was used as a meeting point by the Wardens of the Marches in the reiving period. It was a very difficult job finding it but Martin persisted and was eventually successful.

On the way back we came to this extensive Iron Age Earthwork and it is one of the best examples of this I have seen.

Spring at Last

It was a lovely Spring day in Langholm so Gaye and I decided a wee walk was in order and we headed of round the Lodge Walks and back via the Kilngreen where we spent a lovely half hour in the sunshine. Above is a lovlely display of Crocus on the bank of the Ewes and below is Gabrielle enjoying the seat in the sun.