National Railway Museum

No trip to York is complete without a trip to the NRM. The above engine was made in England and shipped to China and returned to York many years later.

The Bullet Train from Japan.

The most important train in the Museum Thomas the Tank Engine.

A Climb to the Top of York Minster

We decided to climb to the top of York Minster which is 275 steps up a very narrow staircase. This is Carlo & Sidne at the top and just a wee bit tired. Sidne did very well and made it up with very few stops for a rest.

The view from the top.

The narrow staircase

The view in the opposite direction.

A Visit to York

York Minster. We looked round in the afternoon and while we were there we heard a girls choir from St Margarets School rehearsing for Evensong. They were so good we decided to go along at 5.15pm for Evensong and listen to their full programme.

We headed off to York on Wednesday morning with glorious weather forecast for the 3 days we would be there. The first visit was to York Minster followed by a walk along the City Wall. Gaye and Sidne make sure to keep away from the edge.

A Day in the Lake District

Another superb day of glorious weather in the UK so we headed off to the Lake District. The first stop was Boness on Windermere for a 40 minute trip on a Windermere Steamer. I forgot my camera so no photos of the trip yet but we will have them as soon as we download them from Sidne's camera. Nearly a disaster as well as I discovered I had lost my wallet as we were about to board the Steamer. I ran back to the car park and there was an attendant with my wallet in his hand. I was very lucky to get it back intact. The photograph above is Sidne & Gaye at Castlerigg Stone Circle near Keswick. We also visited Ambleside and Grasmere where we purchased Grasmere Gingerbread especially for Fraser in Salt Lake City.

Two handsome old men at Castlerigg Stone Circle

The Bridge House at Ambleside

Carlo & Sidne Arrive from Utah

Carlo & Sidne arrived from Utah at 7.30am into Manchester Airport so by 11.45am we were back in Langholm having come up on the train to Carlisle. They were determined to stay awake and the weather was glorious so we headed to Winterhope to see Jean & Wattie. Sitting out in their garden for afternoon tea was a real delight in such beautiful surroundings.

In the Hen run. Notice the very sexy legs of Wattie.

Gaye & Sidne enjoying the sun.

Our hosts Wattie & Jean.

Visit to Manchester

I visited Manchester Airport on Sunday afternoon so that I could collect Carlo & Sidne from the Chicago flight early Monday morning. I took the opportunity to visit my friend and ex work Co-Director Paul Evans. Paul is having Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy at the moment and then in the next couple of weeks will have an operation. He is looking and feeling very well and is determined to recover from Cancer. We had a lovely afternoon reminiscing about the old times and working days with Atlasair, UPS, and finally EMS Cargo. I have know Paul since 1985 when he was Export Manager at Atlasair, Heathrow and then he eventually bacame my Regional Manager with Atlasair/UPS. We both then left UPS and 10 years later joined up again to set up EMS Cargo (Carlisle) Ltd. He persuaded me to set the Carlisle office up as a separate company which was the best move ever and eventually enabled me to retire early. He is planning to retire soon and has promised himself a new Jaguar car so heres wishing my good friend "All the Best".

Martin's Birthday Walk - Melrose and Abbotsford

Martin's Birthday walk was once again held on a lovely spring day. Peter, Tom, and I headed to Melrose to meet up with Martin and John for the 9 mile Birthday Walk along the river Tweed via Abbotsford and the Rymers Glen and back into Melrose.

The walk along the banks of the Tweed was just glorious with loads of wild life about but no sign of any Salmon although there were a few fishers about.

Abbotsford House in the process of being renovated. This photo was taken looking into the sun so it is not as good as I would have liked. I am not sure when it will reopen but it will be superb once it is finished.

Lunch time and Tom is about to have his lunch stolen.

The walk finished at Melrose Station so we sat down to wait for the next train.

But it's going to be a long wait as the last train left in the early 60s. A superb day finished off with a lovely meal in Melrose and then a visit to a bookshop in St Boswells where I bought a new book about Borders Rugby. The next Birthday walk will be mine on 23rd May when we head for Lancaster and a 12 mile walk along the Lancaster Canal from Glasson to Carnforth.

Becks Burn and John's New Car



Another Wednesday walk but instead of travelling out of town we decided to stay local so we could watch the Cheltenham Race Meeting in the afternoon. John, Tom, and I walked up to Springhill to collect Bowman and David and we headed off up to Becks Burn and then up Meikleholm, The Old Roman Road, The Cushetts, Potholm, Pathhead, The High Mill Brig, and then home via Rugby Club and the Ty Pennington walk. This was almost 10 miles so it was an excellent walk and maybe just as well nobody could evesdrop our conversation as it was very interesting and extremely humerous. The reason for the photographs of the Becks Burn is because a local walker pointed out to me that there was a lot of fallen trees in the burn and this could cause problems in a flood as it could damage the wooden bridge put there 12 years ago for walkers. As you can see it is a problem so these photos will be sent to the Access officer of D & G Council who hopefully will include some maintenance work in next years footpaths budget or else the cost of a new bridge could be considerably more.

On our way home we stopped off at John's Mums house in Charles Street to have a look at his new Jaguar car. It is beautiful and John looks after it so well. If you ever have to buy a car he has owned you will certainly get a car that has been well looked after and this one will hold it's value for many years to come.

The Ogilvie Cairn - When we eventually found it.

Today's walk was to the Ogivie Cairn near Hawick. This was walk 15 from the Book "Walking in the Land of the Reivers. It looked a fairly easy route to find our way and we were assisted by two guide books, two GPS, and one OS map but we still got lost. Once again we must blame Tom as he was in charge of the Guide book. Unfortunately after half an hours walking we were hit by a tremendous snow storm and with the wind and snow in our faces it was not long before Tom's guide book was in tatters. We ended up doing a loop of about 5 miles instead of a 3 mile walk to the Ogilvie cairn. As you can see in the above photograph it was only when Bowman took over the job of guide that we hit the correct direction.

We eventually made it to the Ogilvie Cairn which has the following inscription on it.

The hill road to Roberton
Ale Water at our feet
and grey hills and blue hills
that melt away and meet
with cotton flowers that wave to us
and lone whaups that call
and over all the Border mist
the soft mist over all

let oil, nor steam, nor wings of dream deprive
of us our own
the wide world for a kingdom and the saddle
for a throne!

This is a memorial seat at the Ogilvie Cairn and two of the names on the inscription have Langholm connections namely Victor Tokely who was a Founder Member of Langholm Rotary Club from our Mother Club Hawick. The other local connection is Graham Murray who farmed in Ewes valley. Despite the couple of very heavy snow showers it was an excellent walk made interesting by our lack of ability to map read.