Lonely and Wet

With 4 of our wee group of walkers sunning themselves in warmer climates John, Peter, and myself were left to walk in the rain today. David, Ken, and Tom are in the Carribean and Niall is back in Western Australia. We had originally planned a 7 mile walk in the Newcastleton area but after looking at the forecast we decided on an Umbrella Walk round Potholm instead. 

This photograph expresses our greetings to those in the group that prefer the sun to walking on a beautiful wet day in Langholm.

A Peebles Walk and it did not Rain

We decided to meet up yesterday in Peebles with the Edinburgh contingent joining us so Peter, Tom, and I left a very wet Langholm at 9.00am thinking we would get very wet. We met John, Martin, and Sandria in the car park at 10.30am just as the rain stopped and the sun peeked out for a few minutes. The sun soon disapeared but the rain stayed away and we walked almost 7 miles without a drop of rain to be seen. The walk was a circuit of the Glentress biking trails with the last part of the walk following the old railway line next to the river Tweed back into Peebles.

All set to go but it did not last long as both Tom and Martin forgot to put on some items of clothing

Into the rucksacks for gloves (Tom) and waterproof trousers (Martin)

Once we had climbed to about 1000ft we had a good view accross the Tweed valley with these clouds lingering all day.

The River Tweed at a fairly high level but not in flood.

The Peebles Hydro Hotel in among the trees

A Castle on the top of a small hill but nobody seemed to know what it was called

At the Glentress visitor centre we met the Recreation and Tourism Manager Hugh McKay and he gave us a conducted tour of the facility and explained how it had been set up by the Forestry Commission at a cost of 8 million pounds. Last year they had in excess of 300,000 visitors and it is hoped to increase the number in 2014. It is a fantastic facility and it enables almost 9 million pounds to be spent in the area so is a real bonus for the tourist industry and the Borders Council have also helped by making the cycle track along the old railway to encourage visitors to spend time in Peebles. If only Langholm could have visitor numbers like this. We have the scenery, the walks, and cycle tracks but it just needs money to be spent putting it all together in a package. The other bonus is the 9 pairs of Ospreys that nest in the Tweed Valley which adds to the visitor numbers at the viewing areas. It is well worth a visit and good value for families.
After a nice snack meal in a local cafe we headed back to Langholm and by the time we had reached Selkirk the rain had commenced and by Langholm it had once again become very wet and had rained there all day.

New Years Day Walk

We decided to take part in the Langholm New Years Day run but of course at walking pace. The idea is to be back in Langholm for 11.00am. We set off just after 9.00am to do part of the course round Potholm. Tom held us up at the start as he was late but this was to be fortunate as we arrived in the Market Place at 1 minute to 11.00am.

Good timing thanks to Tom.

David, Niall, Elspeth, and Tom with of course our good pal Bowman.

Bowman returning from a visit to see if Tom is ok and to round him up. As usual Tom had stopped for a Natural Break so Bowman left him to it after seeing he was ok and he resumed his place as the leader of our Group.

After the walk Tom and I visited David's home as he had a horse running in the 12.10 at Cheltenham. We decided to have Bucks Fizz prior to the race which was just as well as the horse came in last in a field of 6.

Just after I got home the heavens opened with more torrential rain so we had been very fortunate to walk while it was dry.