A Day in Newcastleton

There was only Tom and myself for our weekly walk today so we opted to visit Newcastleton and walk 2 routes featured in  the booklet "Walks around Newcastleton". Despite Newcastleton being our near neighbour both Tom and I have not spent much time walking around there and this proved to be a real eye opener. It is a beautiful village with lots of lovely houses and gardens. Our first stop was to inspect the new bridge which is not open yet but hopefully will be soon. We then headed down the Liddel Water to Mangerton Tower.

Holm Bridge over the Liddel

Looking south over the bridge you get the impression the Liddel is actually 2 rivers but they soon merge at the corner.

This is Tom standing on the top part of Mangerton Tower which was a formerArmstrong fortified house. If those legs of Tom's had been about when the Armstrongs occupied it they would have frightened off most invaders.

After following the old Waverly Railway Line we headed back into Newcastleton along the very long Liddel Street which has some lovely houses on the river bank. 

Our walking day finished with a 2 mile walk through River & Woodland with the river forming the eastern border of the town and the woodland forming the western border. This is a lovely walk and seems to be well used by locals. We finished up the 6.5 mile walk with a pint and a bar lunch in The Grapes Hotel. The food was excellent and provided very quickly. The journey back over the hill gave us an opportunity to look at the Hen Harrier feeding posts on the Langholm Moor but without binoculars there was not much to see. The Hen Harriers were featured on Springwatch on BBC2 that evening and gave splendid film of the skydance routine of the mail bird.