Langholm's Oldest Resident

Nan Irving is 96 today and is now Langholm's oldest resident. She is photographed here with son John and Grandchildren Nicola-Jane and Craig just before they head off to the Eskdale for afternoon tea. John was my first friend when I came to Langholm in 1958 and we have been best friends now for 59 years. In May we will both visit the Orkney Isles to add to our collection of Scottish Islands visited and should take the total to over 50. We both celebrate our 70th Birthday this year. 

A Visit to Plessey Woods

Plessey Woods are about a 20 minute drive north from Fiona's house in Newcastle. There are miles of trails and lots of fun things hidden in the woods. This is a drum kit that Hannah is playing on.

A dangerous Troll lives in this wee house

Playing Hide and Seek among the trees

Followed by a game of Noughts and Crosses 

A little boy hiding behind us.

A Grand photo of us with Hannah & Leo. They are great company and we had a lovely walk with them through the woods. 

The river Blyth which winds its way through the park.

A Visit to Washington Wetlands Centre

When I visited the Moorland Bird Hide to top up the feeders last week there was a guy had travelled all the way from Durham to photograph Siskins. I asked him the best place to watch birds in the north east as we were going to look after Hannah & Leo for a few days. He told me the Washington Wetland Centre was superb and my goodness he was right. It was excellent and we enjoyed a lovely day out here in pleasant weather.

Not sure what it is called but its a beautiful Duck 

A Black Swan already nesting

This pair had a lovely day and were excellent company

A Eurasian Crane and one of my favourites. A year ago we were watching Sandhill Cranes in Utah.          

These little Ducks in the foreground were very interesting as they regularly dived and when they did there was a huge amount of bubbles appeared on the surface. Hannah thinks they were farting.

Tom's Gone Missing

We had hoped that Tom would be available for todays walk as it is a month since he last walked with us due to his holiday in Barbados but he had accepted a golf invitation from a friend who would not change it to another day so he decided to give the walk a miss. We will make him suffer for this in the future. The walk was from Brampton to Lanercost and back and it took us along the Brampton Ridge which gives spectacular views across the Irthing valley. The photo above is Brampton from the Ridge.

Peter and John obviously not missing Tom

This part of the walk along the Quarry Beck was very, very muddy, and John decides to take a detour and was soon stuck in deep mud.  

The Quarry Beck and its muddy path which was covered in leaves hiding the mud underneath. 

A lovely waterfall on the Quarry Beck.

This is the Brampton Ridge

Another Grand Walk in Hawick - Vertish Hill and Williestruther Loch

This weeks Wednesday walk took us back to Hawick to do the 5 mile Vertish Hill and Williestruther Loch walk from the excellent booklet Paths around Hawick. From the car park we headed up the Howegate past this Motte. This huge mound once supported a Norman tower.  

This is the superb view over Hawick from the Motte.

Despite the fact we have walked in this area many times this was the first time we had been to the Motte.

The hills in the distance are at Minto and were mentioned in my blog 3 weeks ago.

Out into the countryside we came upon this observation seat and Peter couldn't resist climbing up for a seat. 

This is the site of the Hawick Curling Pond. It was last used in the mid 1960s

One thing I really like about Hawick is the way they promote the songs and music of the town.

On the way back we walked through the Golf Course and it is here on the 16th hole that Bill McLaren got a  Hole in One on the 292 yard par 4. The hole is now named McLaren's Miracle.

Meggat Water and Greensykes Bothy

We have walked this route several times over the years mainly to see what progress has been made with the Mountain Bothy at Greensykes. We left the car at Glendinning and walked up the Meggat Valley for a short distance and then headed up the Hairgrain Burn throught the forrest. Much of it has been felled since our last visit so it was a totally different walk with new views to take in. 

The last time we walked this about 2 years ago this was all trees but has now been cleared and will eventually be replanted.  

John all geared up for bad weather but once again we were lucky and there was no rain. 

This part of the walk is through an old Scots Pine Forrest so these have been left as they were.  

Greensykes Bothy with the Maintenance Officer for this bothy Michael Parker the tall guy in the middle. Both of these guys arrived yesterday and have spent all their daylight time putting in a new Wood Burning Stove and doing other basic repairs and painting to the Bothy. Michael comes from Lancaster and the other guy whose name I forget comes from Glasgow. The bothy is well used and attracts visitors from all over the country. 

The bothy taken from the forestry road

Looking up the Meggat Valley