A Walk to the Brow Well

Our Thursday walk with Mike and Charlie took us to Clarencefield to walk along the lanes near Comlongen Castle and then on to the Brow Well. We walked for 2 hours and never men another person. I had plotted the route out on my OS App on my phone and it was great for keeping us on the correct route.

At the Brow Well, which has had a renovation not that long ago. The water in the well looks horrible and its no wonder Robert Burns died not long after he took to the waters as they look extremely dirty.

A hedgerow on the B725 near the Brow Well and its full of Honeysuckle and the smell was lovely

Looking over the Solway towards the Lake District mountains

A quarter of the walk was on this road the B725, but it was very quiet and we only saw a few cars

At the end of one of our lanes before we joined the road we saw these Alpacas

The paths were well signposted by D & G Council as part of the Core Path Network

One of the many lanes we walked along

Comlongen Castle which looks as if it is being renovated.

There were a lot of these in one of the fields but none of us knew exactly what they are.

A grand field of winter Wheat or Barley which is very close to being ready for harvesting. The last section of the walk was a narrow path through woods and next to fields that stretched for a mile and brought us back into Clarencefield. Our only complaint was that for most of the way it had a double strand barbed wire fence that could have caused a nasty accident if any of us had stumbled and put our hand out to save ourselves. We took it very easy and it was lovely section of the walk as shown below.

Stonework done a very long time ago on one of the burns we crossed

A nice wooden bridge and one of several on this section

A most enjoyable 4 mile walk and almost perfect weather. We headed back to Langholm for our usual Coffee at The Buccleuch Centre

 

A Day Out to see Newcastle United V Fulham

Away back in April when Fraser and his family came over for a week and we rented a cottage in Northumberland we had planned to go to see Newcastle United v Manchester United. In order to secure tickets Fraser had booked a Hospitality package at St. James' Park. Unfortunately the match was switched to the Sunday for TV coverage by which time Fraser and family were on a plane back to California. The Hospitality package was kept over to this season but unfortunately Fraser couldn't fit in a time to come over so he asked me to take some of my friends. I wanted to reward my old team at EMS Cargo (Carlisle) Ltd for all the help they had given me when I started the company in 2003. Kelvin Carruthers and Brian Little were invited and my business partner Keith Walker unfortunately couldn't make it as he was on the Orient Express this week so my walking friend Charlie Graham took his place. Charlie had never experienced match day hospitality on this scale so this was a great experience for him. He is a fervent Manchester United supporter. We left Langholm at 8.45am to get the train to Newcastle and had to be at St James' Park by 12.30pm. 

There were 52,000 supporters in the crowd and they certainly made a lot of noise. It was a great atmosphere.

Brian, Kelvin, and Charlie in The Barracks Hospitality suite. There was over 300 people in the suite and we had an ex Newcastle United player interviewed and live musical entertainment. The lunch was enjoyable with plenty of choice in the various stands providing hot food. 

An empty St James' Park on our arrival

We stopped in front of the statue to Sir Bobby Robson to pay our respects

Charlie in front of the statue to Alan Shearer when he had hair. We had a fabulous day out in great company and my hero Bruno Guimaraes scored the winning goal in the 90th minute to make our day perfect.

 

The Dykecroft Circular with Mike & Charlie

For some time now Mike and myself and occasionally Charlie have been walking every Thursday. This week we all headed separately to Newcastleton to do the Dykecroft Circular Walk which is about 7 miles. This is an inscription on a building next to an old church in Castleton on the outskirts of Newcastleton. My friend the Revd. Bob Milne and also another friend Bob Bowen came back to me after I had put it on Facebook and it says "Today me and Tomorrow you".

An old bridge on the outskirts of Newcastleton. There is a new bridge next to it so this one is not used now.

~t the end of the Forestry section of this walk this bridge takes us back towards the main road.

On the old Waverly Railway line back into Newcastleton this is the garden of artist Julie Dumbarton and shows her lovely Garden Pod

We had hoped to travel the last 2 miles of the walk on the old Waverley Railway line but realised it was very muddy and difficult to access in places so we went onto the line about a mile from Copshaw but this also was difficult in places to get through.

On our way to Newcastleton we travelled separately in our own cars and just a few miles from the village we had to turn back due to a lorry having overturned nearer the village. We all arrived at the start of our walk a wee bit late but we were on our way after about a 20 minute delay having detoured via Canonbie.

On our way out of the village we spotted this holiday caravan that has been converted into a log cabin to great effect.

Another bridge in the centre of the parkland area of the walk.

 

Langholm Walks Group Visit Greensyke Bothy

On our Warbla Walk last week I was telling Mike and Charlie about The Bothy at Greensykes. Neither of them had been there since it was converted into a Bothy. It's one of my favourite walks so we decided to visit again this week. The Bothy is officially closed due to Covid-19 but the visitors book clearly indicates that it is regularly being used and had visitors staying just a few days ago. It is really well looked after and looks very smart from the outside. With a log fire burning in the two main rooms it will be a very cosy place to stay the night.

The Meggat Valley and its so nice to see this valley is still farmed for sheep.

The walk is mainly forrest tracks and fairly easy walking with a very gradual climb.

The man made pond at Greensykes.

It must be a long walk to the toilet in the middle of the night.

The view from the road into the valley.

A refreshing cup of tea after a couple of hours walking.

The route back down to Glendinning.

A good crop of cones on the Fir tree.