A Longtown Walk

Todays Thursday walk with Mike & Charlie took us down to Longtown on a beautiful spring morning, but after quite a hard frost. This is Arthuret Church which we passed at the end of the walk. I uploaded the photos in the wrong order so the end of the walk is at the beginning of the blog. The last half mile of the walk from the church through a couple of fields was quite muddy and rough walking. We enjoyed a nice coffee at the Buccleuch Centre when we got back to Langholm with Jessica as usual needing no instructions but just produced our regular order within a minute of us walking in the door. 

On the bridge over the old Waverley railway line.

Whenever I walk in Longtown I realise how well off we are in Scotland being able to walk anywhere as long as we act responsibly. This lane is just after we have walked along the river Esk on a proper footpath. We leave the footpath and open a gate into this lane where there is a big sign saying PRIVATE PROPERTY and no access is allowed. We as usual decided to continue our walk and if a farmer approached us plead ignorance. To be honest its a lovely lane and could be classed as a right of way and no possible damage could be done by 3 old men with an average age of 80. We were never approached by a farmer, but did meet his wife and I immediately spoke to her and said what a lovely day before she had a chance to say this is private property.

The Longtown ponds on the first part of the walk beside the Esk

You can just see the nesting Swan in the middle of this photograph

Charlie had never walked this route before so enjoyed the new experience

The first of the 3 ponds we passed on our walk

The start of the walk beside the river Esk. Slightly muddy in places, but not too bad.

Plenty Willow Catkins about to appear

 

Back Walking Again

This was my first Wednesday walk for over a month as a bout of Achilles Tendonitis has had me confined to just very short walks for over a month. Today with Tom I walked a 4 mile route down the Esk at Longtown via Arthuret Church. This looks to be a new seat in the form of a war memorial.

Arthuret Church which is always worth a look round 

The old Waverley Railway Line which we passed over on our walk

A nice long lane taking us away from the river Esk.

Walking in England nearly always brings Private notices. It always makes us realise how well off we are in Scotland being able to walk anywhere as long as we adhere to the Country Code and respect property. We ignored this sign as it was on a country lane that was surely a right of way and of course we never do anything to cause a problem. 

One of the many ponds next to the river Eskdale.

We argued at length about this raised path, which initially I thought was part of the old railway line, but in the end Tom was right and it looks as if it has been for flood prevention.

The raised banking that we decided was for flood prevention.

A well pruned tree in Longtown. The walk was about 4 miles and despite to poor visibility it was great for me to get back walking again. 

 

Search for the River Lyne

Todays Wednesday walk took us to Longtown and a walk along the Esk to the River Lyne or at least that was our plan. The first couple of miles were easy along the bank of the Esk but then things started to go wrong. Tom was in charge of the map and he insisted that the burn we had come to was the river Lyne. We subsequently found out it was not and was in fact the Hall Burn. We then proceeded to take the wrong lane to the wrong destination and went from bad to worse.  

As you can see Tom is in charge of the map

The river Esk looking very peaceful 

One of the many lanes we went along in our quest to find the correct spot 

Tom climbs the gate and yet again lead us in the wrong direction.  

Good job there is no sound on the photograph as by this time we were cursing him 

Two Deer in the far corner of the field. 

Peter asking these 2 cows the right direction and they were more accurate with this than Tom.

This is the old Waverley railway line and shortly after this we were persuaded by Tom to walk back to Longtown along it but we only got about half a mile before thick brambles stopped us in our tracks and we had to go all the way back to the gate we started at and walk across the field on the proper route.  

This seat near Arthuret Church was a real sun trap and we enjoyed a 10 minute break in the warm sun while we put the world to rights. 

St. Michaels Church Arthuret

This is the point on the Waverley Line where we had to turn back. It was in actual fact an excellent walk with loads of wild life to be seen and some very funny arguments with Tom. We lunched at the Buccleuch Centre and then ended up at Tom's house for our New Year drink and his excellent hospitality. We never did find the River Lyne.