From Kippford to Sandyhills

Every Wednesday we enjoy a walk and this week it was decided to do one of the finest coastal footpaths in Scotland. The 6 mile footpath from Kippford to Sandyhills is without doubt one of the most spectacular walks in Scotland. Our plan was to arrive in Kippford in time for the 11.00am bus to Sandyhills but on arrival at the bus stop at Kippford we discovered the bus company had issued a new timetable and not withdrawn the old one from the Internet and worse still not replaced it with the new one. We decided to walk to Sandyhills and hoped we would arrive there by 1.40pm in order to catch the bus back to Kippford. We actually made it with 7 minutes to spare but to be honest walking with one eye on your watch all the time is not very enjoyable. We did however have spectacular weather and the sun shone most of the time and the sea was as flat as a pancake and also High Tide.
John & Tom between Kippford and Rockliffe with the tide at its highest.

Within half a mile of Kippford is an area on the footpath where a local resident has made all kinds of figures from bits and pieces of washed up wood and other items. It is a great place for children to explore as there are dozens of funny items on show. I think on this one he has used an old set of false teeth.

Sandyhills Bay looking from Portling.

Gavin and John with Rockliffe in the background.

Rockliffe at High Tide on a lovely winters day. It really is a beautiful village and today it was very quiet unlike at the height of summer when you cannot move for cars.

John & Craig

John's son Craig joined the Last of the Summer Wine crew for our walk as he had a few days holiday and was spending them down in Langholm. Unfortunately Martin was unable to join us today as he had family duties having just become a Grandfather last week. Special mention should be made of Bowman the Old English Sheepdog as he was so well behaved especially when we met a bull in the field we were going through.

My Birthday Walk - The Ribble Way

For my birthday walk I chose part of the Ribble Way from Settle to Horton in Ribblesdale so this morning Tom, David, and I set of for Carlisle where we met up with John and Martin and we took the train from Carlisle to Settle which is one of the nicest rail journeys in England. Not as nice as the West Highland Line but very good and it had some spectacular views. The journey started very well with David opening a Bottle of Champagne brought back from his holiday in Portugal so we celebrated my Birthday Walk with a paper cup of Champers. On arriving at Settle we set out on the 8 mile walk up the Ribble Valley to Horton In Ribblesdale where we planned to catch a return train to Carlisle 5 hours later. We had planned to have a bar meal at one of the several pubs on the route. The first pub at Stainforth was closed on a Monday. The 2nd pub at Helwith Bridge opened at 2.30pm on a Monday so as it was 1.30pm we headed on up the valley and arrived at Horton in Ribblesdale to find the pub there stopped serving meals at 2.00pm and it was now 2.30pm and we had 90 minutes left before the train left. We soon found a small cafe about 250 yards from the pub and they served us a lovely bacon and egg meal accompanied by the largest mug of tea you have ever seen. The moral of the story is to change our walking day as Monday seems to be the day many pubs close or make sure in advance they will be open. A very special day in excellent company and good weather.

Walking in St. Paul-en-Forest

Another afternoon of walking with Fraser & Leslie in a small village near Fayence called St Paul-en-Forest. We followed a 14km route in a lovely rural area with loads of vineyards.