A Lemon Common Riding

Marti Borthwick is presented with the Hound Trail Cup with David Stevenson looking on. 

David prepares to hand the Flag to Cornet Tweddle

The Barley Banna at the head of the parade

The Front Three 

My good friend Lennie Bell came over specially to welcome Carlo & Sidne Lemon. This is his 62nd year in the Pipe Band as a Drummer 

Ray Elliot cries The Langholm Fair

The Thistle in front of the new logo on the old EWM shop. 

Sidne and Spot the Hound Trail winner 

Wattie's daughter Alison sits on his knee for the first time in many years with Jean looking on in the background in our Sitooterie when the Cornet and horsemen were up the hill.

Relaxing in the garden before going up for the 2nd Fair Crying 

Highland Dancers at the Sports Field

A chance to be photographed with the Crown at the end of a perfect day. Carlo & Sidne were completely overwhelmed by the number of people in the town for the Common Riding and also with the huge number of people who stopped to speak to them, especially to ask if their lost bags had arrived yet. I am pleased to say they arrived at 5.00pm that day.

Lindisfarne Castle

As the causeway did not close until 1.00pm we had plenty of time after breakfast to walk to Lindisfarne Castle on a beautiful warm morning. Sidne does love her castles and this may be very small but it is one of the nicest we have seen and the views over Holy Isle and the Northumberland coast are just superb.

The Castle courtyard

Looking out over the fields is this lovely walled garden 

The small dining area in the kitchen

The view of Holy Isle harbour and village from the Castle

One of the four poster beds

The main hall looks more like a corridor but the floor is very attractive

The main dining area

At the entrance to the Castle they have maid full use of the old upturned boats. Holy Isle is the only place I have seen boats used in this way.

Islands & Castles

We arrived on Holy Isle on Sunday evening as soon as the causeway was open and checked into our B & B and headed to The Ship Inn for a nice meal. The weather was superb and Carlo & Sidne just loved the rural charm of the island.

The tide not fully out yet. We never saw the island when the tide was high as we were either away somewhere or it was in the middle of the night.

St.Mary's Church 

Enjoying a seat in the community garden

Gaye looking very relaxed and enjoying herself. 

 Our visit on Monday gave the girls a chance to sit on the throne. Sidne looks more like a Queen than Gaye as she has a regal look about her. 

The superb view of the Northumberland Coast from the ramparts of Bamburgh Castle

From Bamburgh we headed to Alnwick Castle Gardens where the main feature is the splendid fountains 

Back on Holy Isle on Monday evening I went for a walk to St.Cuthberts Island where this photos taken showing the village on Holy Isle

St. Cuthberts Cross on his small island

Supersonic Visit

Our next visit was on our way down the A1 to Holy Isle but we called in to see Concorde at The National Aviation Museum at East Fortune.

The small cockpit of Concorde looks very cramped.

Scotland was very lucky to get one of these aircraft and East Fortune is a great place to spend an afternoon.

A Royal Visit

After spending the night in The Holiday Inn Express at Leith we walked the short distance to The Royal Yacht Britannia. This was the highlight of Carlo & Sidne's holiday and they were totally blown away with the splendour of Britannia. The tour commences on the Bridge Deck and then works its way down to eventually the engine room. It is very well organised and the staff are all extremely helpful and nice.

Sidne sits in the Captain's chair.

Gaye listening to the commentary on the lounge deck

The Royal Lounge deck

She couldn't resist having a go on the bell

The Lounge 

First Officer Graham 

Every girl loves a sailor

A Day at The Kelpies and Falkirk Wheel

After experiencing Langholm Common Riding Carlo and Sidne started a whirlwind tour of the South of Scotland and Northumberland. First stop on Saturday morning was The Kelpies at Falkirk. 

After an initial shower of rain the weather improved and the blue skies appeared. The tour was interesting but the guide talks a lot of claptrap just to please the foreign tourists. It really is not worth paying the money for the tour as they can be appreciated without all the claptrap that goes with it. The young girl giving the talk was nice but totally out of her depth. 

The Kelpies from the Lock gates 

From the Kelpies we headed to the Falkirk Wheel. By now the weather was improving and we took the 1 hour trip on the slowest boat in Scotland. It is spectacular but how they draw out the trip.

Sidne & Carlo enjoying the boat trip.

The canal aqueduct from the boat

The excellent view of the Ochils from the Wheel