A Walk at Irving House Before it Changes for Ever

Todays Thursday walk took Mike, Charlie, and myself to Irving House just 4 miles south of Langholm. We decided we wanted to have a last good look at it before Buccleuch Estates starts building 142 Chalets there for a holiday complex. It is up for planning permission at the moment so if passed work will probably commence next year and it will change for ever. It should be successful as it is a lovely place and it will help Langholm to prosper. This is the river Esk passing by the front of the old house.

The fishing at Irving House is probably one of the best stretches on the Esk.

Irving House has stood empty for over 15 years so it is good that it will be occupied again in the future. The House will be the head office of the complex and also a restaurant.

This used to be where a line was attached to a boat that was used for fishers

The path running between the river and the house and gardens is beautiful so hopefully the public will still be able to use it in the future.

Lovely stone steps leading from the lawn which used to be a tennis court down to the river

The river Tarras joins the Esk at this place.

Charlie on the steps from where the Tennis Court used to be.

Mike discovered this Fungi called Clavaria amethystina which grows in old lawns and parks between July and November. It is quite rare and very unusual.

The old house which despite being empty for so long is still in a fairly good condition.

Two old Ewe trees forming an arch on the path near the house.

The path was covered in  Acorns from the many Oak trees

One of the huge Oak trees in the field where 71 chalets will be built so we hope they don't get rid of this lovely tree which must be many hundreds of years old.

 

A Walk Near Kelso With The Last of the Summer Wine Walkers

Todays walk with my walking friends started at the village of Sprouston near Kelso. The first section of the walk headed down to the river Tweed and we followed it downstream for over a mile. One car with John, Sandria and Ken came from Edinburgh. Niall and Elspeth brought Gaye and the ladies were dropped in Kelso for a morning of shopping. Tom and I drove direct to Sprouston and we all arrived within a few minutes of each other. This photo is taken at the War Memorial in Sprouston.

I had forgotten to take my tripod to get all of us in on one photo so Tom took this one.

The first stretch of the Tweed

A couple of fishermen

We saw about 5 of these boats moored by the bank of the river, but none of them were in use.

One of several fishing huts beside the river

Another fisherman. We saw 5 fishermen in the mile long stretch of river

A Swan leading its 4 youngsters. There was lots of bird life on the river including Swans, Geese, Herons, Ducks, and a Cormorant, but they flew off as soon as they saw us.

The only place we had a problem was on a stretch of the river bank that was impassable due to thorny bushes. We had to crawl through the bottom part of a barbed wire fence. Gone are the days when we could easily put one foot on the top of the barbed wire and just leap over. Ken getting through quite easily here.

Tom making heavy weather of getting under the fence

He made it with plenty of laughs

Loads of Apples on this tree

Now walking beside the fields making it much easier

The next stage was a long lane across fields

Harvest all safely gathered in

An interesting fungus on the side of a tree

The lovely lane between the fields

The last section of the walk was the old railway line that stretched from Kelso to Berwick upon Tweed. It opened in 1849 and closed in 1948

Views from the old railway line. Its an excellent walking footpath and looks to be maintained for the benefit of walkers

The well maintained old railway line

Loads of trees and bushes laden with berries

This was Sprouston station with the remnants of a platform. We headed back to Kelso after our walk and met up with Elspeth and Gaye for a lovely lunch in The Cobbles Inn just of the square in Kelso

 

Walking the Hawick Flood Protection Scheme

 

Today Tom and I went up to Hawick to walk the recently opened Hawick Flood Protection Scheme. This was an almost 4 mile walk and took us from Mansfield Park, the home of Hawick Rugby Club to where the river Slitrig joins the river Teviot. This is one of the remaining knitwear companies on the route Johnstones of Elgin and now probably the biggest remaining mill and the most successful one. 

We also passed the Borders Distillery and I confess I have yet to taste its Whisky

The Slitrig joins the Teviot as I watch from a statue of James Thompson the Founder of Hawick Burns Club.

Tom examines the statue commemorating James Thompson.

The meeting of the two rivers

A key footbridge on the Protection Scheme

The Teviot with one of the many green bridges on the route

A closer look at one of the bridges

There are several of these strengthened glass panels in the barrier and if you look closely you can see a map of the Teviot and its tributaries etched on the glass. Unfortunately two of these glass barriers have already been vandalised.

A famous quote by Bill McLaren the BBC Rugby commentator who lived all his life in Hawick. "as slippery as a baggie in a border burn"

One of the main bridges over the Teviot for traffic.

One of the many mills I used to visit on my days in the Air Freight industry in the late 80s and early 90s. In the partnership of Atlasair with USA Company United parcel Service (UPS) we got huge business from Hawick's knitwear industry. We closed down our main competitor in Hawick who actually had an office in the town as we were providing next day delivery to New York and 2 days delivery to many other USA cities at a fraction of the price they charged. Some days we had several vans in Hawick collecting hundreds of export shipments.

Tom examining the bridge near Johnstones of Elgin

A section of the barrier with two strengthened glass panels in it

This is Glebe Mill which was occupied by Pringle of Scotland and is now derelict as is many of the mill buildings in Hawick. When I started visiting Hawick to sell our UPS Service in 1986 there was 35 working mills and there is now less than a third of them left.

The sad sight of Glebe Mills. Pringle had another mill called Victoria Mill at the other end of Hawick and it no longer exists.

This is where we started our walk and the bridge at Mansfield park the home of Hawick RFC

Mansfield Park which was flooded several times prior to the new Flood Protection Scheme

Mansfield Park Bridge