A Return to Spittal After 66 Years

This is the promenade in Spittal. I camped with the Boy's Brigade in Spittal in 1959 and 1960 so it's 60 years since I was last here. At the BB Camp in 1959 we had a wood burning range for cooking and every bit of wood in the area was scavenged to keep it going. We didn't have a single drop of rain that week.

The pier at Berwick upon Tweed and the mouth of the river Tweed

I remember watching the fishermen catching salmon in nets from the beach 60 years ago. They rowed out in a half circle dragging the nets behind them and then pulled them in. They caught loads of Salmon in those days. The numbers decreased and then the Tweed Fishing Associations bought their licences and closed them down

A closer look at the pier and Lighthouse

Where we camped in 1959/60 is now Council houses by the look of them from a distance but nothing much else has changed in Spittal

Back at the Old Lobster House in Burnmouth it's now just after high tide and that's as close as the sea will get this week. In the visitors book there are comments about the cottage shaking at high tide in a storm. The building was built over 300 years ago so it must be very strong.

A Steep Morning Walk Followed by a Trip to Dunbar and St. Abbs

My morning walk was once again along the shore to Partanhall, but today I climbed the path up the cliff to come back a different way. I needed a rest at the top so had a seat and used The Merlin bird app on my phone to identify 16 birds in 10 minutes

Looking down to the shore from my seat

The narrow part of the path

Overlooking Burnmouth Harbour

The old road from the houses. Last winter the low road to the houses was blocked for a month after a very bad storm. Only people with 4x4 vehicles could use this road. 

It's not to bad at the start and then gets progressively worse.

Gaye with John Muir on Dunbar High Street

The Bridge to Nowhere on Belhaven Beach at Dunbar. Unfortunately the high tide was not very high today so instead of going nowhere the bridge continued to go somewhere.

From Dunbar we headed down to St Abbs

Just outside the harbour entrance the sea was quite rough in places.

Fortunately the harbour was quite calm

Not much going on in the harbour, but it looked as if a lot of fishing boats use it

This was an hour or two after high tide so the fishing boats must have left

While I was walking round the harbour Gaye had a sleep in the car and was woken by a terrible noise on the roof. It was this Herring Gull stomping on the roof of the car.

A Visit to Eyemouth

After my morning walk we headed a few miles up the coast to Eyemouth and parked the car near the beach next to the Co-Op

Eyemouth Harbour is the largest and most secure harbour in the area and offers lock free access to a deep water berthing facility. It is the main fishing port in the south east of Scotland. 

This dredger is busy lifting silt out of the harbour.

These 3 vessels were from Lowestoft

A nice beach at high tide and a nice esplanade. We enjoyed our walk along the Promenade and Harbour and had a nice Coffee in a Cafe on the Harbour.

We headed back to Burnmouth and watched a Heron feeding just outside our house.

A nice garden in a nearby house.

Another view of The Old Lobster House.

 

A Walk Along the Shore to Partenhall

The rocky shore just in front of our cottage

Our cottage called The Old Lobster House

Our cottage from the road

Burnmouth Harbour about 90 minutes before high tide

The smaller inner harbour

The road next to the harbour

This commemorates the women and children left after the East Coast Fishing Disaster of 1881

The road to Portenhall

Portenhall cottages

The village is a collection of houses of which many will be holiday cottages. The road to it is not good and during storms it may be blocked with stones and boulders washed onto it. A very spectacular place to live.

The cottages have a very steep cliff behind them

Lots of character about these cottages and I would love to live there but the road to it is terrible

The beach with no sand so the public dont bother to come

The best section of the road

Burnmouth inner harbour

This is a lovely peaceful place to stay for our weeks holiday. The bad road down to lower Burnmouth and the lack of a sandy beach keeps many tourists away.

 

In Memory of Wattie Rutherford

Our good friend Wattie Rutherford died recently and we have been friends with him and Jean for many years. Gaye and Jean became friends through Langholm Operatic and Dramatic Society.

Wattie served for 3 years with The Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders and part of that time was spent in Cyprus under their Commander in Chief Colonel Colin Mitchell (Mad Mitch) He loved his time in the Regiment and looked very smart in his dress uniform.

On holiday with us at Rockcliffe near Dalbeattie

In 2005 Jean & Wattie were invited to our son Fraser's wedding to Leslie Lemon in Salt Lake City. They loved every minute of their time in Utah and in New York where we spent 4 days before heading on to Salt Lake City. This is the day before the wedding and we were in Red Butte Gardens for a wedding rehearsal followed by a party at Leslies parents house.

We were given a Summer House by our friends and had to put it together in our garden. It was a big struggle until Wattie came along and took command.

In the Buccleuch Centre for lunch with Fraser's In-Laws Carlo and Sidne. They loved visiting them up at Winterhope when they came to Scotland on 3 holidays.

Hosting the Last of the Summer Wine Walkers at Winterhope

Enjoying an Ice Cream in Kirkcudbright.

With daughter Alison on Common Riding Day in our Sitooterie

With his beloved Lily.

 

In Central Park New York in 2005 prior to Fraser's wedding

On a boat off Manhattan Island on the way to the Statue of Liberty

At the wedding in Red Butte Gardens in Salt Lake City

With Elspeth Weatherstone at Fiona and Mario's wedding in 2005. We had 2 weddings in 3 months on either side of the Atlantic

With Fiona's in-laws at Winterhope. They couldn't speak any English but got on with Wattie and Jean very well

With Arthur and Doreen Bell on a train journey to Mallaig

In southern Italy on a holiday with Gaye and myself

Gunner Rutherford in Italy

On a holiday in Mull with John Irving driving the Jag

Wattie with his beloved hens 

Wattie and Jean in our kitchen. We miss them both but have lovely memories of time together and all our family loved their trips up to Winterhope.