Tea in Moniaive

After our two hour walk round the statues we headed for Moniaive as I had been advised that there is a Teahouse there that is excellent. It is called the Green Teahouse and it was superb with one of the best toasties I have ever had accompanied with a huge cup of Assam Tea.
If anybody reading this blog is interested in walking or cycling in this area it is beautiful, very quiet and worth a visit.

Henry Moore's Two Piece Reclining Figure

This is the final statue on the circuit and it is just beside the road about half a mile from the reservoir. It was a most interesting walk and we met an interesting couple from Finland who were over on a week's holiday and they thought this series of sculptures were magnificent.

Henry Moore's King & Queen

Epstein's Visitation

This was the most interesting of the 6 statues we saw on our walk.

This is a 1926 bronze cast of the "Visitation" by the American-born twentieth-century sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein.

The precative figure celebrates the Visitation of The Mother of Christ to her cousin Elizabeth to announce that she, Mary, is pregnant.

Henry Moore's Standing Figure

The Glenkiln Cross

A walk with a bit of Culture

Another Wednesday so another walk and this week Tom and I decided we would include a bit of Culture with our walk and headed out to Glenkiln Reservoir where there are a series of famous sculptures on the route of the walk.
This is John the Baptist by Henry Moore.

Winter Wonderland

Trees covered in frost after the freezing fog cleared for a while this afternoon. This was taken just a mile south of Bentpath.

Meeting of the Water's

I never tire of this view and this morning on my regular walk round the bridges after collecting my paper the freezing mist just lifted as I crossed the Langholm Bridge leaving all the trees covered in frost. It was very spectacular so I rushed home for my camera and managed to take this photograph befor the freezing mist rolled back in.

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Sandyhills but on arrival at the bus stop at Kippford we discovered the bus company had issued a new timetable and not withdrawn the old one from the Internet and worse still not replaced it with the new one.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.

Easton's Walk - Landslip

Less than a year since D & G Council spent £36k on repairing a landslip another one has happened on the walk. This was as a result of yesterdays 24 hours of rain and it looks as if it wont be long before another landslip happens as several trees are looking very precarious. It is sad to say but it is just a matter of time before the whole banking just slips into the Esk. There is unlikely to be any money available to repair it although luckily this time not a lot of damage has been done just a tunnel being filled with mud so I will try in my capacity as Chairman of Langholm Walks Group to get the Council to do the job.

Buccleuch Park Poplars

Its the end of an era with the cutting down of these beautiful trees that have stood in Buccleuch Park for over 30 years. Gaye remembers when they were planted as she used to visit the park on a regular basis when the children were very young. They were damaged by the severe frost in December I believe but I dont know if all of them are being felled.

Hogmanay

Hogmanay Dinner at Birkwood with the Weatherstones and Tom. A most enjoyable evening with excellent food and great conversation. Niall & Elspeth head for Australia for a few months on January 5th and then within 2 days of his arrival at their house in Western Australia Niall will head for Salt Lake City on his last major assignment for Rio Tinto at the Kennecott Copper Mine before his retirement at the end of March. Its strange to say but 10 years ago neither of us had ever thought we would travel to Salt Lake City but in that time we have been 7 times to visit our son Fraser who moved there in 2001, Tom, Jean, Niall & Elspeth all visited in 2005 for Fraser & Leslie's wedding and of course Niall has been there probably 20 times in the course of his business. It's a small world. We intend to go out to Western Australia in February 2012 all being well.

A coffee stop where the River Lynne meets the Esk

As has been the custom for several years now we always have a long walk on the last day of the year so Tom, Niall, and I headed for Kirkandrews -on-Esk where we left the car and headed via the river bank to Longtown. The photograph above shows the huge number of ice flows left on the river bank after the flood caused by melting snow had subsided. At Longtown we crossed the bridge and headed along the southern bank of the Esk to where it meets the River Lynne almost at the Metal Bridge near the M74. We then headed for Arthuret Church but a Map reading error by Tom meant we landed at the A7 near Sandysike so had to walk a mile along a busy A7 before we could head for Arthuret and then back to Longtown where we caught the service bus back to Kirkandrews-on Esk to collect the car.